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0 pointsedude039mo ago0 comments

bko in the sibling comment said nearly exactly what I was going to say. While I do agree that you can "fall into" this start and it's very difficult to get out of - I'm very skeptical that with no other contributing preexisting factors you wouldn't be able to figure something out. You'd have to be extremely unlikely to

- not have any family

- not have any friends

- not have any savings

- not have anything they could sell

- not have any ability to do even temp work (IE, had some traumatic debilitating accident)

- Not being able to move somewhere that's cheaper

- Not being able to take advantage of any social programs (I'm canadian, it's pretty easy for example to get a large portion of your school paid by the government)

And if _all_ of this was true, other than potentially avoiding the impacts of being homeless - how would being given a place to live (especially in a High cost of living area) fix any of your other pretty serious issues?

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camgunz9mo ago

> - not have any family / friends

This is largely true [0].

> - not have any savings

Americans basically don't have savings; median is $8k [1]. People of color save less, as do people in urban areas, as do poorer people [2], all of which is in line with who is more likely to be homeless.

> - not have anything they could sell

If you think about what one might go through on the path to foreclosure or eviction, you probably sell/lose a lot of things trying to keep your home. Maybe selling your car bought you a few months, maybe you needed it for your job(s) and it got repossessed. There are a lot of circumstances where this can happen: a partner dying, moving out to avoid intimate partner violence, health care costs, etc. This is a "slowly and then all at once" type of thing.

> - not have any ability to do even temp work (IE, had some traumatic debilitating accident)

Most of the time they're already working; 53% of homeless and 40% of unsheltered homeless are employed [3].

> - Not being able to move somewhere that's cheaper

Moving is very expensive in both a time and money sense:

- find time to pack

- find a new place

- maybe find a new job(s)

- put down deposits on everything

- purchase packing supplies

- either hire movers or do it yourself (if you're able)

- find time to move

- find time to unpack

This might seem like a ridiculous and petty list, but when you have very little time and money you think like this. It's also super stressful to think like this.

> - Not being able to take advantage of any social programs (I'm canadian, it's pretty easy for example to get a large portion of your school paid by the government)

US/US State social programs have huge paperwork burdens, onerous anti-fraud requirements, and don't even give you enough money to make rent after all that (the frenzied shouts of "housing subsidies?! do you want housing prices to get even higher?!" are responsible here, also--as always--a healthy amount of racism).

[0]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218239/#:~:text=Most%2...

[1]: https://archive.ph/pOOk1 (MarketWatch)

[2]: https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance/how-where-you-l...

[3]: https://endhomelessness.org/blog/employed-and-experiencing-h...

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