By Mary MacDonald
Published June 11, 2021, 4 a.m.
Providence Business News
Certified nursing assistant Virginia Burdick works two jobs so she can afford the rent for her cramped, two-bedroom apartment in South Kingstown. Her daughter, 9, and son, 14, have never had their own rooms.
She makes too much to qualify for state assistance but not so much to live comfortably.
“If I don’t work my other job, I’m just barely cutting it,” said Burdick, 30. “I make too much for [government-provided] health insurance. I make too much for food stamps. I make too much for child care assistance. I make too much for cash assistance.”
She earns about $50,000 annually between her two nursing jobs – putting her among many Rhode Islanders who make a decent income but are being squeezed by skyrocketing rents and home prices.
