Drum

No problemo Teddy my boy. Now go run along and help your mom with the groceries

notEnuf

What exactly do the battered, unemployed, mentally ill, or addicted who happen to be homeless (many are vets) need? I’m guessing, a home. How does that happen? Bootstraps right?

Compassion and charity are not socialism regardless of the attempts to make them so.

block30

Oh I think there is merit to that too. I can understand hesitancy to simply give money or a handout.

Perhaps something like a mentorship program quasi the Big Brothers Big Sisters program???. I wonder how many of these people feel like no one gives a crap about them.

Maybe not a great example; This summer I went for a run around the Dallas long hotel and I saw a black homeless man sleeping under a bridge. It was probably 100 degrees in the shade. He gave a small nod when I ran by (well honestly I trudged by.) I came back later with three big, cold 24 ounce Arizona teas and gave them to him. He gave me, a white man, a hug. It was a nice contrast to the media and the riots.

All 5 Stages

Local rescue missions are a great place to donate your money or time or food.

A5S

CX500T

Speaking as someone who has been homeless..

I have been homeless, for an extended period, twice in my life. I'm not talking "my wife just filed for divorce and changed the locks, I need a couch until I find a new apartment" homeless, I'm talking "I have under $300 to my name, i have no idea when I will get more money, and I've been kicked out of where I live"

First time I was 15.

Second time I was 27.

Having lived among the homeless, and been around the "culture" I have sympathy for those who have landed there without having done a lot of dumb things on the way. First time for me was an abusive home living situation, and school/CPS/Nobody would help. Finally got the courts to allow me to live as an emancipated minor.

Second time, ex cleaned me out, turned off all credit cards that she hadn't maxed out, and had me arrested for a crime that I would be in jail for life if convicted. It took every cent I had, all the credit I had, and left nothing for rent and little for food. $30k in lawyers later, I was cleared of all criminal charges, then the divorce money-suck began. I was living in my truck, sleeping in a tent or the back seat of the cab, showering at the gym on base and basically begging to to TAD anywhere for anything so I could have an actual bed to sleep in.

It is actually possible to have no money for housing making $75k a year. That's also a thing.

Circling back to the help, the problem is, there are very few resources for the newly homeless, and the fact that I owned a vehicle made me ineligible for what little there was. But even selling my ancient rusted out POS truck wouldn't have gained me enough cash to even have a deposit on a crap place.

Long term homeless, tends to be mental and drug issues. And they try to drag any high functioning homeless in with them. I had to move my sleeping spot constantly, for as soon as some of the more unsavory characters determined where your bed down location was, would either try to ruin your stuff or try to force you to share it. It's especially scary out there for women.

I don't think cash handouts is a solution.. But what would have worked for me? SNAP/Food Stamps eligibility based off your NOW situation, not last years taxes. Housing assistance based off need, and not requiring you to divest of what few assets you have (Car) to get in.

Seriously, no car is going to very dramatically limit your employment and living choices, double so in a rural area.

But more programs are more concerned with getting you in their program and not out.. None of the programs I looked into had a good "Exit strategy" other than the ones geared towards those with mental or addiction issues.. Those were "get counseling, get clean, get job, keep job" sorts of things.. But if you are "clean", Sober, and don't have any medication/counseling needs for mental health. "Sell your car, have less than X in assets, and reapply in a year" isn't really a realistic or viable option for those with short term to mid term homelessness.

Then there is the fun part of trying to get a job, when you don't have a home or a place to get mail.

Try getting a PO BOX without a physical address.

Or a bank account.

Those are the areas where things can improve.

Oh, and I'm a YES voter.

If it saves someone from living on the street and sleeping rough, totally worth it.

Because nobody wants to admit it, but furloughs are going to lead to divorces, suicides, and other bad juju. It might not be the pilot you keep off the streets, but their teenage kid might not have to leave home because mom becomes a psychopath because "your no good father isn't working enough to keep me showing horses" even though they haven't had a job in 20 years.

OOfff

such a good post until the demeaning trope about women 🥴

CX500T

It's not a demeaning trope.

That's what happened to me when I was 15. Dad lost his job, mom lost her f-ing mind.

Dad lost his decent paying job because the company went out of business while he was mobilized with the guard, looked for similar work, nothing happening, so he went back to driving a truck, then went on another mobilization. It kept the bills paid but no free cash for anything. My mother literally spent all day raging at me and my brother because she couldn't buy a new show horse, and her "ancient" horse trailer (3 years old) etc.

Jaww

The dude pours his heart out, tells a true story, and you post that. You sir, are in the wrong here.

m3113n1a1

Man, that's quite a story. Thanks for the perspective and insight.

Gone Flying

that’s what you gathered about that. That somehow people having difficulty at home and not everyone having a supporting relationship is demeaning toward women

to CX500T sorry you had to go through all that, hopefully things improve with this LOA.