Homeless situation...It is "NOT" going away. Could you "survive".?

[UserNameTaken]

Search 'slab city' on you tube and look at random video.


little thread drift...sorry

there was a video on youtube long ago...its blocked or something or taken down over copyright...but it was on the mesa in southwest...i think Arizona...anyhow it was sorta a lawless place and lots of vets there and more.

Yeah, Slab City. It's in Cali's Imperial Valley. Even there the government is pushing people out. This year they greatly increased the long term permit fees, into the hundreds of dollars - pushing more poor people out into less optimal spaces. The sheriff patrols it, but I wouldn't go there unarmed, and since it's in Cali, I'll pass. But it's a last stronghold for free thinkers, characters and a few crazy people.

We're about 5 hours north, even here I'm seeing growing numbers of trashy motor homes squatting in the desert on BLM land, waaay past the 2 week limit. People can't keep up. We are relatively well off, and yet I'm being squeezed since I retired. I'm thinking of buying an RV as a backup, but I don't want to get arrested for not paying $100 a night to park it.

Yeah, I may have gotten of topic, but hope my drivel was interesting to contemplate.

 

[Cabin Fever]

We have friends that were both divorced when they found each other. They were almost penniless due to their divorces. They spent two years in a teepee in northern Minnesota including winters to save money. The teepee had an insulated raised floor, a small woodstove, and a gas light. The property was owned by a friend. After the two years they saved enough money to buy a house. They are often asked to make

their presentation called, "Living in a Circle."

 

[Magus]

That looks pretty doable.

I'm doing it in a Winnebago as I type.
When I wrote my book I wish I had included some of my interactions with some of the more colorful homeless people I ran into Like "Beanie Weenie" The "King of the Bike people" I kid thee not, he had a tribe similar to slab city in Commiefornia, they were called the bike people because they all had bikes. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but there was a drunken brawl on check day, and after it was over the elected Clarence AKA Beanie Weenie their king and ran off the druggies and drunks, while he was alive they had families down there and it was kind of nice and they kept the trash picked up as well, but after he died the place got covered up in trash-heads and the city bulldozed the camp after three murders in a year.

 

[elkhound]

one of my friends is homeless now as he sold his home..he lives in a converted cargo van...certain places he goes is $7 a night with electric,internet etc. you have to move spots every 14 days though...you also have to book on line and many times spots are reserved a year in advance.

the above requires drivers license,vehicle and the ability to drive and move...loss of DL would be catastrophic to this way of living.

i wouldnt want to do that as i get old...i want at least a one room something to stay in..but we never know what we might have to do to survive either.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

The overwhelming majority of homeless are that way because they choose to be.
They either refuse to address their alcohol/drug addiction, or they refuse mental health help.

And before anyone thinks that I'm being "holier than thou" let me qualify my opinion by saying that by the mid 1980's I had drank myself out of jobs, out of a marriage, and into homelessness.
I chose to put alcohol ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE.

Today, by the Grace of God, plus the Twelve Steps and fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have long term sobriety and everything else "normal" people have.
So, yeah, I feel qualified to call out the lazy drunks that have no desire to improve their life and are just worried about getting their next drink. I've been there.

 

[sonya123]

The overwhelming majority of homeless are that way because they choose to be.
They either refuse to address their alcohol/drug addiction, or they refuse mental health help.

when I was homeless, I met other homeless of course. Most of them either had drug or alcohol problems, or mental problems, or were hiding from the law. I met a few women with kids that were in custody battles and hiding, and a few guys hiding from the exs so they didn't have to pay child support.

 

[sonya123]

one of my friends is homeless now as he sold his home..he lives in a converted cargo van...certain places he goes is $7 a night with electric,internet etc. you have to move spots every 14 days though...you also have to book on line and many times spots are reserved a year in advance.

the above requires drivers license,vehicle and the ability to drive and move...loss of DL would be catastrophic to this way of living.

i wouldnt want to do that as i get old...i want at least a one room something to stay in..but we never know what we might have to do to survive either.

that was my biggest fear in California, that my registration and insurance would run out, I would get caught and then I would lose the vehicle and the drivers license. The silly thing was, I had a white Pontiac Firebird. It was a nice car, nobody would have thought it would belong to a homeless person. But very uncomfortable to sleep in

 

[Amish Heart]

Little granddaughter's mom has lived homeless most of her adult life, and chooses this. She is an addict, although appears to be sober at the moment, and she's mentally a mess and gets a state check for that. She is in housing this month, but she usually becomes a problem, then she's out. We'll see.

 

[Sourdough]

What I am going to post is 100% "Valid".

I find it fascinating that "ALL" discussions about homelessness, must evolve into discussions about why they are homeless. Alcohol and drugs MUST enter the conversation.........It MUST.

I have never seen a discussion reference homelessness, that did not deteriorate into discussion about drugs and/or alcohol.

Why does it matter so greatly to people, unless it is them setting the foundation for themselves to FEEL SUPERIOR.

It is fascinating to me that people simply can't control themselves. They "MUST" judge and distinguish themselves as "SUPERIOR HUMANS".

What is the difference between someone who can't control their need to judge others as weaker, and inferior then themselves. Then those who can't control their substance addiction.

I think people who can't even control their own thinking process, their inability too not just others (as inferior) are just as weak as those with subsistence control issues.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

Sorry if my speaking from experience tripped your trigger.

Spend some time in a rescue mission, such as a Salvation Army.





yo

 

[Peanut]

Superiority has nothing to do with it. If suddenly faced with homelessness tomorrow I want the best intel I can get on the people and dangers I’ll be facing. Good intel from reconnaissance is a must!

Lying about the dangers for the sake of someone’s feelings is just foolish. White-washing these people as something else is not logical and could be fatal.

 

[RJ2019]

What I am going to post is 100% "Valid".

I find it fascinating that "ALL" discussions about homelessness, must evolve into discussions about why they are homeless. Alcohol and drugs MUST enter the conversation.........It MUST.

I have never seen a discussion reference homelessness, that did not deteriorate into discussion about drugs and/or alcohol.

Why does it matter so greatly to people, unless it is them setting the foundation for themselves to FEEL SUPERIOR.

It is fascinating to me that people simply can't control themselves. They "MUST" judge and distinguish themselves as "SUPERIOR HUMANS".

What is the difference between someone who can't control their need to judge others as weaker, and inferior then themselves. Then those who can't control their substance addiction.

I think people who can't even control their own thinking process, their inability too not just others (as inferior) are just as weak as those with subsistence control issues.

The "why" of homelessness is the crux of the issue, sorry if you didn't want us addressing the elephant in the room

 

[Haertig]

There does appear to be a superiority complex on display here.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

There does appear to be a superiority complex on display here.

Not from me.

 

[Haertig]

Not from me.

Nope. Not you. Guess again.

 

[Ozarks hillbilly]

I’ve never been homeless per se, but I have had to live in my camper a few times over the past several years and do so mostly through the week now. I’ve been in nice places with electricity and internet and in places that had neither. I think I could survive well enough, but it wouldn’t be fun.

Like others have posted, I’ve met some interesting drifters while doing this. Retired couples, folks on the run and those who had checked out of the rat race.

 

[joel]

The best way to Survive homeless is not to be homeless.
The longest I have lived without a home, sled was nine days in a pup tent.
I have went over 55 hour without food, just water, I never want to do it again.
I have three buildings I could live in, only one is a home.
So I have set up three fall back plans to keep me from loosing everything.
But it's the things you do not see that get you.

 

[sonya123]

What I am going to post is 100% "Valid".

I find it fascinating that "ALL" discussions about homelessness, must evolve into discussions about why they are homeless. Alcohol and drugs MUST enter the conversation.........It MUST.

well, when you think about it, every person that is homeless HAS a reason for why they are , so of course this is part of the discussion. Why discuss it in the first place if you don't want to talk about the why?
After all, how you handle your homelessness totally depends on WHY. I was homeless for making the bad decision to move to California without enough money and with a loser boyfriend. I was not a drunk or drug addict. So my situation was temporary and I fixed it. Some people like I said are homeless because they are hiding and don't want someone to find them. Some are drug addicts. All those people would act differently. The addicts just want their next drug. They most likely don't care about anything else. The criminals will probably go steal something and maybe work some labor job for cash to get by.

 

[lonewolf]

we met lots of homeless people when we lived in Glastonbury, they lived in caravans/trailers, horse boxes and old vans, they did it because they had to, they couldnt afford to rent anywhere.

 

[Cabin Fever]

If you wanted to discuss the reasons for homelessness, perhaps this thread should have been posted in a subform other than Prepping.

 

[Jim Costa]

This is an article I wrote 20 years ago. I believe it is time for it to happen now.

Homeless to Aliens top of page

Yesterday I attended a workshop regarding lack of affordable housing for persons with disabilities and the homeless. As I sat there I noticed that half of the participants were professionals employed as social workers, attorneys specializing in discrimination litigation, etc. and the rest were referred to as their “consumers”. I listened as they all agreed that there just were not any affordable homes available, period. Just this week the city of Pensacola, by its actions, implied that affordable housing was new homes in the $175,000 - $200,000 range. It appeared that nothing at all was accomplished by the workshop except for a little venting and a few consumers learned to fight harder for one of the remaining affordable houses.

During the workshop Albert Einstein’s statement “The enormous problems we face today cannot be solved from the same frame of mind that created them” kept going through my head. Maybe we are looking at the problem too closely. I wondered how an alien, unfamiliar with our culture and economics, would have assessed yesterday’s workshop and address the housing problem? I think possibly the following:

• This is a long term problem that has been occurring for many, many years. If the goal is to make the problem permanently disappear, it is futile to solve the long-term problem with a short-term solution.
• Based on ten thousand years of history it is obvious that governments have no intent of permanently resolving this problem. Therefore it might be concluded that in the scheme of our social economic system the “problem” is beneficial in some way and is not a problem to the whole. Or perhaps it is just a small flaw of our system that we tolerate.
• The problem may have been sliced and analyzed too thinly. Litigators view it from a litigation viewpoint only. They are paid to do that so they must close their eyes to other viewpoints. Social workers do the same. Landlords do the same. These persons are not paid to resolve the problem from the whole.
• If the problem could be permanently resolved in one day would the above mentioned persons elect to do so? Probably not - they themselves would be without a job and subject to homelessness. This is the culture we live in.
• A short-term solution is to put an economic underachiever in a home and then leave them. In our suburbia culture, lacking transportation, medical assistance, community support and livable wage jobs, most of these placed persons will rejoin the homeless.
• It is falsely assumed that because most of these persons cannot locate a 40 hour a week job in the want ads that they are unemployable and thus will always be non-productive to community.
• There are two money problems in our culture: the lack of money and too much money. The problem with too much money is that we use it for security and if you lose your money there goes your security. Oddly, the more money you have the more insecure you become!
• Earlier in our history it appears that we systematically destroyed tribal communities. Perhaps this was done so that we could control them with money. Until our arrival the tribe was a member’s security so he had no need for money.
• It appears that the current culture dictates that any activity undertaken must be taxed by supplying a living to others around it. This need not be so.

Possible Solution:

Perhaps it is time that we establish villages or communities small and large enough to house both moneyless and the wealthy, providing security for all. Only affordable housing costing around $40,000 each would be constructed. The community would not be dependent on transportation as most jobs would be provided to all who wish to work there. This would be a place that would be internally sustainable forever. This would be a place where the professionals who would work themselves out of a job would rather be at anyway. From start to finish, no one would make a profit on the venture.

Fighting over the few remaining affordable houses is not the long-term solution.
Building a surplus of affordable houses is.

 

[Amish Heart]

It's not how to solve homelessness. Some people choose to live nomadic. I'm not one of those, but would do all I could do to survive if I found myself without a home.

 

[Sourdough]

The "why" of homelessness is the crux of the issue, sorry if you didn't want us addressing the elephant in the room

OK......There are currently roughly 12 to 14 (maybe even 16 to 20) devastating "WAR's" around the world. Displacing hundreds of thousands. Arguably MILLIONS.

Your right all hundreds of thousands (millions) of (currently) homeless had their home "LEVELED" because of subsistence abuse.

I get it........YOU WIN. All those homeless in North Carolina (Maybe from some water) are homeless because of subsistence abuse caused the hurricane and flooding. YET, clearly it was their subsistence abuse.

 

[Pearl]

I'll jump in......if federal property taxes would have been allowed ( Obama's fourth term), MANY of us would have been homeless!! That would be a major LAND GRAB, your property with all your stored 'preps' would be gone!! So who is capable of survival??

@Sourdough , the government taking land, the government NOT bringing in Fema trailers to North Carolina or Florida!! It's not like those people are going to walk next door and live with or get help from a neighbor, they all lost everything!! I see your point!! And it can happen at anytime to anyone! There are people now suddenly homeless from the storms yesterday, and last night!

 

[Peanut]

OK......There are currently roughly 12 to 14 (maybe even 16 to 20) devastating "WAR's" around the world. Displacing hundreds of thousands. Arguably MILLIONS.

Your right all hundreds of thousands (millions) of (currently) homeless had their home "LEVELED" because of subsistence abuse.

I get it........YOU WIN. All those homeless in North Carolina (Maybe from some water) are homeless because of subsistence abuse caused the hurricane and flooding. YET, clearly it was their subsistence abuse.

Staw man argument... NO one has claimed all homeless are there because of alcohol of drugs. Just as silly as pretending none of them are.

The simple truth is a large percentage nation wide have addiction issues.

If I found myself homeless tomorrow I'd want to know what those dangers were. And be prepared to deal with them.

 

[elkhound]

One guy i listen to talks about being homeless in 80's and 90's. He made a living doing a wide range of things from ranch/farm work in rural areas to having a gig in germany touring as a musician for years on a circuit of bars/restaurants and pubs. he moved so much he couldnt really have a single place...so he couch surfed...stayed in hostels...girlfriends he had...wide range of situations..he always had backpack,sleeping bag,change of clothes,collapsible fishing rod,frying pan and guitar and harmonica.

he talks about catching a fish for supper to grabbing a duck in a park right before dark to feed himself.when he had money he bought food to cook and ate out at restaurants and more.

pretty interesting to hear stories from him.

 

[elkhound]

OK......There are currently roughly 12 to 14 (maybe even 16 to 20) devastating "WAR's" around the world. Displacing hundreds of thousands. Arguably MILLIONS.

Your right all hundreds of thousands (millions) of (currently) homeless had their home "LEVELED" because of subsistence abuse.

I get it........YOU WIN. All those homeless in North Carolina (Maybe from some water) are homeless because of subsistence abuse caused the hurricane and flooding. YET, clearly it was their subsistence abuse.

the war torn areas...lots of cash and ability to see troubles coming and flee the area...cash puts you on vacation for awhile....if not in another country at least in another region. many in ukraine are still grinding it out often just few miles from front lines as we have seen...i find that interesting in and of itself...if bombs are dropping 20 miles away i want to put more distance between me and that mess.

cash is king as long as someone else wants it as a trade item.

 

[elkhound]

@Sourdough , the government taking land, the government NOT bringing in Fema trailers to North Carolina or Florida!! It's not like those people are going to walk next door and live with or get help from a neighbor, they all lost everything!! I see your point!! And it can happen at anytime to anyone! There are people now suddenly homeless from the storms yesterday, and last night!

https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/one-room.18998/

 

[mml373]

I think being "homeless" can be a temporary or permenant situation. I had a friend, Big Al (Alan). He lived in an old rusty plumbers van under the banyon tree at the beach park in Key West. Guy was there so long he got mail addressed that way. Al was a bet taker at the dog track in the winter, and in the summer he drew unemployment, and had a shack on some land in Maine. Literally a plywood shack, bucket haul from a stream. He was a junkman, always buying and selling stuff. He lived like that for years. We were friends for 20 plus years until he passed in the early 2000's.

He had once owned a ritzy boutique in Newport Beach, but I guess a divorce wiped him out. He liked being a "nomad," and just never returned to the rat race. I moved back to CA in the 90's and bought a house at the beach. By then Al was retired, getting social security. He bought an old Minnie Winnie for a few grand, and drove out to visit. OMG - the neighbors were aghast that I had this old motor home parked out front. He moved down to San Diego and lived off the fat of the land. He'd park his motor home on Shelter Is. right on the bay - much cheaper than paying for a waterfront mansion. Eventually the city made the squatters move from 3-5 am. Not a big inconvenience, he'd just go to Denny's for an early breakfast, take a shower, and reclaim his spot in time for early morning fishing off the beach. I'd drive down every so often and we'd have lunch. He ultimately landed at an old soldier's home in FL.

But, unlike many of today's chronic homeless, he wasn't beaten down, he didn't have a drug problem. (Maybe a wee bit of a booze problem.) He'd just "dropped out." In America you can be whoever you want - so long as it's on the pre-selected, socially approved menu. Al wanted the freedom from utility bills, and from people telling him what to do. And he was probably a little crazy. What a character.

I think Al and I would get along. Freedom is good. Unplugging from the stupidity of contemporary US life is probably good as well.

 

[Magus]

There does appear to be a superiority complex on display here.

From who? The homeless are a cross-section of the local society, some are between major life changes like moving to get work, divorce, or a run of bad luck. Injured vets and runaways round out the population here, we have a few meth heads, crack smokers, and drunks, but they seem to want to live like that, So I can't really call them homeless. I remember my bud who was a Vietnam Vet, he had PTSD and an alcohol problem, and he lived out at the the edge of the industrial zone, but he liked it because nobody bothered him and nothing would "Set him off" because he'd get violent or go on a cheap vodka binge. He had an honest and pure hatred of the world and I respected that. RIP Smitty.