Inequality you can taste: Fast food workers and poverty

Fast food industry contributes to homelessness in California, says new report.

By  Ethan Ward for Capital & Main

Fast-food workers represent a startling portion of California’s unhoused population, making up 11% of all unhoused workers in California, 9% in Los Angeles County and 8% in the city of Los Angeles, according to a new report on the intersection of poverty wages and homelessness.

The authors of the report, published by the Economic Roundtable, estimate that there would be 10,120 fewer unhoused workers in California, 3,595 fewer in L.A. County, and 1,889 fewer in the city of L.A. if the fast-food industry provided stable employment and paid workers enough to maintain secure housing.

Daniel Flaming is president of the Economic Roundtable and co-author with Patrick Burns of the report, “Hungry Cooks: Poverty Wages and Homelessness in the Fast Food Industry.” Flaming said the organization looked into the connection between income, jobs, and homelessness after data from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority showed that over half of unhoused people who were surveyed said their biggest struggles were tied to a lack of work and affordable rent.