Based on my own experiences of transitioning voluntarily into homelessness, I am very excited by the focus on lowering the cost of living. Living more simply, and getting there by a slow and intentional process (NOT coercive or painful), leads to more enjoyment of life, and less fear of failure. Funny how living in the presumed failure state of western society recalibrates your instincts.

I find myself wishing that something like the process I went through could be institutionalized to a degree. For example, I had to be previously indoctrinated on the value of minimalist living. I had to be convinced that that was something that I wanted. And I had to consider all my habits and responsibilities, and what I might be willing to give up to get me to different outcomes. I had to understand how cheap it could be to exist in the city in which I live, and then cut in order to get there. I had to let friends know of my goals, and hope that we could create new traditions that sacrificed little and perhaps even strengthened our relationship. The whole time, you are altering your habits, testing them out before removing the harness. For example, when I wanted to stop requiring my bathroom space, I started going to the gym every morning to shower. Once I was used to that in my daily routine, I then started doing fitness and running while I was there. And when I didn't want to come back for food, I started putting together a minimalist meal plan that I could prepare in advance and take with me for the day. Reworking my habits and needs was almost a full-time job for a few months. Anyhow, I would never assume most people would want to take it as far as I did. Everyone's path would be different, as their responsibilities and routines differ. But that slow process of change if life-altering.

I am now living in San Francisco for perhaps $300/month, and living very happily (perhaps moreso than ever), although El Nino is a recent complicating factor :) I will likely upgrade from hammock tent to camper in the near future, as I don't want to strain relationships with my partner. But up till now, it's worked very well.

And I want to clarify that I would never see minimalism the goal, but just a means to happiness and resilience. In any process that might resemble my own journey, taking something away should always be a choice made for future benefit.

Perhaps making that benefit more concrete could be part of any institutionalized program. Pay generously at first, but then expect costs to come down, and the more they come down, the more "reward". Perhaps that could be a retirement bonus. Or access to some sort of YC investment portfolio that would essentially be retirement reward. So the cheaper you learn to live, under the guidance of the program, the more of a nest-egg you earn.

Anyhow, apologies if this is less than coherent -- lots of thoughts in my head on this topic. I am very not in the "tech solutionism camp", and am pretty self-aware that my experience would be less a prescribed path, but rather a general template :)