Get off your high horse. Being an indie-dev or "dev" in general is not something that gives you accreditation or a higher standard of opinion than anyone else. I, for example, am a dev as well, but it's completely irrelevant to the points being made and doesn't need to be mentioned.
HH Richards has a Patreon, making ~$4k a month, which is on top of the income from these games. So, $72k USD net before taxes, which is a sizeable assuming this is their only sort of income. "Hard times" happens to everyone and that's why you budget and take responsibility for those yourself.