>Posts like this are always irritating because they shift the cause of poverty away from its actual sources and onto individuals, specifically individuals choosing to live in urban areas.

The discussion was not about the sources or causes of poverty, but what people are going to do to get out of poverty now that they're in it. Wanting something you can't afford, even if the reason is extremely personal is effectively the same as choosing poverty. If you cash your entire paycheck and spend it on steak on pay day, you have no one to blame for your hunger the next day but yourself. If you choose to be homeless because you would rather live in a car in a city even though you can't afford that city but could afford another, then you're not only in denial, but are selfish. You are selfish because as non-tax paying car dweller you still draw resources from the community to sustain your car based lifestyle while the rest of the tax payers still have to pick up the tab for all the goods and services you are consuming but do not pay for.

This is not a question of empathy or lack there of. It's a question of people making choices that benefit them but cost others. These people are not stupid, far from it. They are free riders enjoying all the ancillary benefits of living in a large urban center while avoiding paying the true cost of existence and forcing everyone around them to subsidize them. People who insist on living in places they can't afford have the financial maturity of a preschooler: "But I want it!!!"