Dear Friends and Supporters,
Richard R. Troxell here. As many of you know, I’ve been working on a book about my life’s work. I have great news, Looking Up At The Bottom Line: The Struggle For The Living Wage! was released on Friday, October 1st, 2010. It not only tells my story and the story of the working poor; but most importantly, it launches the platform for the Universal Living Wage – ULW (National Locality Wage – NLW).
Enactment of the Universal Living Wage – ULW (National Locality Wage – NLW) will end Homelessness for over 1,000,000 minimum wage workers. At the same time, it will prevent economic homelessness for all 10.1 million minimum wage workers.
You can buy my book on Amazon right here. All proceeds go to support efforts to end economic homelessness.
My book is an intense personal, political, and educational guide through the last 30 years of homelessness in America. I returned from Viet Nam confused and homeless. Wandering across America, I landed in Philadelphia. I was lucky. I met Max Weiner, a pioneer in consumer activism. After several years of pain, he changed my life.
My early years as an advocate for consumer’s rights and fighting foreclosures got me off the streets and led me to a life-long career with Legal Aid. I began refurbishing abandoned houses only to have them threatened by a declining economy and drug lords. So, I fought for and created Mobile Mini-Police Stations, which saved my neighborhood and are still in use today in several cities. Life taught me that the solutions to hard problems lie in the problems themselves.
In 1989, I founded the non-profit House the Homeless (HtH). I challenged a No Camping Ordinance for 5 years that criminalized the homeless for their economic circumstances by fining them $500 for sleeping outdoors. House the Homeless posed the question: Jail the homeless or job train them?
When Bergstrom Air Base was repurposed to become an airport, I tried to activate the McKinney Act, which allows federal property that is no longer in use or underutilized to be used for people experiencing homelessness. Again, in spite of a law to support my efforts, the hospital that worked for the military was deemed unsuitable for the homeless.
Do you know the primary cause of homelessness is the minimum wage? According to the US Conference of Mayors, a person working 40 hours a week, at a minimum wage of $7.25, doesn’t have enough money to afford a one-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States.
Again, “the problem points to the solution.” Looking Up At The Bottom Line offers the solution: The Universal Living Wage – ULW (National Locality Wage – NLW). The Universal Living Wage – ULW (National Locality Wage – NLW) adjusts the federal minimum wage, and indexes it to the local cost of housing throughout the US. By doing so, any person who works 40 hours a week is able to afford basic rental housing (including utilities) along with food and clothing.
Please buy my book and let everyone know that there is an answer to economic homelessness. Enactment of the Universal Living Wage will conservatively end economic homelessness for over 1,000,000 people and prevent economic homelessness for all 10.1 million minimum wage workers.
It starts with purchasing Looking Up At The Bottom Line. We encourage you to purchase a copy for your local library or shelter — vital resources for the economic homeless.
You can learn more about the Universal Living Wage – ULW (National Locality Wage – NLW) at UniversalLivingWage.org or HouseTheHomeless.org.
Thanks for buying my book and for being a part of ending economic homelessness.
Richard