That is approximately correct however, that formula is for people who are strictly on social services does not take into account adjustments for: working, supplemental security income or, disability benefits. If you work at all or receive any entitlement you may get substantially less. Keep in mind to that these benefits vary from state to state. Also, they crawl up your rectal area before they will even consider giving you any these benefits. They make applying as degrading and humiliating as possible which is why I ( as an advocate ) go with most people to apply, as it makes things a little easier for them. Yes it is not uncommon for a large family to get about $600.00 in food stamps. I have also seen people with an income of just $700.00 (which is impossible to live off here) get as little as $15.00 in food stamps. There are also time limits placed on a lot of these benefits especially cash benefits but, they too vary from state to state.
So lets take a single person on social services who will get $365.00 in cash and roughly $130.00 in food stamps. That might sound like a lot, but as I said a room costs between 450 - 500 per month. So you can not find housing with that. You therefor have to live in a “welfare hotel” which is usually a place that is not fit for a person to live in ( mere words can not fully describe it). Anyway, that hole will cost you $350.00 so now you have $15.00 per month for toiletries and household items that are not covered with food stamps. Plus, you need to buy appropriate clothing for a job interview etc. Now, with the $130.00 in food stamps you will be lucky if that will last you 2 weeks with food prices here. Anyway, I think you get the picture. Ha I forgot about section 8 which will pay most of your rent for you. Under section 8 you only pay 33.3% of your income toward your rent. By the way that program has a waiting list of 3-5 years. Oh, and they are planning to make deep cuts to that program. We got a war to fund.
Now don’t get me wrong I am not saying the grass is greener on the other side. To be honest I do not know what the quality of life for the low income European is. So far none have posted there experiences.
Now that is a good program and they do great things but, it is a hard program to qualify for and they have a long waiting list. It’s not like everyone has access to that program. If you are single with no children you will probably never qualify.
Now that the doom and gloom speech is over I want to add that, I think we are the greatest country in the world and I am happy to be an American. But, as one of the wealthiest countries in the would we should be able to do better.
LOL Actually, I do not live in the city. Our area has see such a population growth that housing and general living expenses have skyrocketed.
Anyway, like I said above. You have to make 35,000 to $40,000 per year just to make ends meet here.