If you were a sane, intelligent homeless person in Manhattan, and you wanted to avoid staying at a shelter, "WWYD?"

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m in my 40s, straight male, white guy, and I’ve been in Manhattan / New York City for almost 2 years, but homeless the whole time. I have good family in Indiana and Maryland, but not to live with because they have lives (retirement for some, careers for some) and I’m a grown man and I’m living my life.

Unlike a great majority of homeless people- and I base that “great majority” statement not only on statistics and “common knowledge” but also on direct experience the last few years of my life- I have never done any “hard drug” even once in my entire life, nor have I ever been an alcoholic or anything like those things (I don’t even smoke marijuana), and I have never had visual or auditory hallucinations of any kind in my waking life.

I’ve stayed at a few shelters here in New York City, but also a couple “Safe Havens” which are better than normal shelters because a) you can stay out for 72 hours or fewer and not lose your bed and b) everyone has their own little room. The problem is that even these “good” Safe Havens will inevitably always end up having at least one crooked individual who works on the staff, which is why I got kicked out of my good Safe Haven- and much of my only property / possessions thrown away- a few months ago. I’d been there for 6 months before that happened.

Now I’m post-traumatic and resolute in my hatred of crooked (and sometimes racist against white men like me) Safe Haven workers, and I don’t want to set myself up for pain again, so I’m delaying going to another Safe Haven or the like. I wish I could meet someone in Manhattan / New York City that I could chat with and show him my credentials (I have former LinkedIn and Facebook profiles and such that show my good background, and a good chat shows most people pretty quickly that I’m no addict and I hear no voices in my head :wink: - plus they can by all means call my relatives (when I give them the number) and hear straight from them how clean my record is), and thus be able to spend the next month to month and a half staying on someone’s couch / floor / garage- I’m low-maintenance, man :slight_smile:

After a month or so I’d be fine.

Any advice? Sorry to get negative on you right before the weekend. :smiley:

2

I think there are two drop-in centers, transitional housing in Manhattan but I think those are probably too much like shelters.

3

Is it maybe like San Diego where the city runs supervised tent lots for otherwise unsheltered residents, with trucked-in showers and portable toilets? They probably don’t have any of those in Manhattan, right?

4

I’ve rarely thought about Manhattan but realized it’s probably the most expensive place to live in the US. What motivates you to live there?

5

Do you have any income or resources? Like a job or some sort of regular government payment? Are you able/willing to work? Even if it’s at a job that is beneath what you are qualified for?