Well, there aren't many combinations possible to guess from what you have said so far. Like now, the fact that drunks aren't uncommon and how rough things sound makes me think that life is really hard back there.

Maybe there aren't many natural resources, like water or food in general, though with little water the part about the food kind of follows like a domino. Or it could be a place with a very strict social system with different levels of hierarchy even outside work and where those who are born in the right social level get everything they could wish for while those who are born in the lowest level would have easier existences as rats.