Richard Troxell: Author Looking Up at the Bottomline, Part 2

Richard R. Troxell is President of House the Homeless, an educational and advocacy group that was founded in Austin, TX in 1989. Their mission is education and advocacy surrounding all issues of homelessness.

Richard has been striving to end homelessness since  the 1980s.

Today, he is the Director of Legal Aid for the Homeless. His work has been recognized by HUD, Texas Governor Ann Richards, the Pennsylvania Senate and the United Nations. He received the Five Who Care Award and the JC Penny Golden Rule Award.

He is the author of Looking up at the Bottomline,  an intense personal, political, and educational guide through the last 30 years of homelessness in America.

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.

Looking up at the Bottomline, offers the solution: The Universal Living Wage (ULW). The ULW adjusts the federal minimum wage, and indexes it to the local cost of housing throughout the U.S. 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.

We first spoke with Richard in February. You can listen to that show here.

We’ll continue our conversation  about his work, some recent successes and what the ongoing impact of growing numbers of homeless mean for our country, our economy and our communities, now and in the future.