Anyone here ever been homeless? (page 2)

Valis

I had a student who lost his apartment right after losing his job. He came to me and said he was going to have yo drop cuz he and his girlfriend were living under a bridge in their car. Long story short I handed him over all the resources I could find and even got my roommate to give me info on the St Vincent de Paul society and specific people to contact. With all this he got them into a shelter, a small part time job and finished his semester with an A in my class. Ya there is hope, but you have to be motivated and ready to look into all your options if you really want to change your situation for the better. Like I tell my students...before you drop come and talk to me and let's see what can be done to help. Its a waste to start something only to invest your time, effort, and money in nothing. Maybe, hope maybe this helps.

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

maybesbabies

Thanks Mike, Frannie, and Valis!

Being without a place to live, not being sure when you'll get your next meal, being truly poor, that can be a good experience if you learn from it. It can make you more determined to succeed and never go back there.

This is so true!!! I think that made me more appreciative of life as a whole! I'm trying to help my brother see this, as he's been very depressed and withdrawn. He has a lot of emotional issues to overcome (as do we all!), but I'm trying to show him that there's a brighter side to all that's happened to us.

Ya there is hope, but you have to be motivated and ready to look into all your options if you really want to change your situation for the better.

I think this is part of the problem, he's so convinced (partly the fault of my father) that there's no reason to go on, to do better. Part of it is the "Armageddon" mindset, and part of it is that he just turned 18 and has never known another way. He and my father have an apartment, but the memories are still fresh, especially since he spent more of his life homeless than our other siblings did (my mother took him for a while, and she was living on the streets, while we had an apartment with our father). It's tough to convey hope to another person, but I'm so worried about what could happen if he loses all hope. I don't want him to do anything drastic, if you know what I mean. Thank you all for your input!!!!

GentlyFeral

Ten years ago, the IRS made off with our rent money, at a time when my husband's health made it difficult to work enough to make it back quickly. We ended up living in a very nice little Ford Safari minivan all summer.

Meanwhile, my husband and son kept their jobs and went to work every day, my little daughter and I continued homeschooling by hanging out in public libraries and parks, and we continued attending meetings -- we had our stuff, including meeting clothes, in storage.

Since my husband still had work when he was strong enough to do it, food was usually not a problem. We learned to bathe in one gallon of water apiece, wherever we could find a single-seat public restroom with a good lock. We used my mother-in-law's address as a mail drop. Thanks to PacBell, we even had voicemail for a while; we checked it daily from pay phones.

At the end of the summer one of my husband's customers helped him buy an old trailer, and we moved into that, parking it on a brother's property for another 6 months until the city health dept. caught us. Then we moved into a trailer park, where we've been ever since. Housing's really expensive out here.

I understand your brother's helplessness; climbing back out of homelessness can be just that: a steep climb. It's not often just about finding rent money, as it was for us. For others it's about finding reliable daycare so you don't have to quit your job, improving your health enough to work fulltime, or any number of other things. Thirty days in a shelter won't do it. FESCO, the Family Emergency Shelter Coalition, says a family may need up to two years of support to get them off the streets for good.

GentlyFeral

Surreptitious

I've been homoless all my life.

Oh sorry, wrong thread.

maybesbabies

Thanks for your story GF, and the info from FESCO!!!

Syrup, perhaps you need to rectify that problem?

kaykay_mp

dude, yep. right after i left the military last year. my commander decided that it was a good idea to use the time that i was supposed to be spending looking for a job, to do odd jobs around the unit (i.e., sanding the podium, scraping tape off windows, painting, garbage detail). then he acted really surprised when my last day came up and i had no job leads. so my two young children and i had to go to a homeless shelter the next day. it really sucked. the curfew was at 9 pm, you had to check on your kids every 5 minutes if they were taking a nap and you had to leave the room (to shower, do chores whatever). you cant even speak your mind -- i got kicked out because i was "threatening the staff", when all i said to that person was to "please not lock my door while i'm taking a shower". you cant even have a decent job and still stay at a homeless shelter. i was a car salesman right after i left the military, but i had to attend group therapy at the shelter, which meant i had to leave work super early. well, the boss didnt like it and said that if i wanted to keep my job i had forgo the therapy, which i didnt need in the first place. i had to resign because i was having trouble trying to buy a house and i didnt want to be on the street again. $2500/month job, gone, because of a stupid rule. and whats even more stupid is they were letting other participants not even attend therapy and when i asked why, i was told "just worry about yourself".

things are a little better though. i have my checks from the VA coming in (for the rest of my life) and i have a decent (but not interesting) job at a satellite company. im going for a gov't job in a couple of months and finally ill be back on my feet.

Surreptitious

Syrup, perhaps you need to rectify that problem?

LOL!! Maybes!! You are my kinda girl!!

Billygoat

I've never been on the streets, but my dad kicked me out after I got DFed and quit trying to get reinstated. I had 48 hours to get my stuff out. Not really good timeline to look for an apartment or even save money for it.

I had some worldly friends that let me stay with them for awhile until I could find my own place. I slept on a sofa for abotu three weeks at one friend's house and sofas at another couple's house for another few weeks. After finally 2 months I found a little studio/garage apartment for $275/month. My pantry was a box in the clothes closet, but at least it was mine. It was the dead of winter, so living in my car wasn't an option. Thank God for worldly people at that time of my life!!!

maybesbabies

Thanks for sharing, kaykay. I wish you all the best, and I hope things get better for you real soon! It's amazing how easy it is to find yourself out in the street, especially someone in your shoes, just coming out of the military. You'd expect to get a little, having given so much. But the world is harsh, and no one gives a damn!!! Well, excluding the wonderful people on this board, of course!

toreador

Only for a day or two.

Anyone here ever been homeless?

Share this