Title pretty much says it all, I spent 13 years homeless. Did a lot of hitchhiking. I have spinal stenosis and CES but did get a nice 9-month break through a veteran’s group which ends on September 30th, when I’ll return to tent life in the sticks. Ask me anything!
Im long term unemployed and I am wondering when I will be.
I’m very sorry to hear that. In all honesty, the worst part about being homeless is the beginning (anxiety). No matter what happens, you will live, whether you slept under a roof the night before or not.
If you can, try to be a little proactive about it. That will take away at least a little bit of the anxiety. Make sure you have two large duffel bags, a backpack, cheap tent, and a sleeping bag. If it happens, you’ll need all that plus a good jacket, clothes, and toiletries. Laptop if you have one. Pack light, you’ll have to carry all of that around until you find a “spot” where you can leave your tent up during the day. If you have a car, that’s a game changer. You’re mobile and you have a safe place to store stuff (BLM and Forestry land offer free dispersed camping for up to 14 days). First thing you’ll want to do if you lose housing is get on EBT and Medicaid. Those are lifelines.
And whatever you do, don’t wait for an eviction to leave. That will make getting rehoused 10,000 times more difficult. Avoid other homeless in the beginning, addicts will tell you anything to steal your stuff. And don’t lose hope. Best of luck to you.
Its more a concern now as it really looks like employment at a level to meet the monthly nut is not going to happen. I have been getting some work which every bit staves off pulling from savings. I actually just looked into it and there appears to be a way to draw from ira’s without the penalty if you commit to keep on doing it. Im going to look more into that as im not sure if it will be enough. Like everything its got crazy requirements and could interfere with other things. so no where near as bad as you just worried about it since im supporting my wife and really don’t want to go homeless.
Yeah it’s a pickle, and I’ve been there. I wasn’t always homeless. And like you said, the employment options available now really don’t cover the bills. The few options that do (ie: HVAC, offshore oil, electrical) are a no-go for me because of the spinal stenosis. Immediate needs trump retirement, it’s a shame that you have to do that though. Having a spouse to support is a whole different game, I’ve been single which makes things easier and more difficult at the same time.
The one thing that helps (homeless or not), keep a loose plan “if all else fails”. Scorched-Earth type plan if absolutely nothing works out. Hopefully you never need to use it, but just having one is a comfort of sorts.
yeah I definatley keep ideas in the back of my head for long term while I do short term things. all the while hoping something comes up and it all becomes unnecessary.
My advice – write them down. Hopefully you won’t need them. But if it does happen, the initial panic overrides logic. You’ll end up packing stupid things like a lamp and completely spacing out the important things like your birth certificate, social security card, and DD-214 if you were military. I’ve seen more “new homeless” do exactly that and those documents can take months to years to replace. Things like silverware are not necessary, you won’t be cooking and most fast-food joints have plastic utensils you can get for free. Find out if there’s any homeless day centers you can use for mail, find out where your social services office is so you can apply for EBT and Medicaid. I can’t stress enough about credit cards, make sure to get the balances down to zero if not already. It’s hard to make payments when you’re on the streets, and having that kind of borrowing power is an absolute must should an opportunity come your way like an out-of-state job. With any luck, you won’t need any of it and you can throw that plan away later. But it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. And be sure to check out www.freecampsites.net, that at least eliminates a lot of the “where will I go” worries.
I have one of those fireproof safes with important docs. need to do a review of it but hitting a lot of paperwork things for the next month or so. I should be able to go pretty far on savings if I go into the ira as im over 50. Ill be honest I have almost a phobia about trying to figure out for exactly how long. if I have to I will take the 10% penalty on the ira but im hoping not to since that is 10% less time it will last. what kinda sucks is I could get a phone call which would reverse everything (well not exactly reverse as I will be vulnerable to the same thing with less savings to deal with it. Honestly even if I get something decent im not sure I can save much in the next decade to get to where I was.)
Similar position here, I’m 52. My best case scenario is SSI, which only pays $900 per month plus back pay from November of 2025. If it goes through, great, I’ll be getting a used vehicle and going campsite-to-campsite with it. If not, I’ll hitchhike down to Houston and set up at my old camp and see how long it takes the police to sweep again. Those are my only two options, and one of them I have zero control over. The frustrating part is you spend a majority of your life paying into all these “safety nets” that seem to evaporate when you need them most. At this point, I’d rather Uncle Sam just refunded every dime I’ve paid in taxes and call it even. I’d likely be better off!
Hello, thank you for the AMA. What is the biggest misconception that people who where never homeless have about homeless people?
Likely the same misconceptions I had before I became homeless – All homeless people are drug addicts. They’re lazy and choose the “lifestyle”. They must have “burned everyone they knew” in order to end up like that. They choose not to work. They’re all guilty of a crime so horrible nobody will hire them.
The reality is 180 degrees from what most people think. Most homeless (myself included) don’t use drugs at all. Many are disabled. Able-bodied homeless come and go, many of those are back in housing of some sort in 3-6 months (they usually still have a car to sleep in and use for work). Many homeless are orphans, zero family support. Others, like me, are just older and came from small families that are gone.
The fact is the homeless you see are addicts. The homeless you don’t notice stay clean and stay hidden. The latter outnumbers the former, and on the whole you wouldn’t know they were homeless unless they told you.
I was born in the early 70’s, so the whole “work your way out of it – pull yourself up by the bootstraps” still rings in my ears. But the reality is nobody hires a homeless person. I’ve taken jobs before the stenosis got bad. As soon as someone found out I was homeless (someone always does), that was it. “We really feel bad about your situation and we wish you the best but we just can’t have this kind of image…” and you’re cut loose before you even have the minimum number of hours to collect unemployment. Back to square one, only with your pride hurt that much more. The flip side is you do take a job, issued uniforms, and then an addict steals them (or police sweep your camp) while you’re at work. Occasionally you get the “nice guy” who offers to pay you to paint a shed or something else on his property. Only after you finish he refuses to pay and then calls the cops on you. That’s happened to me twice.
About the drug issue – there is one and it is a real problem. But I do have to say that in my 13 years I’ve seen plenty of people who otherwise never would have touched a drug end up addicted within a 6-month time frame. It’s always the same story. Starts with “I’m going to get out of this” and ends with futility. After a few months the reality sets in. Too damn hard to shower and panhandle to eat everyday and then try to get a job on top of surviving. And many have the same employment experiences I just wrote about. After that, they lose hope. Starts with weed, ends with meth or heroine. Just last month I got a phone call from a guy I know in Houston. A young kid we both liked was found dead under a bridge with a needle hanging out of his arm. Turned out to be fentanyl. He was 22 years old. The mortality rate for young people on the street is far greater than for older people (to a certain age). There is a dynamic there but I’m already a little off-topic.
So to sum things up, there’s really no “biggest misconception” about homelessness. It’s the entire view of homelessness that is a misconception. You don’t need to be a criminal, you don’t need to be an addict, you don’t need to do anything wrong, you don’t need to be lazy – it can, and does, happen to people from all walks of life. Once you’re there, you’re generalized into extreme negativity. You’re viewed as an addict even if you’ve never touched a drug. You’re viewed as a criminal even if your record is clean. You’re viewed as lazy even if you’re a very hard worker. Heck, I have a 738 credit score and 4 major credit cards, all with zero balances. Most housed people don’t have that. But I’m less financially responsible, somehow. Thank you for your question!
That’s very interesting. Thank you.
The situation are certainly different in France and the USA but over here opening a bank account requires an adress. So it never came to my mind that homeless people could use one. They must somehow… I am just not aware of those things.
You have to have an address for a bank account here as well. But some day shelters will let you use their address for driver’s licenses, voting, bank accounts, etc.
You’re a US veteran? Have you applied for HUD VASH? Are you in contact with SSVF?
Have you considered relocating to a place with available housing vouchers?
My application went in for HUD/VASH last month. But the stenosis isn’t considered a service-related issue so I don’t get VA health benefits, and HUD/VASH has a long line of vets on it. People with service-related disabilities go first (as it should be). So it’s basically a lottery ticket.
Sadly enough, there is no place in the United States with available housing vouchers. Section 8 and the like have 5-10 year waiting lists in most cities. Yes I’ve applied. Another lottery ticket!
I’m in Jacksonville, FL. Tunnels to Towers is pumping big money into veteran housing currently. The county and city had a lot of money when they passed the law to illegalize public sleeping/camping, and they had to put money into public housing as part of the law.
I was on the waiting list for about a week before approval. Right place at the right time. A lottery indeed. They were housing vets left and right with basically no wait period.
Similar deal here in Denver – SSVF had a ton of funds and was housing vets left and right (9-month housing limit, though). So the guys at the VA resource center sent me over to VOA, a week later I was in a hotel and a few weeks after that they moved me into the apartment I’m in now. I applied for SSI, got a lawyer, but we’re still stuck at step two with SSA and my housing ends on September 30th. I hope your housing lasts long enough for you to get whatever you need taken care of, and I really hope SSA expedites my case. If approved, it won’t be enough to cover the rent where I’m at (rent is $1,400 - SSI is $900), but at least with the back pay I can get a van to sleep in and never panhandle again. Good luck my friend!
Yeah ssvf isn’t going to give you long-term housing.
HUD VASH will. I have a HCV(housing choice voucher) through the JHA(housing authority which is basically like HUD section 8) that I can potentially port anywhere in the country. Yeah that thing that usually takes 5+ years to get I got here in one week. :o
With HCV I pay a certain portion of my income towards my rent that’s never over a third. I’ve been in the program going on 2 years now. My current lease expires next summer. I’ll probably be moving(porting to another city.) Jacksonville’s way too damn big.
I would love it if HUD/VASH came through, but I’ve been told not to get my hopes up. Seems here, there’s a limited number of seats in that program and they tend to reserve it for people who are already on VA disability (and apparently they can’t even house all of them). So hopefully the SSI goes through. I’ll be leaving Denver either way, like you said it’s just too big. At my ripe age of 52 I like peace, quiet, and no people!
They have rolling openings here. Any vet is a priority. I don’t think they’re currently enrolling. There are block grants… And they burn through them quick.
I’ll ride out what’s left on SSVF. I’ve been in touch with American Warrior Partnership, they said they might be able to help extend my stay since the SSI claim is pending. But as usual, “no promises” on that one. Hope for the best, plan for the worst!
Q1: Some cities are designating enclosed areas with running water, toilets, and other city resources where people can pitch their own tents. Other cities are creating ‘mini-homes.’ What are your thoughts?
Q2: If you were appointed the homeless ‘czar,’ what would you do?
The tiny home idea is good, but both solutions completely ignore the same problem that ultimately makes shelters fail: Concentration.
Basically, there’s 3 kinds of homeless. One third have psychological issues, one third has physical disabilities, and one third are homeless because of addiction issues.
When you put all of that together in one place, bad habits begin to multiply. As well, the people who run the places begin to dehumanize the people that live there. Shelters always fail. You’ll never read about a successful one. Concentration is the main issue. Disease, theft and drugs move in with many of the clients (and is also the reason I’ll never stay in one).
To really make a dent in the homeless problem, you have to eliminate the drugs first. If you can eliminate that, 1/3 of the problem goes away by itself. Granted, current addicts may never recover but at least we won’t be making any new ones.
Affordable housing needs to happen. If my SSI case is approved sometime this decade, my income will be limited to $900 per month. You’d be amazed at how many homeless that are actually receiving disability but can’t afford to live anywhere. Sure, you could rent an apartment. But then how do you eat and pay for other necessities?
If it were me, I’d make it law that any multi-family apartment complex has to have X amount of efficiency-type apartments (like we had in the 70s and 80s) that could be rented for $500 per month. No more first + last + deposit up front. And require that landlords accept deposits prorated. A $600 move-in price is achievable on minimum wage. A $3,000 move-in price isn’t.
This would enable a majority of homeless to get themselves off the streets without having to spend any public funds.
But homelessness is a business. And a racket at that. The State of Colorado (and many others) spend greater than $40,000 per year for services for every homeless person you see. And they’re still homeless.
The big issue I see now is AI automation, and soon robotics. The “low hire” job market is here to stay, and I see the homeless numbers increasing a lot before any significant change might be installed.
Thank you for your question!
How do you maintain hygiene? How much does it depend on the place you’re in?
It really does depend on location. If I’m in Houston, Central Park has a few buildings with 75-cent showers. Here in Denver the VA has an office off 35th and York with private showers. If I’m on the road, usually a creek or river. Worst case scenario -pay $12 at a truck stop.
Do you find happiness and joy some days while being homeless?
How often do you worry about saftey?
Are you still able to see a doctor?
Whats the easiest way for you to get around?
Sorry Ive so many questions, last one, are you homeless by choice? Ive met some people in the past who were, for as long as youve been too.
Of course. I’ve hitchhiked all over the US (North for summer, South for winter) and have camped in some beautiful places you’d never known existed. Plus I do ham radio (my gear is portable), so there’s almost always someone to talk to. And I still have a 6-pack on Fridays :-)
Safety can be an issue, especially if you’re in a city. I tend to camp as far away from any downtown area as possible. The biggest threats are addicts and police, both will steal the very things you need to survive. The trick is to stay light, stay mobile, and keep bear spray.
I have spinal stenosis and go in to the doctor again in a couple weeks. Medicaid has been a lifeline.
I usually take the bus to get around, unless I’m travelling. That’s when I shift to hitchhiking.
In my travels I’ve only met a handful of people that are homeless by choice. In their case it’s drugs, admittedly so. I’d prefer not to be homeless, but with the stenosis labor is ruled out. Sometimes I do house sitting, which is a nice break.
No worries about too many questions, it’s an AMA!
Thanks for doing this AMA! Since you mentioned having a nice break, I’d like to ask:
Are you homeless by choice or necessity?
Related: Have you turned down any opportunities that would lead you out of homelessness?
And: Are you working to stay homeless or to stop being homeless? Or just going where fate takes you?
I have spinal stenosis so labor is no longer an option. Right now I’m housed through a VA grant (started in January) but that ends next month. I prefer to be housed but without sufficient income it’s not really an option.
Once you’re homeless, there’s really no “opportunities” to get you out of it. Need to take a shower? That alone takes about 3-4 hours including bus (and fare, which you have to panhandle to get). Hungry? You’ll need to panhandle for 2-3 hours to fix that. Surviving is pretty much a 60-hour per week job in itself. Add to that other homeless trying to steal your stuff while your away, or the police doing the same thing via “sweeps”, and you’re pretty much ruled out of taking any kind of employment, even without stenosis.
Shelters are absolutely horrible. Disease, violence and theft. Plus you can’t sleep with the snoring and having someone’s stinky feet inches away from your face.
Nobody “works to stay homeless”. Would you leave everything you have to go sleep on the street? Neither would anyone else.
As for my situation, I have applied for SSI and a lawyer is representing me. If it ever goes through (it can take years) I’ll likely use the back pay to buy a van. SSI only pays $900 per month, so it’ll be van life for me.
Thanks, very informative! Hope I didn’t offend.
Not at all!
How do you choose where you’re going next and how long to stay? Mostly weather? Social groups? Resources?
Edit: Also, how did you get into ham radio? That has always fascinated me.
On the whole, it’s usually south to avoid the cold in winter, and then north to avoid the heat of summer. I have done a couple winters here in CO, but the Arctic blasts can be brutal when they happen.
Resources are pretty much the same in every city, meaning there are none. Every city is overwhelmed as far as resources are concerned. Anywhere you go is the same. They’ll do an intake (so they can get paid), then tell you they’re swamped with clients, out of funds, thank you for coming and have a nice day. For the most part, those “resources” are a waste of time.
As for other resources… Houston has public showers (75 cents) in most of their parks so that’s a huge deal. Food prices play a factor, as well as transit. Cities that are popular homeless destinations (Miami, SoCal, San Fransisco and believe it or not Salt Lake City) are 100% no-go zones. The bigger the homeless population, the more a homeless person should avoid it. For me personally, it’s less about the number of homeless people and more about the number of addicts. The former will leave you alone, the latter will cause problems
How long to stay depends on a few things. Weather is first, it can be life-threatening. If a city is “cracking down” on homeless (Most cities do every March, don’t ask me why), it’s also time to go. And if it’s just not working out, time to move on.
Wherever you go, you have to keep in mind that it’s temporary. Just like everything else.
I got in during the pandemic. There is a license test but once you get a study guide it isn’t bad. I have a web page for new hams here: https://sites.google.com/view/ki5ona/new-hams?authuser=0
Very cool! Great website. I checked it out quickly, but have it bookmarked to go back to in depth when I have more time. Seems like I should work on learning the military alphabet first!
It’s actually called ITU phonetics. The International Telegraph Union invented it, and the military, police, and ham radio operators still use it! It comes easy enough, especially after you’re issued your FCC call sign.
Oh that’s super cool! Thanks for teaching me about that.
Where will you go next? What kind of situation?
I’ll probably head to Texas for the winter. Past years I’ve been in Houston but I think Corpus Christie might be a nice change. I have 6 weeks to decide, maybe I’ll do both. The situation will be a one-man tent, sleeping bag, and the open road
