Housing Riots in Laredo

Not too long ago, the Center for Public Policy Priorities put out their Family Budget Estimator along with a statement titled "What does it really take to get by in Texas?" The results are surprising. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, on this week's show, reminded us that there are a lot of poor people in Texas. Tuesday in Laredo, there was a riot at the Housing Authority office.

The catalyst for the rush of people and the resultant civil unrest was a Housing Authority announcement that the office would be offering housing aid for the first time in years. About a thousand people showed up, things got out of hand, and the office eventually ended up shutting down the office's application receipts until a later date.

This story caught me off-guard. Things are tough all over, and in some places, tougher than others. That in and of itself isn't news, but sometimes I think the day-to-day struggle of real people just trying to make ends meet is forgotten in the glitz of politics and campaign promises.