I don't know if there are similar programs in your state but in Oregon, there are programs that will allow a person to rent a simple apartment on 1/3 of whatever their income is (below a certain income level of course). So, if your income is just SS at $900 a month for example, an apartment can be had for $300 a month. Although not a common approach at this forum since most of us are millionaires (or so it seems) there really are a lot of resources at far lower levels. I think there is a lot more to homelessness than just the $$$.
I know you are right about these things sometimes being available, but there are plenty of gotchas. I get to know vendors of
Real Change, a street newpsaper sold by homeless or recently homeless people. One woman I know recently got an apartment like this. She loves it; but she was on a waiting list for 3 years before she got the call. She is dying from lung cancer that she might be able to get operated on if only she had the energy and oomph to put on the 10 pounds the doctors want before they will consider her for surgery. I know another guy who is one of the sweetest, brightest men I know. He is very appealing to people and has many friends who only buy from him outside of one particular store where he works long days rain or shine. His mother recently died, which freed up a bedroom in his brother's house which he is moving into now. But for many long years before, he lived on cardboard in the entryway to a woman's store out in north city. He kept her sidewalks and parking area free of snow, cleaned up random messes customers and passersby made, and in return she gave him a place to camp out so he didn't have to carry his bedding around all day. It took him 2 bus rides each way to get from his "home" down here to work where there is much more pedestrian traffic and it is easier to sell a liberal/radical newspaper. Today he told me his sciatica is kicking up and it will be a long day for him standing on the pavement. Once a couple years ago during a spell of real cold weather I asked him if he ever considered public housing- "Oh hell yes, but they try to give that first to women with kids, and there are plenty of them to use up all that is available." He also said, "and that is how it should be".
So it isn't as simple as it looks from the outside, or to someone who has never really lost in his life. Likewise the "get a motorhome and go fishing" is mostly and most times a pure fantasy. Fine for young male loner or even a couple, but problem plagued for a woman or many an older person. What if your money troubles coincide with early Alzheimers, or maybe a stroke?
I know there are many homeless people with heavy mental/emotional and/ substance problems, but often there is little or nothing they can do about that either. But a large number of them are tougher and more resiliant than the average salaryman or woman sitting in front of their 50"TV. They just turned some different cards in the Tarot Deck of life.
Physical appearance really counts too. Lose a few teeth and your chances of finding a job on today's market take a dive. And losing a few teeth is very easy to accomplish when you fall out the bottom. In an aside, I was tired of paying dentists a huge sum for teeth cleaning and a most cursory exam, only to have them attempt to sell some restorative program that I often suspected was to help them restore their bank accounts recently depleted by divorces. So I went to a school that trains hygienists. They have staff supervisors, and an incredibly nice and thorough dentist. The hygienists were joking me about being rich, since I had so much gold in my mouth. I told them to relax since that all went with my ex. Anyway, the dentist said "we don't see many mouths this clean here".
We middle class people usually have no idea how other people really live. In general, not as well as we do.
This message is as poplular here as a whore in church, but I feel that if one is at all in doubt, keep working. It will never be easier to increase your security than right now while you still have a job.
Ha
