I’d come to a message board where I’d never ever posted before, find a thread from 6 years ago, bear my soul to total strangers who don’t know me from Adam, without ever once bothering to introduce myself.
Hey, it could happen.
Beats the hell out of sleeping on the ground. Especially in the rain.
Pay a year’s membership in a cheap gym so I have a place to take a shower if I’m reduced to living in my car.
Get a library card so I can use their computers for job hunting.
Convert my car insurance so it’s liability only.
Find a really, really good sleeping bag.
Get serious about understanding my state’s unemployment and medicaid rules. See if I’m eligible for any federal benefits through the VA or SSA.
Let’s just hope the forum is full of understanding people who will welcome new members.
Wow. A hypothetical question has brought out in the open how many people are “on the verge.” Sad and shocking.
As for me, I went through this last year and with no family, no close friends (I’ve moved a lot.), and no community ties, I slept in my truck a few nights and then scouted out the best women’s shelter in town.
I was there for two months. It wasn’t so bad at the shelter. I slept on a metal bed with a mattress and got two nice blankets every night. Also three good meals a day. I got a lot of social services help there, and finally, a voucher for my rent that should be good until I can get a Section 8.
As someone above said, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. I spent 20 years in a very high-paying job and then suddenly it just was no more.
It’s tough to get back on your feet, but foodstamps and a small amount of cash each month keep me going. I just walk around poor all the time. I pass houses that I once owned…
Many of those people posted in the thread when it was first started in 2009, though. I hope that their situations have improved since then.
As far as the weather is concerned, Hawaii is THE place to do this. You can live quite comfortably out in the open air, even in a pouring rain on Christmas day. At worst, it’s comfortably cool and not at all cold. (ETA: Cite: I spent Christmas day, 1980 or maybe it was 1981, by myself at the dolphin lab, outside, feeding the dolphins in during a downpouring deluge, wearing nothing but swimming trunks and sandals. Perfectly comfortable. Everybody else went home for Christmas.)
When I lived in Hawaii (1980-1984) there were no laws against vagrancy and there were some people who just lived on the beaches and in the parks like that.
But I’d easily believe that they’ve gotten more paranoid in the years since then and tightened up the laws. I read somewhere (maybe here?) that Honolulu has a policy of buying free one-way tickets for vagrants to go back to whatever state they came from.
It’s probably still representative. For many of us older workers who were in industries that “changed,” the job situation has not been improving.
I didn’t realize it was 2009, though. Thanks.
I was one of the ones who posted in 2009. I think my situation is best described as “more stable”. I have a permanent full time job now but it barely pays enough for our basics. My dad was helping us out from time to time but he was diagnosed with cancer this week and since he isn’t healthy enough to tolerate chemo it’s essentially terminal. I’m less likely to wind up at Eldest Sister’s house but it could still happen.
Middle Sister is even worse off than I am - she WAS homeless for three months in 2010. Did some serious couch surfing until dad bought her a used car, she slept in that for a bit, then finally got some social services help, stable living, got back into grad school… Since mom passed away Middle Sister has had one of her two children become permanently disabled and the other just suddenly died one afternoon.
With dad probably needing some help, and summer unemployment coming up for Middle Sister (her current work is in teaching) Eldest Sister is considering asking Middle Sister if she’d be willing to trade helping out with dad for a roof over her head… except we’re not sure, given the knocks she’s taken over the past few years, if Middle Sister is emotionally up to that. I’m sure Eldest Sister will still give her a place to live if she needs it, but it’s better in a lot of ways if there’s a give and take.
I have several times thought I should beg in the streets for rent money if I saw such a situation approaching. Not sure if it would be feasible, nor if I could bring myself to actually do it, though.
There are websites online about converting various types of vehicles for living in - I would go for at least a minivan as the smallest size one could reasonably comfortably live in. One person on a different message board lucked onto a standard white business van [no windows] and converted it for living in, and he had a membership at a gym he showered at, did laundry at a laundromat and back at the time [2007 or 8] he was still on good terms with his father and would go charge up a couple of truck batteries every few days to run a small light and his laptop. IIRC he cooked using the small 1 pound tanks of camping propane and used a cooler for perishables. He would take advantage of the anonymous businessy look of the van and park in industrial areas overnight for sleeping - which is why the windowless bit was important. He did something with light shielding a couple of roof vents as I recall.
Currently, the main change I would make if I were in that situation is take advantage of the solar panel systems for RVs they now have to keep my batteries topped off. I think if installed right they would be fairly unnoticable and keep the batteries topped off nicely. I would also check into one of those annual passes that you can buy for the Federal [?] park system that lets you in, sort of like one of those annual theme park passes.
Do you rent or have a mortgage? There is a BIG difference. In the short term you’re better off with a mortgage, as most states have laws preventing an immediate eviction after a foreclosure, and the foreclosure itself can take months. A landlord can get you tossed much faster.
I speak as someone unemployed 3.5 years who ran out of unemployment after 2 and still managed to keep my home.
If you do get laid off, call your student loan providers right away to request forebearance. It’s not a guarantee that they’ll allow it, but as long as you find another job within 6 months-1 year, and your account with them is presently in good standing, you should be fine. Even if they don’t grant forebearance (or a deferment, either/or but forebearance is better), make sure to keep them informed of your lack of ability to pay. Lenders are more lenient when you tell them why they aren’t getting their money, as opposed to silently not paying them.
I have an old friend who lived in a van in Illinois for a couple of years while she had a low-paying job–pretty bad winters, but she said her life was never in danger. It can be done, but you’ll need a gym membership or a friend’s driveway or something to take showers. I’m not sure how you’d heat it at night.
…
A few years ago, I was almost there. I arranged for a friend to care for my cats for up to three months and notified other friends, a few of which offered to take me in until I get back on my feet. What actually happened was pretty creative.
I found out through credit counseling that I could stay in my home for a certain length of time before the bank could kick me out. So I did. And halfway through that time, I got a contract job. But I didn’t notify the mortgage bank. Instead, I paid off all outstanding bills with my first few paychecks. Then I told the bank and we renegotiated my loan. A year later, the foreclosure fell off my credit rating.
I may go through it all again soon as I am still working only contract jobs. Sigh. It can be very stressful.
A few years ago I thought that scenario could be imminent, so I was wondering when would be the time to raise all the money I could and move to somewhere near LA, so that I could try to get on game shows. I have that sort of mind; I could probably do very well. If that didn’t work, I would at least be homeless in a warm climate.
At the same time, I was seriously thinking about killing myself. I have (and already had, at that time) two BAs and one MA; I’ve been praised my whole life for allegedly being extremely intelligent; nearly everyone has had high hopes for me; and yet I don’t have much hope of ever getting a career, or, as my parents would call it, a “real job.” I saved my life by getting a retail job that actually pays a living wage.
This thread is sad and scary. It also, like so many other things, fills me with anger at the post-1980 political changes that have brought quite a bit of it about, and exasperation at a public that cannot seem to understand this.
Man, this thread makes me thank my lucky stars that I honestly cannot see myself ever becoming truly homeless. I am blessed to have enough family and friends around who would take me (and my dogs) in with them.
In fact, if I had to move in to my parents’ house (which is paid off) with my brother and his kids and wife and our 3 dogs, and everyone live off pensions, social security and floor-mopping money, we could totally do it.
I wish everyone were as lucky as me. Family can really be a precious commodity sometimes.
I wish I was where you are.
I have neither friends, nor family.
Unfortunately, high intelligence is not as profitable as most people assume it is. Very unfortunately.
They more or less have to- Hawaii is the only state that you can’t leave by road, which makes it a sort of one-way trap for indigent people. This was touched upon in an article at the Atomic Rockets site about “Lurkers”: people stranded on space stations with no way to leave, with Hawaii as an IRL example. Not withstanding Hawaii’s unique situation, the idea of a state deporting its homeless is controversial.