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TashaYarAtYourAww t1_iu4ywgo wrote

Reply to comment by Frequent_Jelly_4138 in How can we incentivize real discussions around solutions to home affordability in CT? by otter_spud

Okay, the coffee shop employee cannot afford to live anywhere in CT. Should they take a bus from RI? Is New Jersey too far?

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Frequent_Jelly_4138 t1_iu5afxb wrote

I see that as an income issue not a travel issue, you’d be hard pressed to find the salary that unskilled labor gets in CT outside of CT. It may not be enough but it’s a whole hell of a lot better than elsewhere. Out of curiosity although I may disagree, how do you think this issue would be solved. I feel like we may disagree morally on this issue but I am always happy to learn how others feel these issues can be fixed. There is a middle ground somewhere and that’s how we fix these issues

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TashaYarAtYourAww t1_iu6es7r wrote

I also see that as an income issue, yes. I responded to initially because of your particular phrasing that it’s a good thing for a community to avail itself of low wage work by another class (or “lower demographic”) of people that aren’t community members. That is an alarming sentiment to me. This work has to be done for society to function. Care work, domestic work, service work, agricultural work, and many other types of work command sub-livable wages. Those workers do the work that supports the functioning and quality of life for wealthy residents. The people who benefit from that labor and the people who perform that labor should be neighbors, members of the same community. Fix it with wage increases, fix it with housing price adjustments, fix it with wealth redistribution and whatever else it takes. But start seeing the people who do the largely invisible, sometimes unpaid, many times underpaid labor in your community as FULL MEMBERS of your community. None of this “lower demographics” keep them in another town business.

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