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truecomedian's avatar

What advice could you give somebody facing homelessness?

Asked by truecomedian (3937points) October 26th, 2010

I’m an idiot, I haven’t been able to figure anything out to save my ass from ending up homeless again. The bad thing is the street has changed, there not the same streets as before, I heard this through the hobo grapevine, and I just know it. Shelters are closing, people that used to have a home lost their jobs and are now in the shelters, this totally has changed the atmosphere. I most likely will have to fly to a different part of the country where I hope it will be easier for me. Some cities you can’t be homeless in, most people don’t know that, but not every town is hobo friendly. Getting ran out of town by the police really sucks. There’s got to be something that I can do to avoid this scenario. Any advice is welcomed, I wrote a lot so people can goof on me, in hopes that some insight can be gained. Thank You.

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14 Answers

Jeruba's avatar

There was a user on here for a while called ‘starbux.’ This person asked a handful of questions about homelessness and received a number of practical answers. He or she never answered any of our questions in turn, and I think this user never even revisited those threads. After four or five of them, the person closed the account. That makes it hard to find those questions, but you could try. (Another thing I wish Search would let us do: find questions by discontinued users.)

I later posted a follow-up question here.

Among them, especially if you can find the starbux posts, I think you’d find plenty of advice.

lillycoyote's avatar

Well, I don’t know if this is a possibility my brother is schizophrenic and homeless I it’s been almost twenty years since I’ve seen him but he used to be fairly good at finding little situations for himself. One time he was able to stay off the streets for over a year and a half by hooking up with this little church, in some rural area in eastern Ohio, I think. My brother did odd jobs and handyman stuff for the church and the pastor and for that he got a room and a bed in the church and board and some spending money. It kept him off the streets for a fairly decent amount of time. Maybe you could luck into something like that. It’s at least better and safer than the streets. Just a thought. You said any advice was welcome.

rooeytoo's avatar

I am intrigued by the fact that you say you are going to be homeless which I assume means broke and yet you have the wherewithal to fly to another city.

My only advice would be to fly somewhere warm. I would hate to be homeless in a cold climate in winter. And I would try to get a job on a horse van or think of a way to get south without spending the money on a plane ticket.

Good luck.

lillycoyote's avatar

@rooeytoo A one way plane ticket to somewhere is a lot less money than a month of rent and utilities almost anywhere. Whatever @truecomedian is going to spend on the ticket probably wouldn’t keep him off the streets for very long.

rooeytoo's avatar

@lillycoyote – I would still give the same advice, head south but find a way to go for free. Horse transport companies are always looking for help, actually they often fly horses. Bulletin boards with notices about someone needed to share driving and/or expenses. If I were a guy I would hitch it. The price of a plane ticket may not pay rent or utilities but it would keep me from starving.

That brings another question to my mind, can you actually buy a plane ticket with cash? I am assuming @truecomedian doesn’t have a credit card. I have never done it or seen it done.

truecomedian's avatar

@rooeytoo
I cant be homeless where I live right now, and I wont be homeless long, it was a mistake for me to come live here to take care of my sick folks, they get along fine without me. I have a plan that can get me off the streets in less than a month. Dont need no flying horses and yes you can buy a ticket with cash.
What a loser question I asked, damn I think I have officially lost my sense of humor, I got a hard road ahead, but it ain’t all bad.

CMaz's avatar

South Bend Indiana is Hobo friendly. And, they have a great shelter.

lillycoyote's avatar

@truecomedian It’s not a loser question. I know you’re facing some tough times but you are being way too hard on yourself.

@rooeytoo You’re right. There are much cheaper ways to travel than flying. It might best for a person to keep as much money in his pocket as possible under these kind of circumstances. That just wasn’t clear, at least to me, from the way you worded your response.

YARNLADY's avatar

Maybe you can find work that will keep you off the streets. Nursing homes are always looking for personal care workers, and you can always find live in positions at teen half-way houses and elder care homes.

lillycoyote's avatar

@truecomedian, @YARNLADY right. I was going to suggest that too. Sometimes people are looking for live-in companions to help them with the little things they can no longer do for themselves. Not necessarily nursing type care, but things like dishes and cleaning, running errands and cooking. You might be able to find ads for those kind of positions in the paper, though if you only think you might be homeless only for a month or so I wouldn’t put individuals through that if you’ll be gone in a month. Maybe stick to some kind of institutional setting.

mattbrowne's avatar

Maintaining good relationships with family and relatives do matter.

truecomedian's avatar

@mattbrowne
a common trend with the general populace of the mean description of the statisical poor homeless, is that they have poor family relationships. As they say “dysfunctional” families produce a higher amount of potential preconditioned homeless. Which is the homeless live on the street because their unable to afford housing, and/or they just dont want a home.

truecomedian's avatar

Has this ever happened to anyone, you write what you feel is a really good response and then you accidently erase it. Damn it.
I said so much good stuff. Crap. The main point was that the homeless are iconoclastic. The total image of the homeless changes much less than the individual homeless. It’s like the hands on a clock, the second hand is the new homeless coming and going, and the hour hand is like the total view of all the homeless, almost everyone has an idea 0f what they think the home-impaired resembles. And yes I am aware of the fact that I use a little fancy speech to attempt to convey as much as possible, to me, I think this is cool too, I mean at least have a heart when I say that I feel that I’m at least a half way decent chum(p).
I wanted to start a nation wide magazine for the homeless by, some, of the homeless, like 50/50 on that. It would have a constant section dedicated to what it’s like to be homeless in as many cities as possible. And it would have interviews with real homeless from those towns. A lot of homeless people migrate so this could really be useful in helping someone on an individual basis, one good reason is because some places you really cant be homeless in. It would give the newly homeless a code of conduct, of how to present yourself and to whom. Also a test you can give yourself to see what your chances are of escaping the street, or if you dont got what it takes to scrape yourself off the road.
Like I said, my other rant was better, but I think I still managed to pop the proverbial zit a bit more. I like to think that I can help s0me0ne as much as I am enjoying writing this. I like Fluther, I hope it likes me, some, though right now I am in a world of hurt, pain, confusion; pick one, right? Sorry guys Im a couch surfing joy killer. I have people threatening my life right now and I am one of them. I would love to not say or doing anything that will cause me more loss. I have done things unconscionable and the difference between the things of that sort that Ive done and what you may have done, is that I have done these things. I say a prayer before going into every bar, I ask god to put me in contact with the most messed up person in the bar. I first did this in hopes to be able to help someone that needed it the most. But now I realize that at my very best I can only help someone, half of the time. And only a fraction of that is a permanent change. Intent is a motherfucker. I want to say that being good matters, that even though I have made some mistakes, I’m still good, can you just smell my self confidance and assurance, I cant, I cant judge myself, I just realized that. Thats why Im always telling people the worst about me, so they can judge me, because I must feel that once Im properly judged I can move on with myself. Saying this wants me to hedge my bets and call myself pathetic. But I could be dead on and Im back pedalling a go-go, so now it’s lame. Whoops. See I dont really care, I must have at one point, and by care I mean to treat someone or something as I treat myself, is that nihilistic?? Now what, I feel like Ive once again painted myself into a corner. Maybe I shouldnt say paint. I do a mean watercolor on fine French paper, but every other kind of painting I dislike. Wow, neat, I go now.
Oh yeah one more thing, there is like the hierarchy of support it goes something like this:
God(optional)
Parents
Distant Relatives
Friends (true ones)
Business Assossciates
Society (everyone else)

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