One of my childhood friends is finding himself in a tough situation. He's autistic and has struggled to make decent money for most of his life. He recently got a job working as a dishwasher while looking for a trade to get into.
His parents are when the issues kick in. They charge him rent (he's 31 btw) that's currently only $107. They used to charge him $300 back in 2014 and would have it go up by $50 every year to the point he was paying $600 before Covid hit. He still had to pay rent while in school and his parents refused to stop it during that time. The majority of his unemployment checks during Covid went into their rent.
They decided to change things by having him go on foodstamps in order to reduce his rent. He spends maybe $20 a week at the most for food because he's never been a big eater. Most of that foodstamp money goes to his parents who use it for groceries, including his. The thing is that they spend way more than he ever does and completely max out the card every month.
He's been under stress lately because he has to re-certify but his new job has a schedule that's all over the place and makes it so he keeps missing the calls when they happen. His parents insist that part of this process is to help him with his Autism and "become an adult." The stress got so bad for him with all the missed calls that he threw his hands up and decided to just not re-certify because it was adding too much stress in his life. His parents responded angrily by saying he would then "owe" them money in the form of $250 a month plus the $174 he already owes from a loan he took out five years ago.
The big kicker is that they're a pretty wealthy family living in a very wealthy part of Upstate New York, but they leech off what little money he has like vultures. The whole rent thing is said to be helping him with his Autism to become more self-sufficient but if anything it's made him more financially dependent on them than anything.
I know this was more of a rant than anything, but it's been difficult listening to this for years now and seeing him still stuck living with them. It's pretty clear to me that he's scared of moving out of their nice house and living in some sketchy apartment without a car because he can't afford one. I'm just not sure what else there is to do because I'm not living in the US and am unfamiliar with how social services work there.
Is there a way for him to get out and not be living on the edge of poverty?
I guess the issue would be that they would be voluntary for older people and the type who believe those conspiracies wouldn’t think they need them.