It’s sad how easy it is to tell who’s from the US and EU here.
Basically “you’re fucked, be a criminal or die” versus, “go to the Social Services and tell them you’re homeless”
I did this pretty much, except I did have a car and family, but I was stubborn and refused help from my family, so really just the car.
Get to a bigger midwest/ rust belt city (Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Cleveland) cost of living is low which is good for you, and in my experience not many people are moving there so tons of people are hiring at jobs with no requirements (I got a job in like 2 days). Try and get two jobs close to each other, probably downtown. You’ll save up money way quicker and have less time to deal with living on the streets.
Find a public park, preferably one with those grills and a water fountain. You can cook food over a fire on thee grill, simple things like oatmeal or ramen. The one I stayed in had bathrooms that were open during the day (at night I just did my business in the woods, used a bag for number 2). It also had an old public building that was closed down but I could climb on top and sleep under the eaves out of sight and the weather. I kept my stuff in my car but I could have kept it there.
For electricity charge you’re stuff at work, and get a backup battery, they’re only like 30 bucks and it’s super important. Libraries are a godsend for a million things, electricity and bathrooms chief among them. After 3 months you should be able to save enough for a shitty apartment and have the job history. Lie if you need to, they won’t check more than your current job 9/10 times.
Go to the library and look up government assistance programs. There are usually some programs to help you, even if you have to jump through miles of hoops.
I’m a woman so I would become a temp prostitute. I would avoid hard drugs. Bank roll and buy a van. Live in van. Great success.
Crime. I’d do crime. I’m too old to join the Navy, too poor to get some debt. So I’d do the same thing the overwhelming majority of Americans who find themselves in the situation do: Crime.
Which crime? Well, the likelihood of this actually happening to many people who are currently gainfully employed and financially stable is uncomfortably high, so some cards I just have to keep close, and you should too.
No war but the class war.
AMEN. No war but class war.
I would go the Social Services office and explain my situation. Provided I could prove my identity I would walk out with a couple hundred dollars cash, an address for decent temporary accommodations, and an appointment with a case worker to find a more permanent solution for me.
That’s the security of the Nordic welfare state.
So many plots for series only make sense in the US. Your answer in comparison to many others here show why.
It’s mostly just sad. I don’t mean it in a condescending way. Reading that people would likely just kill themselves, turn to prostitution, do crime, etc.
I would pick up a trade. You can make decent money as an electrician’s apprentice or as a roofer depending on your body weight and strength.
You can also go and join the Ironworkers union.
If trades are not viable for you, I would apply at the cheapest college you can get into that has dorms.
Yeah you’re going to be picking up a shit ton of debt but you would have a place to stay and a thing to do to help improve your future and the opportunity to meet new people.
If neither trades nor college or something you can or will do, then I would pick up odd jobs and save up the money to get the cheapest car that you can sleep in and then start figuring out what you can do from there.
Great plan! Can you step it back to day one. No money, dirty, no place to sleep, no transportation. How do you first get a place to sleep, food to eat and transportation to your apprentice job?
Sorry, even though I’ve been homeless multiple times I’ve always been fortunate enough to have a vehicle and ID
If I had to do it all over again and I did not have a vehicle I would probably find my nearest Catholic church and ask them for some assistance.
A few weeks of semi-stable homing would be enough to get me my start again.
If I was radically anti-religious on top of that, I would suggest attempting to beg for money to buy or, if you feel unable to beg, steal a tent and a bucket and hike out somewhere where I could establish a base.
From there it would be about establishing a space level of hygiene and normalcy and then building from there. Working for a fast food place should earn you the money needed to eat, and you can use water from the bucket to wash yourself and your clothes.
i dunno, the premise of this question seems to me like homelessness is a riddle that homeless people just have not figured out. im pretty sure that if the answer could be crowdsourced in eight hours from eighty sysadmins on the toilet, it wouldn’t be such an intractable problem
Homelessness is never a choice. It is always circumstantial (i.e. very very bad luck and nobody to turn to for help) or based on something like a mental health or substance abuse disorder.
It seems like 100% the problem is a lack of support. Substance abuse is tied quite a bit to having a lack of support and connections to healthy people. It’s why things like AA help people, they have access to a real person who cares about their recovery. Bad home life, being abused, mental health leading to homelessness, it all sounds like ways of saying “unsupported and left to the elements.”
