Pretty much every major big box store I go in has a computer kiosk in it near the customer service desk that says something like "career opportunities" or the like. ...
Outside of that most fast food places still hand out and take paper applications.
Not a lot of big box stores or fast food restaurants in inner cities or poor, rural areas; it's pretty much a suburban, middle class thing. Best Buy isn't exactly known for staffing up with middle-aged black ladies, and can you imagine trying to get any sort of retail or customer service job with a couple of teeth visibly missing? Dental care is hideously expensive, and it is not covered by public assistance. It's a catch-22. Things aren't always as easy, simple, or clear-cut as they seem.
The housing issue and rent vs. own: You pay higher or high rent for the advantage of mobility.
Usually, you're forced to rent because you have no hope of buying, and thereby building equity. No choice is involved.
I hear a lot of responses saying that poor people are not stupid or lazy. You can be smart and not know how to manage money, you can be motivated and make bad choices. Most people are a product of their environment. Either you are motivated to change because of your environment or you buy into the lifestyle that it is easier to get $X from the government check than it is to get $X+10% from a 30 hour/week job or that getting a job will cause you to have to pay more for rent so why bother or that $250 today is what I need and I will worry about the $300 I have to pay back next week/month then.
Many poor people have made and continue to make very bad choices that keep them in poverty, it's true. But for every one who finds it "easier to get $X from the government check" than get a job, there's another who will immediately will lose medicaid for a chronically ill child if they earn too much, or will lose the public assistance they depend on if they enroll in college. It's a stacked deck.
Some use payday (vampire) loans irresponsibly, it's true, but others use them simply to forestall eviction or buy needed medicine and basic groceries. The fees alone are staggering, and the APR can be 500-1000%. Yet the default rate isn't much higher than on credit cards, with APRs of 18-22%. In either case, It's just another example of predation on the poor.
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