I mean totally homeless-no family or friends to stay with, no semi permanent roof over your head.
Not really. I did live like that for a few months but I always knew I could bail and “go home” when I wanted to. I don’t consider it being truly homeless; more just an odd journey.
I lived in youth hostels for a year in Israel in the late '80s. Not sleeping on the streets, but definitely not a home.
When I was going through my divorce and after and I was giving out much more money than I was keeping I certainly couldn’t afford to live anywhere around here. I know I was very lucky to be able to move in with my mother no questions asked.
Definitely not what I’m talking about.
I had a bad run back in the 80’s. No really marketable skills when I got out of the U.S.A.F., so I got a job as an orderly in a nursing home to earn enough to get a room on the Bremerton waterfront. Between the very erratic hours and all the crap I caught from the patients I managed to get so sick I lost my job and my room, so I lived on the streets of Seattle for a couple of years.
As a child, the family had to move in with Grandma, so homeless-light.
I’d be very interested in hearing how you got out of that situation (assuming that you did).
A crazy lady who I met at a free science fiction festival at the Seattle Center, took me along with her that night to an SCA practice night, got me drunk on hot mulled wine, took me to my first Rocky Horror, then took me home and made me her housekeeper for room and board.
Thank you , Crazy Lady-you probably saved my life.
No, and thank God. I feel terrible for those who have been, or who are.
I haven’t been, but I irrationally fear it.
I once read a story in which a homeless woman went in a store and pretended to be grocery shopping so that she could eat a banana while she pushed the cart around. I remember her putting a mop in the cart because that was something an ordinary housewife would buy. When I read this story, I thought, yeah if I’m homeless I will do that.
I also have a habit of scanning public places to find safe places to sleep.
I don’t have any expectation that I will be homeless, it’s just something I think about.
Yes and no. I was between leases in college so instead of going to my parents many miles out of town I slept in the park until the new lease started.
Technically I didn’t need to but I chose to.
If you do end up homeless, having a van or Toyota prius to sleep in makes it far less miserable. If you can’t pull that off, a tent in a safe area is also good.
A lot of long term homelessness is due to untreated mental illness. Most other homeless are just temporary
I’ve never been homeless either, but I also think about it and tend to check out highway overpasses to see if there are semi-private little nooks under them that would be good for sleeping in. I thought I was the only person who did that kind of thing.
I’ve heard from a charity that worked with the homeless (but I don’t remember who so can’t provide a citation) that a large cause of mental illness in homeless populations is due to sleep deprivation. It’s really effing hard to sleep on a sidewalk or under a bridge. Cold, hard, noisy. A few weeks of that and you get touchy. A few months of it and you get neurotic and/or paranoid.
Only homeless-lite, as someone upthread said.
I was a 24 and renting a place but the house had a minor fire and so I had to vacate while renovations were done. I moved back in with my mother and her husband ( at her suggestion ) but it didn’t work out. She knew I was over a barrel and treated me like I was 15 and was generally not very pleasant. I couldn’t stand it, so I left.
I showered at work, slept in my car sometimes, occasionally grabbed a motel room or crashed at a friend’s or cousin’s place here and there. This was for a few months. On top of that, I worked midnight shift. Not a fulfilling time of my life. Thankfully my original place I rented was done, and a lot newer and spiffier too.
No for me. The lowest point so far was after being evicted*, but I still had both jobs, and one of them required a truck (so moving my stuff wasn’t a problem). I was technically still a member of my old collage frat and had the option of staying there, but decided to move back with my folks for a few months to “reset”.
*Roommate shenanigans with the rent money. Expensive, but useful lesson on trusting people.
When I hit rock bottom around 1988-89 I was fortunate enough to have a friend who took me in. I could also have moved in with my parents or my sister and her husband.
Last year I spent six week in a homeless shelter.
Thirty years ago, I spent three months on the streets of New York.