Richard R. Troxell, tireless community organizer, philanthropist and advocate for the homeless, can add one more title to his long list: author.

Troxell’s new book, “Looking Up at the Bottom Line: the Struggle for the Living Wage!,” launched in October and has been climbing in the seller list on Amazon.com ever since. The book is the product of decades spent working on the front lines of homeless and wage awareness, Troxell said, and draws greatly on his own experiences.

“The new book chronicles our 30-year struggle to create a living wage and the campaigns over the years,” said Troxell, who was homeless for a number of years after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam. “We realized that we needed to focus on the economics of homelessness to end it.”

The first half of the book features vignettes and personal stories from Troxell’s years working with the homeless and the working poor. The second half offers a seemingly simple solution: tie minimum wage to the cost of living in a particular area.

“If someone puts in 40 hours of work, no matter where that work is done, they should be able to afford the basics of life: food, shelter, utilities and have enough left over to access an emergency room,” Troxell said. “Currently the federal government has a one-size-fits-all policy of $7.25 an hour, but anyone knows that it doesn’t cost the same to live in Austin as it does in Harlingen, and anyone from Harlingen knows it doesn’t cost the same to live in New York City.”

While Troxell admits that he is not an economist, he outlines a few simple formulas in the book to determine what he has dubbed the universal living wage. Take the federal formula used to determine housing subsidies under Section 8, which measures rents in particular areas and determines what people in that area can afford to pay, then assume that housing should be 30 percent of any budget and extrapolate a fair hourly wage from that, Troxell said.

In his experience working with the homeless, Troxell said he encountered two types of people living on the streets: those who were disabled mentally, physically or otherwise and were unable to work, and those who were able to work, and often did but had no opportunity to afford a permanent residence. Troxell calls them the economic homeless.

“One group of people is a tax-payer burden because they can’t work,” Troxell said. “But the other group doesn’t have to be. Right now, we’re looking at these people as one group, and that’s not acceptable or appropriate.”

The work ethic often exists in the economic homeless population, Troxell said, but they may not have the resources to get a job. Others work 40 hours a week or more and are still unable to afford first and last month rent and a security deposit on an apartment.

“We need to bring these people back in,” Troxell said.

Troxell’s own experience with homeless began when he returned from serving as a Marine in Vietnam.

“I was crazy and angry, justifiably so,” Troxell said.

After living on the streets in several cities in the U.S., he landed in an abandoned house in Philadelphia. He had managed to steal enough electricity to power a radio and heard the voice of Max Wiener, a crusading consumer activist. Troxell eventually went to work for him and the Consumer Education and Protection Association, where he fought against foreclosures and for the rights of consumers, he said.

He eventually went to work for Legal Aid, a nonprofit that offers free legal advice and help. He and his wife, Sylvia, moved to Austin and eventually bought their house in Rollingwood, where they’ve lived for nearly 20 years. Troxell is now the director for Legal Aid for the Homeless here in Austin.

Troxell may be best known in the area for his work with House the Homeless, the organization he founded that advocates for the homeless nationwide. He is also responsible for the homeless memorial near Auditorium Shores. Earlier this month, Troxell and 124 others gathered at the memorial oak and plaque to hang origami birds bearing the names of the 149 people that died on the streets of Austin this year. It was the 18th such memorial to be held.

“The tragedy was that there were 149 names and only 125 people there,” Troxell said.

When he’s not standing up for the rights of the homeless, raising money to care for the homeless or trying to save the world in general, Troxell likes to spend his free time, what little there is of it, outside. He enjoys skydiving, scuba diving, hiking and camping. The 60-year-old father of one has completed expeditions to Ethiopia, the Denali region of Alaska and the Amazon.

While he acknowledges that many minds will turn to the homeless on Thanksgiving, he cautions that homelessness is a year-round problem.

“There are 27 groups in this city that are going to provide turkey on Thanksgiving,” Troxell said.

While the work is worthy, he said, “Do you know how sick the homeless are of turkey?”

That’s why House the Homeless is doing a thermal underwear drive this year.

“A $25 donation can outfit a homeless person with a thermal top and bottom, hat, socks, gloves and a scarf,” Troxell said. “These aren’t as easy to lose as a blanket, and they can help save someone from hypothermia.”

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