A couple weeks ago the Muskegon Chronicle featured three new stories in its ongoing series "Our Working Poor: Losing Ground," and we wanted to share a few clips with our readers:

Working poor vignette: Jamie Ford

• Family: Husband Dallas Ford Sr., 29; children, Molly, 12; Niyah, 6; Jayla, 4; Dallas Jr., 2; and Ne'Marion, 1.

• Home: The Fords rent a duplex for $655 a month, plus utilities, water and sewer, in Norton Shores. They are two months behind in rent.

• How she got here: "I am really, really struggling," she said. Her husband was released from Muskegon County Jail Thursday after serving two months on a domestic violence charge. Often the primary wage earner in the family, Jamie Ford hopes to find another job soon. The Fords, who are reconciling, might move out of state to find employment.

Working poor vignette: Chuck and Deb Fles

• Family: Deb Fles has two adult sons from a previous marriage; Doug, 30, who lives on his own. Robert, 26, who has his psychology degree from Northern Michigan University is living with them while looking for a job. He has a form of muscular dystrophy and receives SSI payments.

• Home: They are buying a home in downtown Muskegon; mortgage payments are $325.98 per month.

• How they got there: "We've been married for 211⁄2 glorious years," Deb Fles says. When times were good, Chuck Fles could bring home as much as $500 a week driving a taxi.

Now after he pays a dailyo the cab company to use a vehicle, plus the gas he uses, his paychecks are shrinking to under $200. Deb Fles "pinches a lot of pennies." They have minimal debt. She watches grocery sales, aided by $142 in food stamps each month, and stocks up on good buys.

"I only buy what we can afford." So far, they haven't needed to turn to area food pantries for help, "although once we had to ask for some ramen noodles to get us through to payday." A friend stocked their freezer with venison last fall. "The last 10 years have been really bad."

Working poor vignette: Ron Zok

• Family: Zok is the single father of one son, Ryan, 18. Ryan, who has cerebral palsy, is an 11th grader at Muskegon High School.

• Home: Zok and son live at Pioneer Arbor Group Home in Muskegon. Zok, who is his son's physical caretaker, pays $202 "out of pocket" each month for the apartment. The bulk of the $900 rent is taken care of by Ryan's SSI payments and other subsidies.

• Last week's take-home pay: $100 after he paid a part-time employee.

• How they got there: In 2005, Zok was laid off indefinitely from West Michigan Steel where he was the shipping manager. The pay was good: $12 an hour. He often worked overtime, bringing in as much as $600 a week when he lost his job.

"I was scared at first. I didn't know how I was going to do it." But the layoff turned out to be "a blessing in disgd sole custody of Ryan since 1995. Because of his son's disabilities, Zok needs to have a flexible schedule to handle unexpected medical emergencies, school commitments and Ryan's daily care.

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The bottom line here is... times are tough, and the working poor are losing ground in this economy. Of course, this just underscores the fact that access to quality affordable housing is more important than ever.