[stephengillie]

A two to three hour drive every day is subjectively worse than sleeping in an SUV. Not to mention the health effects of hours of driving, pollution - and about $18-27 a day in fuel[0] that could be saved or used for food.

[0] 60mph/20mpg (generous for SUV) = 3 gallons/hour * [2 to 3] hours = [6 to 9 gallons] * (ballpark)$3 gallon = [$18-$27]. For 20 days of commuting that would be [$360-$540] per month.

[jeremyt]

Why does literally every other comment keep assuming that she has to commute?

The story says that she makes $1300 a month from disability and doesn’t have a job.

Why does she need to drive three hours a day?

[vertex-four]

I’m going to assume that, being a human being, and having a daughter, she has a social life in the city she lives in. To tell her she’s forcibly (by means of economic coercion with potential state violence to back it up) no longer to live near her social and support network is completely unethical, in my eyes - otherwise is to suggest that only the rich are allowed a stable life. No man is actually an island, as much as that is the American ideal. Replace “housing instability” with “being kicked out of their homes and told to live somewhere multiple hours away where they don’t know anybody”, and you get the actual problem.

[scarface74]

So you're going to tell all of the people who live in a cheaper part of the US that their tax money should subsidize her so she can live in one of the most expensive cities in the US?

[stephengillie]

This reply[1] to your initial comment asked if the person would still be receiving $1300/month if she moved. To which the replies were "to commute". And so we're replying to those.

Would she still be making $1300/month in disability if she moved to Olympia? Or would it drop to near $1000? That extra $10 per day is a lot.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16873680

[oh_sigh]

She's on disability which is where her sole income is derived from - she doesn't need to drive into the city every day.