Same in Portland, OR. 7-900 a month wouldn't even pay rent in most places here. But it would definitely pay off the rest of my bills. (Also, I consider phones to be a necessity - kinda hard to get a job if nobody can call you.) Hell, even if we were given $500 a month, that would let me finally fucking BREATHE between paychecks. As it stands, at least when I had a job, I'd get paid and then 90+% of it would go to bills and such. I hardly had any money left for 'fun', and sometimes not even enough for food.
So one of two things needs to start happening: The minimum wage gets brought up to a LIVABLE wage (and we can argue all fucking day long on what that would be), or implement this basic allowance. Otherwise the number of people on welfare and/or living on the streets is just going to start increasing.