Due to a weak economy and high unemployment rates, homelessness is increasing at an alarming rate. Homelessness is worse in some parts of the United States than others because of sharply falling incomes, jobs that are no longer very secure, and which offer fewer benefits to the worker and their family members. . The United States is experiencing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The required hourly wage has only increased by a sixth compared to 2007 for employees working in production. Workers benefited from a reduction in their working hours and a reduction in their weekly wages. As wage growth slows and consumption growth increases, economic recovery becomes increasingly out of reach. The effects of the recession are not discriminatory: everyone residing in the United States is affected in some way, including people who are able to continue working. In 1967, workers who earned the year-round minimum wage were paid just enough to raise a family of three above the poverty line. From 1981 to 1990, the cost of living increased 48 percent while the minimum wage remained at $3.35 an hour. In 1996, Congress raised the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour. For the next eleven years, the minimum wage remained at this rate of $5.15 per hour. Then, in 2007, President Bush signed legislation that would increase the minimum wage to $7.25 over a two-year period. This increase has not kept pace with the loss of balance in the face of inflation over the past 20 years. The real value of the minimum wage is 26 percent lower than in 1979, which was just $4.42 in real dollars. In our current economy, a full-time worker works 40 hours per week. There are 52 weeks in a year, which adds up to $13,624. It's below the middle of paper, social programs and handouts of money to build affordable housing. As a people, we must give as much as possible. Give and give because it will be beneficial in the long run. If we all pitch in and help, we can turn this crisis around and significantly reduce homelessness. quality-of-life-homeless-and-poverty-experts-blame-economy-lack-of-affordable-housing/article/126356www.content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2090997, 00. htmlwww.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/us/since-recession-more-young-americans-are-homeless.htmlwww.rooflines.org/3003/blame_politicians_for_homelessness_and_hunger_in_us/www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/economy- bytes-effect-of-state-and-local-budget-cuts-on-homelessness