If you're making a house payment, that means your income let you get into a house, and you'll most likely have some equity. This story is about the housing market; people who work full-time, and can't even rent an apartment to live in. I was a kid in the 1970s, and everyone in my school lived in a house, even though most of their parents had working class jobs. I suspect the kids of your childhood mostly lived in  houses too, rather than apartments. 

The above chatter about coffee drinks and food stamps is indeed disrespectful me and to the people I work with. I'm not on food stamps, I don't buy coffee drinks, I don't need a hotel voucher, I pay taxes, and I already answered the "help wanted" sign. Communities need affordable housing.