I’ve been following the homeless guy with a hooker thread. I would post information in that thread but I don’t want to steal the OPs thunder.
There were some questions about homelessness in that thread I believe that I can answer. Also there seems to be some disbelief that the OP is homeless in the first place. I however do not believe what he is saying about his lifestyle is farfetched at all, because…
It can be quite easy to get by without a home. Much easier than it is to find and hold down a decent paying job.
Now, there are different degrees of homelessness. Actually I prefer the word “vagrancy”. I’m not talking about the sleeping on park benches and eating out of dumpsters degree of homelessness. I don’t have any experience with that, and I hope to God I never will. I’m talking about living without a home, in a technical sense.
I’m your average American, mostly. I have job, an active social life, a car, hobbies, and I have a college degree. My struggle however is to find and keep a well paying job that would allow me to move in an apartment (even with roommates). I have a very chaotic home life, so staying with parents on a full time basis is not much of an option. I’ve gone days, weeks, and up to a month without staying with my folks.
I feel that I don’t have other family to rely on. They are either more dysfunctional than my parents or they don’t live in town or I’m not close enough to. Friends have either never brought up the possibility of me staying with them or they brought up the possibility but suggested that I had to chip in rent. Plus, I want my independence.
The fact I have a car makes my life easier, but I believe that I can do without, and have experimented doing so. It’s a great place for storage, to sleep, and to just chill out [which I’m doing now 4 am on a parking lot ] To be continued…
Okay, as I was typing that I noticed that a cop was sitting at a pump for the last 20 min. I had to switch locations.
I’ve been living this way since July 2010. I’ve learned a lot and had to grow up in many ways. Some things I had to cope with were much easier than I expected, others, much harder. I am getting by, but there are two potential dealbreakers. Sleep deprevation. I get sleep, but nearly enough. And the people I encounter when I’m awake from midnight till 5 am. I might be able to move some where within a month or two, but doing so will put me in enormous debt. But at this point it seems worth it.
Well ask away.
I also have questions about the other side. I read somewhere in that thread that a poster was not prepared to make this transition. I actually hear this quite often. I am dumbfounded about this. How can one not be prepared for such a thing or not believe this can happen to them?
Being a woman, harder, obviously. I face risks that men don’t usually have. I have not had any actual incidents, but I’ve had some unpleasant interactions. It seems that I’m invisible to men during the day, but my “desirability” shoots up overnight.
I’m constantly watching my back and it is stressful to have to be so alert all the time. An example, cars with tinted windows freak me the hell out. Nearly all unpleasant interactions out on the road and on lots have been with people who drive automobiles with tinted windows.
A gay woman, a little easier. I just don’t have as many hang ups as stereotypically straight women. An example, I have no problem dressing like a guy to disguise my gender (which actually works sometimes-I had a incident with some cops Friday, they thought I was a male until I took off my hoodie).
Can I ask how old you are, and how long you see yourself doing this? Also, what’s your end game, do you see yourself more settled by the time you’re in your fifties or sixties?
I always thought homelessness wouldn’t be so bad if you lived in a place with a beach culture–if you show up at the beach at 10 AM, set up a blanket and some covering, you can get 8 hours sleep without anyone bothering you at all, most days, especially if you switch beaches. Of course you can’t work 9 to 5, but that is the one exception to falling asleep in public and not getting hassled.
I was born in the early 80s. Hopefully this will all come to an end by this summer. I am working full time, but unfortunately it’s not all that high paying. But if I can find a side hustle I should be okay. No, I do not see myself doing this in my 50s and 60s. I think one of the reasons I’m able to stay under the radar is because I look young.
That’s why I like night time work, it is so much easier to find somewhere to sleep during the day.
I’ve considered moving to somewhere that has mild temps year round. But going by research, it is much harder to get away with vagrancy in those climates. And the penalties are much stiffer.
…you know they don’t really enforce those laws except in small towns right?
Every city no matter the climate has a homeless population, aside from causing an incident or a crack down the cops don’t arrest them daily. And in any case you should dress at least well enough to not be visibly homeless.
Thanks for this thread. I’m sure there are a lot more people in your situation than most realize. I think it’s part of the “new normal” of the nation’s new economy. Have you come to know others in your position by virtue of simply being in it?
Some people call Santa Monica “the home of the homeless,” though I don’t know exactly what that is supposed to mean. I know you can’t sleep on the beach at night.
Still, if you move to a place because the climate affords homelessness better, you then are committed to finding work in that place, and that might prove problematic. Los Angeles and San Diego both have large homeless populations in the OP’s situation, whereby a vehicle facilitates much of what a house or apartment otherwise would. I often see people who appear to be living this way in the beach areas, apparently sleeping in campers, covered pick ups, or station wagons. “Vagrancy” probably is the best word to describe it. Do you tell prospective employers about your situation as it is, or do you think that could jeopardize job options?
What kind of job do you have that pays enough to maintain a car, but not enough to contribute to rent? What are you spending money on? Have you applied for subsidized housing?
When I was around 30 I lived out of my car for about six months. I stayed close to the UT campus where I could shower daily at the Art Building (I looked young enough to be in college & was never hassled). I had a job cooking at a restaurant, so eating was never a problem. A lot of people who knew me didn’t know I was homeless. The only bad part was that one of the windows in my car was gone, so I got cold or wet sometimes. Otherwise, it wasn’t unpleasant and I enjoyed being in a “mobile home.”
There’s some places that will kick you out no matter how well you are dressed, if you stick around too long. I don’t know which cities are more lenient and which are not. I don’t want to move and find out. But going by major cities, the ones in warmer clients tend to tolerate vagrancy the least.
I’d rather not say, but they are low paying jobs. Again, my root problem was that I could not find any full time or decent paying jobs. Keeping the jobs were hard too. Because of my situation, I have to take what I could get, and many of those jobs I was not cut off for. As for my new job, it is full time, but not in a traditional way. There’s no set salary and I don’t get benefits.
I can’t pay for car note, gas, food, student loan repayments, hospital bills, etc. AND pay for rent/utilities.
Knowing family members who live in subsidized housing, I know how awful it is to live in that kind of environment. Being a vagrant in my opinion is much more safe and less stressfull. I do have occasional contact with people who do hard drugs and have criminal records and so on, but going by the reputations of subsidized areas, I would be IMMERSED in such stuff.
I suggest your spending priorities could stand some re-evaluating. Student loans can possibly be deferred, hospital bills are unsecured debt dischargeable in bankruptcy…and if your income is below a certain threshold, your wages can’t be garnished for most debts.
As someone who has posted numerous threads on this board expressing your confusion over your social environment and how various social customs and behaviors absolutely baffle you, how exactly do you feel this somehow puts you in a good position of “succeeding” at being homeless?
] To be continued…