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Universal
Living Wage
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| This year, 3.5
million people will experience homelessness. The federal government says
42% of them are working at some point during the week. Clearly, the work
ethic is there, but the wage to afford basic housing is not. These folks
come from our 10.1 million minimum wage workers. Minimum wage jobs, the
ones that can’t be outsourced, were once stepping stones. Now they are the
jobs raising whole families when coupled with subsidies. |
| The antithesis
of being housed is homelessness. The proposal, through a ten
year plan, is to fix the Federal Minimum Wage by indexing it to the
local cost of housing throughout the United States. |
| By using existing
government guidelines: 1) work 40 hours in a week, 2) spend no more than
30% of one’s income on housing, and 3) using the HUD section 8 rental calculations,
we ensure that anyone working 40 hours in a week will be able to afford
basic rental housing, food, clothing, utilities, and access to health care. |
| US military
pay practices, using geographic considerations, mirror this approach. |
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What do we do to draw
attention to our cause?
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April 15th,
2010 — Tax Day — was the ULW Campaign's Tenth Anniversary.
Our goal to fix the Federal Minimum Wage has garnered the support of
over 1600 separate organizations at the local, state, and national levels.
We ask the recipients of our campaign kits to go to their main post
office on tax night, take a few people, a couple of red and white yard
signs and the banner and help make a statement about taxes and wages:
"Reduce your
taxes!" ...with a www.Universallivingwage.org
"If all businesses paid a Universal Living Wage,
we could reduce the tax burden on every single American!"
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In September, the day after Labor Day, endorsing organizations
(Nonprofits, Unions, Faith Based Entities and Businesses) gather together
on the bridges of America and call for a Universal Living Wage. We take
to our nation's bridges with
banners that say:
“Bridge the ECONOMIC GAP with a www.UNIVERSALLIVINGWAGE.org
Here the idea is that if employers paid living wages we could reduce some
of the
burden on tax payers from excess reliance on food stamps, TANF,
the Earned Income Tax Credit, General Assistance, etc..
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In our first
Bridge the Economic Gap Day, we had a committment for 87 ACTIONS and had
at least one ACTION in EVERY State in the Union including Washington DC
and Puerto Rico.
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Our goal is to cover every state in the Union.
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We invite
all organizations to join us on a bridge in their own city.
Sign our endorsement resolution and then write us at rrtroxell@aol.com
to participate. We will be repeating these ACTIONS every April and every
September untill we reach a tipping point of 250 simultaneous ACTIONS
across the nation.
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Sample
Press Release
(There's also a podcast at this
location!)
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| This web
site is sponsored by HTH, an education and advocacy
organization that believes the moral premise that anyone working a 40 hour
week should be able to afford some form of housing. Both HTH and the Universal
Living Wage Campaign were founded because of the vision of Richard
R. Troxell, a long time advocate for social issues. |
This
is an INTERACTIVE
web site— we want your support for a Universal Living Wage to adjust
the "one size does NOT fit all" minimum wage that is currently
keeping low wage earners from a chance at the American Dream. Our support
grows daily--see our endorsements
from a wide variety of groups!
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Want
to vote/make a statement as a group? Print out our Resolution,
sign it, and mail it to us! Or you can also use our secure petition
to send us official group support.
Individuals,
go to our secure petition
and sign on to show your support for this idea.
Help us show
our representatives in Washington DC that there is support for a Universal
Living Wage.
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| The Universal
Living Wage is different from the one hundred plus living wage campaigns
being promoted by ACORN. Living wage campaigns are pressing city and county
governments to pay their employees and those that contract with them a living
wage. These are critical first steps in establishing economic justice for
minimum wage workers. However, the Universal Living Wage is different in
two very distinct ways. First, the ULW affects all workers. It ensures
that anyone working a 40 hour week should be able to afford housing based
on the wage earned. Second, the Universal
Living Wage is based on a single national formula. The formula relates
the minimum wage to the local cost of housing throughout the United States.
Recognizing the concerns of the business community, we have adopted a ULW
Ten Year Plan
for the transitional implementation of the ULW. |
| According
to The Mayor's 16th Annual Survey on "Hunger
and Homelessness in American Cities"
dated December 14, 2000, the leading cause of hunger and homelessness
is low-paying jobs. It was reported that "Despite being in a period
of unprecedented economic expansion, low-income wage workers and their families
are finding it increasingly difficult to locate decent affordable housing;
increasingly, they find themselves among a growing population of homeless."
(Citizens) |
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Also in a previous
year's Conference of Mayors report, it was asserted that "in every
state, more than the minimum wage is required to afford a one or two bedroom
apartment at 30% of earned income."
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| Our
Goal Here is to adjust the current federal minimum wage (we feel
that one size does NOT fit all) using the Universal Living Wage Formula.
As we say, this will ensure that all 40 hour a week workers will be able
to afford housing wherever they do that work. Realize that we will continue
to support a national wage level below which no workers shall be paid. |
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Accomplish This Goal we have created this interactive
web site. This will allow us to identify local supporters for this idea
throughout the country. We will then be able to demonstrate strong local
support that will enable us to press for this national initiative. |
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Go to ULW
Formula
and use the formula to calculate the wage in your area. Then go to the
Facts & Myths section
and see the arguments to support the concept of a universal living wage.
Finally, go to our secure Petition
and sign on to show your support for this idea.
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| Then--keep
an eye on What's New and our
Events Calendar
for ULW Campaign activities in your area! Remember to bookmark this site! |
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"Who can vote/sign
the petition?"
Any voting-age citizen
of the United States from any state in the union may vote/sign our petition.
Let yourself be heard!
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Join us in our efforts
to spread the word about the Universal Living Wage. Fill out our petition,
which will join you to those who seek an answer to the problem of trying
to live on minimum wage. This petition is located on a Secure Server hosted
by JSweb Technology (on a server owned by SiteGenie, LLC). This server
uses SSL technology with a Thawte Consulting (a division of Verisign)
Certificate. Your data will be collected and stored at a secure site.
Want to vote/make
a statement as a group? Print out our Resolution,
sign it, and mail it to us! Help us show our representatives in Washington
DC that there is support for a Universal Living Wage.
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| Donate
to this cause!
For your convenience, we have three methods of donating to the Universal
Living Wage Campaign, an initiative of House the Homeless, Inc.—either
by check, or by credit card or checking account through PayPal. |
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Thank you for your
donation! House the Homeless, Inc. is a 501 (c)(3) organization. Contributions
to HTH Inc. are tax exempt to the full extent allowed by law.
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NOTE:
All external links will open in new windows, as does our Petition and
Resolution. To return to Universal Living Wage, either close the window
or use the BACK button on your browser.
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| Privacy
Policy: No personal information will ever be sold from our operation.
We will primarily use it for contact purposes (sparingly). We will flash
it in front of elected officials but never release it to them. |
