[Mz]

I basically did the same thing. I developed a portable income and moved to a small town to get myself back into housing.

But most people can't just up and move wherever they want. The jobs are mostly in the expensive big cities. Even services like Task Rabbit, Amazon Flex or Uber are mostly only available in a short list of very large cities.

Meanwhile, we have torn down about 80 percent of SROs and the like and the default expectation is that young, single people should get a roommate. There is a dearth of genuinely affordable housing near jobs that would allow people to live alone and make ends meet working an entry level job. Those options mostly do not exist.

Pretending this isn't a problem because you found a solution that works for you is pretty LA LA LA not listening. Detroit has affordable housing because so many locals are in dire straits that a charity was created not that long ago to pay the water bills of people getting their water cut off: https://www.detroitwaterproject.org

So, basically, your life works because you saw opportunity amidst this debacle, not because everything is fine in the US.