I didn't fully understand the entire article (I'm exhausted and really should be in bed, alas the internet calls my name) I see a lot of issues with this.

My husband and I are not legally married. I am on SSDI/SSI. As of right now he is my room mate according to my DHS paperwork (I have to list him because unfortunately my bills don't line up with my income.) I receive food stamps (even as a disabled person, I had to fight them tooth and nail, ridiculous right?)

We live in a very poverty stricken population in this county. Full time jobs in this town are not common, let alone those that pay above minimum wage (7.25) On top of that, those that hire felons, namely sex offenders is even less.

I did some adding (quickly.) Most of the full time jobs, if you can find them around here pay $8hr. If you work every hour of your 40hr work week all year you will clear (after taxes here) $12,595.20.

Rents in this area are outrageous. We pay $600 a month for our house that is essentially a studio. It is a house, and we got lucky on that. I added the following into expenses (our average and what I feel a normal single person good with money would spend) I included Rent, Utilities (water and electric, we don't have gas), liability car insurance (only for him, me not included), Gas (avg 160mo), food (I estimated 160 for him, but I am a super shopper), Internet and prepaid cell phone service because its the cheapest route.

Adding all of that up the total came out to $12,712.

I guessed low on a couple of the factors in these numbers, mainly to prove a point.

He does not qualify for food stamps and/or medicaid because he has no dependants. He has to prove he has a need at many of the food pantries here, because he does not have minor children.

Every job that is easily accessible in this area is part time. Most every one of them pays minimum wage and you work on average 15-25 hours a week (I worked in 2014, so I know what they do around here) Many place will not work you over 29 hours because then they have to offer healthcare to employees.

My husband is also uninsured. He does not qualify for medicaid for two reasons. First, his employer offers health insurance, second even if they didn't he makes too much and doesn't have a dependant. We can not afford the basic health plan his employer offers, so we go on hopes and prayers he doesn't get sick. Thankfully so far we have been lucky.

Our area does not offer public transportation, at all. So, you need a car to get to and from your job (the town is spread. Rents in town are not at all reasonable. We live around 10 miles out of town.)

Its towns like this that leave people like him behind. I didn't add his probation/group/testing fees to the total expenses. The only two things in that list that can be considered luxuries are internet and cell phone. However, they are both needed for employers to contact you and no one does paper applications any more.

When we first lived together, I was the main financial supporter. We lived with his family and he could not get a job that paid anything worth a damn. Eventually we were forced out of the house, had to find a place to live and work wore down on me and I got chronically sick.

Thankfully he got his current job. However, he has been threatened multiple times of being fired because he has to go to group every week, has a PO meeting once a month, has to register quarterly and has to have field visits by his PO at his job or home every month and HE has to sign the paper, no one else. Throw into the mix that I was hospitalized multiple times, had major surgery and needed him home.

The only thing saving us right now is my disability payments and food stamps. Granted, if I wasn't sick I would be able to work.

I have asked for help. Our fridge went out and all of our food spoiled, our car broke down (we only have one because we can't afford to have two) and he had to take a lot of time off because I kept getting sick.

I couldn't get help because we don't have kids. No kids=No help. We could die in a cardboard box on the side of the road and no one would care because there isn't a child involved. We don't count because we don't have children.

Even me being disabled (I've been since 2010), it's been a fight for me since I don't have children. They told me to sell my car because the book value was too high (which is illegal for them to tell me to sell my car because I am disabled), they fight me on every doctor bill. Because we don't have children.

So, we are feeling this from every angle.

I'm sorry if I got off topic. You can apply his situation to every felon in this county. No one is hiring felons around here (it's mostly chains, very few independent employers). Plus, every landlord does background checks. We were lucky ours didn't. Finding housing with any sort of felony conviction is almost impossible.

I work at a food bank. I can imagine we'll be getting new clients. And of course that will impact other clients and how much they receive. We serve a lot of elderly and disabled

Knownot, I do surveys on-line for a little extra pin money. If you ever want pointers on what sites to sign up for, let me know

I was always afraid of scams and getting spam emails and phone calls.

The companies I do, you don't have to worry about. But if you're worried abojt spam emails, set up an extra free email account. I use Opinion Outpost, Valued Opinions, Pinecone, and SurveySavvy. Pinecone can be hard to get into so you'd have to keep an eye for a banner or sometimes you'll get an invite through another survey company.
I've been doing surveys for 10 years and it took awhile to build up a reputation but now I get very nice studies and product tests and invites to focus groups. Since December, I've done a study for $65 for crackers, a TV study for $35, a $20 soda study, and a$20 general interest study. Though most surveys pay 50 cents to $5. Oh, and I've been accepted into a study where they send me big envelopes each month and I send in my junk mail each week. I can send as much or as little as I want and nothing with personal identifiers. They pay me $15/mo. My son ended up doing a fast food study for $75, and a $50 study about life as a teen.

It's not steady money, you can't count on it, but I save it up for Christmas and Birthdays, and the occasional bus trip to A.C. with friends.