"But that's not what public assistance is for. Public assistance is the safety net that minimizes any suffering from being poor."

That is very true. Public assistance is supposed to be temporary. It is supposed to be used to make sure rent and food are taken care of for a couple of months while between jobs, for those who cannot get employment insurance.

There ARE no programs to support the poor to a standard of living where they become capable of becoming not poor. There are no government programs that enable the poor to grasp even the bottom rung of the ladder of success... at least, not that I know of in Canada or the US.

This is why the housing issue is so important, because even governmental support will not pay for true housing costs. Financial planners everywhere recommend that total housing costs be 30-40% of your total income so that you can pay all your other bills... government assistance *requires* housing costs to be 70% of your total income... and completely ignores the fact that at true housing rates, if you're on assistance you often pay 90-100% of your total income towards housing.

Bobert, there are figures proving that it is more expensive to keep people poor than to pay for their true monthly needs through housing assistance and government assistance. Shelters cost a LOT of money, which is surprising considering that shelters crowd people together into less rooms. It is counter-intuitive to realize that crowding people costs more than setting people up in their own apartments. However, the overcrowding of shelters also creates a greater health care cost, and by the time people end up in shelters they are usually in need of more care than if their needs had been taken care of previously.

There are not that many halfway houses, considering the need, and considering that halfway houses are in fact cheaper than shelters to run. There is also a definite need for more apartment complexes that offer half subsidized apartments and half market rate. There is no profit in that though, only a societal gain, so builders are much less likely to build complexes with that aim in mind.