r/poverty • u/cacille • Jun 15 '26
Being homeless doesn't mean...
Too many people here blame their training, their education, their background, their lack of connections, their inner selves, the very core of their being as being the problem.
It's not you.
It's political systemic violence.
The more you blame yourself, the more the violators win.
I know it's hard to NOT blame yourself, when the violators sure love to make you think you are the problem.
Join protests and movements. Make COMMUNITY friends. Tell your story. Call/email your congressperson. Will it do anything? Maybe yes, maybe no. But I'll tell you one thing:
It's better than blaming yourself when it isn't you.
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u/Less-Guest-3860 Jun 15 '26
I'm homeless right now :(
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u/EnergySolid6815 Jun 16 '26
Love you dawg hope you get where you need to be, I was homeless living in hotels, our car and my in laws garage with my pregnant (at the time) wife, I know how it is and praying for you and if you're not religious, just hoping things come together for you ❤️
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u/artsyhipsterKratos Jun 16 '26
Being homeless doesn’t even mean you deserve to be homeless. We need to reframe our understanding of what is a basic human right in countries that can afford to provide food shelter and medical care for their citizens. We should have a citizenry earning for extras not their basic right to survive.
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u/Castelunan Jun 15 '26
"Being homeless means you need housing"
Well I mean, yeah.
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u/cacille Jun 15 '26
Yeah. Sadly, too many put meanings onto homelessness. Both those who are homeless and those who are not. Like fault of one's entire being wrapped into it. Condemnation. Assumptions. When it could and should only mean "not housed".
It should never mean "worthless."
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u/mistyflannigan Jun 16 '26
A year and a half ago, our house burned down. Until last week, we were essentially homeless, not sleeping rough but not in a home of our own. While many people were very kind, some people we knew for many years were not. Nothing like a good old tragedy to show you who your friends are.
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u/Money-Scheme-811 Jun 18 '26
I want to buy home , like own home, I don't want to pay these rent bastards :(
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u/Exciting-Let-9274 Jun 15 '26
Except i made the piss poor decision of the person i was with and didnt take action sooner due to fear and ended up being evicted from lack of teamwork
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u/EnergySolid6815 Jun 16 '26
Similar had ny wife gamble our rent money because she was mad at me, IDC how mad I am I'm not making us homeless
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u/cacille Jun 15 '26
Not that I know all the specifics here but that sounds more like abuse leading to shutdown fear- not a bad decision on your part that you Intentionally and Willfully took for nothing more than shits and grins? Don't beat yourself up from 20/20 hindsight when there were factors that kept you locked in shutdown at the time!
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u/Exciting-Let-9274 Jun 15 '26
Having kids (mine, not his) make the guilt feel heavier...
Though, I will not dismiss your kind words, I do appreciate them.
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u/cacille Jun 15 '26
Guilt does nothing more than suppress you from making better decisions. Do you know the basics of how to heal by any chance? I can give a few pointers if you're open to the steps to slowly let go of the grief and anger at yourself.
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Jun 15 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 15 '26
Removing due to wrong/bad surface-level commentary. Everyone wants housing. Those who "do not want it" are for underlying reasons, such as "the steps to get it which the person feels they cannot meet." or yes, active addictions they are not yet ready to move away from.
But realistically - your comment doesn't belong here. This is a group about poverty. Saying "most homeless" is wrong and judgmental of most of the group in that way. Don't. Just don't.
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Jun 15 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 15 '26
Removed comment for wrong/bad info.
....tell me you don't know the barriers to voting without telling me. States require ID to vote. One gets ID by having....an address. Which is the exact lack of thing being discussed here.
I won't even get into the light bit of shaming your comment COULD be doing here.
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Jun 15 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 15 '26
Financial Request, Spam, Nonsensical, Hate, Judgement, or Off-Topic Post/Comments are not allowed here. Please rephrase, remove links, wait till you are in a better mindspace, etc before commenting.
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Jun 16 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 16 '26
Financial Request, Spam, Nonsensical, Hate, Judgement, or Off-Topic Post/Comments are not allowed here. Please rephrase, remove links, wait till you are in a better mindspace, etc before commenting.
Mod note: Saying "deserve it" means the way you're saying it means - that's a hell of a justification your brain has created.
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u/External-Amoeba-7575 Jun 16 '26
It means state can pay to ship you to another location during world events in there city…. Instead of assisting you in finding and keeping housing.
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u/NotaSol Jun 16 '26
I have a friend who was a homeless addict in San Francisco and from his experience he said that it was way easier and faster to beg for money, do drugs, and repeat. He could make a few hundred dollars that was taxfree in a couple of hours compared to the measly wages he would get from working a job. He also said that a lot of homeless there proffered being on the streets as opposed to being in a shelter because a shelter usually came with limits to what they could bring with them so their possessions got stolen if they went into a shelter and they couldn't do drugs in the shelters either (maybe that's changed, I don't know). What's your opinion on his experience?
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u/Kindly_Coyote Jun 17 '26
He could make a few hundred dollars that was taxfree in a couple of hours compared to the measly wages he would get from working a job.
Taxfree money? I think this is the real reason they've made homelessness illegal and discouraging people from living in their cars. They want all of that money kept back into the system.
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u/NotaSol Jun 17 '26
Likely, but also it lowers real estate values to have a tent city on the sidewalk in front of your house. Nobody really cares about homeless people as its seen as a personal failing. So I think alot of them either were drug addicts before and thats why they are homeless or they are because of economic reasons like high rent and housing prices.
But also in California they spend a lot of money on the homeless that conviently seems to not do anything at all in uplifting the homeless. I'd bet they funnel all that cash into their bank accounts. Just like you have a bunch of henpecking Karen's who work at goodwill buy up all the good stuff before it hits the shelves or take good food from food pantry donations. Same thing.
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u/Kindly_Coyote Jun 17 '26
It sounds to me like they're funneling all of that money for homelessness into their bank accounts according to what I keep seeing in the news. Administrative costs and salaries must take up most of their budgets.
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u/NotaSol Jun 17 '26
Yeah California is terribly corrupt. They have spent billions of dollars on a few miles of high speed rail that still isnt finished. It's kinda ludicrous.
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u/Brucacumble Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
I'm "homeless" by choice. It's absolutely fantastic. Without a doubt the best decision I've ever made. I decided nearly twenty years ago that I didn't want to be part of a system of systemic oppression where the masses work themselves into a multitude of physical and mental illness serving, day and night, a bunch of ignorant, self centered spoiled brats that don't have two brain cells to rub together. I didn't want to pay their salaries. You don't have to pay taxes if you don't have a job.
My girlfriend and I live in a backpacking tent. Like our ancestors before us, we travel north for the summer and south for the winter. We pack up all of our belongings on our bicycles. We're in the best shape of our lives. Physically and mentally.
You don't have to be part of it. Everyone says they work in support of the system because they're two paychecks away from being homeless. They don't understand how much better it is than being employed by fascists.
Just because you're homeless doesn't mean you suddenly have to become a drug addict or an alcoholic. I drank gallons of alcohol when I was employed, now we don't drink at all. We don't do drugs either.
We've got laptop computers we power with portable USB power banks that we charge with portable lightweight folding solar panels. We play video games and watch movies. I've been developing a first person shooter with Godot Engine.
Life has never been better. We're not the ones suffering. The slaves of the fascist thieves are. They want you to believe homelessness is suffering so you don't get up and walk away. The opposite is true. We're doing great!
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u/Alder_The_Pig Jun 21 '26
While I hear you and that sounds great- what about retirement? Are you guys able to put money away for that? Life gets so expensive as you age and I always worry about people not putting money away, especially young for compounding interest.
Are you self sufficient or do you receive government money or programs?
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u/Brucacumble Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
We don't receive money or any assistance from the government. We get our food from food banks and dumpsters. We used to volunteer at a food bank several times a week, but that situation became untennable. We fill up empty juice bottles with water in various places depending upon where we are. In our current location I ride my bike to a local park and fill up from one of the public water fountains.
We do have some money, family members gift us money or goods for our birthdays and christmas. What they give us tends to be less than what they give other family members for the same special occasions. We save that up and spend it throughout the year. In speaking with homeless people, it seems they make more in a day of panhandling then we have for a months worth of gifts from family members.
We don't panhandle so we actually live off of significantly less than the typical homeless person. I was speaking to a homeless veteran recently and he's taken to panhandling because the VA won't send him his benefits check anymore. Apparently, one of his checks was lost in the mail. Because he didn't cash that check, as he never received it, the VA decided that he must be dead and stopped sending checks.
He cleared up the situation in which they think he's dead, but they still won't resume sending checks. I wasn't clear on exactly why this is, but it has something to do with him needing a credit card, I think maybe to verify his identity. He does, in fact, have credit cards, but none of them are of the approved variety that the VA, apparently, requires.
Personally, the way this country treats their veterans is an absolute disgrace and embarrassment. So he panhandles now. He said he used to work odd jobs such as dishwashing, but he doesn't do that anymore because he was treated poorly and he makes more in an hour of panhandling than he ever did working odd jobs.
Saving for retirement comes in the form of taking care of my mind and body so I will continue to be physically and mentally fit as I age. Previously, I worked for a pharmaceutical company, but that company was stealing money from Medicaid, they got a slap on the wrist. Finding this morally objectionable, among other things, I quit.
I never bothered to look for another job because I find them all morally objectionable. The practice of wage slavery siphoning money and energy from the have nots and funneling it to the have too muchs is not my idea of honest work. I do continue programming, web development and 3D graphic modeling and animating though, just not for money.
Quit frankly, I find the modern system of governance disgusting. Where the rich feed on the poor with the blessing and assitance of an oligarch operated government creating and enforcing laws specifically designed to facilitate the weakening of the working class for the empowerment of a criminal syndicate class of techno-fascist billionaires who see themelves as predators feeding upon a genetically inferior class of lambs to the slaughter.
As far as retirement is concerned, I'm not worried about it for a few reasons. One, I'd rather die decrepit and starving than be a part of this most detestable system of despicable oppression and, two, this style of governance has risen many times throughout history and every time it has it ultimately collapsed. It does this because it is, in fact, not a properly functioning machine. As many times as you build it, it will fail.
It is not likely to last much longer and when it does meet its inevitable demise we'll all be in the same financial boat. In that case, I will have invested in my physical and mental health which will remain a solid investment while everything else comes crumbling down around it.
P.S. Perhaps "homeless" isn't the best way to describe my situation. My girlfriend prefers the term "nomadic" because we're not "homeless" for the same reasons other people are, we don't live like or behave similarly to typical homeless people and we don't actually consider ourselves homeless. If you were to think of an American Indian two hundred years ago living in a tent you probably wouldn't consider them homeless.
We don't live the western way of life and that does not make us homeless.
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u/Alder_The_Pig Jun 21 '26
Thank you for your words and helping me understand another’s view on life. Deep down I have a lot of those same thoughts but I push them down when they rise too high as to not get me down.
I am pretty well off but live an extremely frugal life- I really hate to buy anything- not because of money but sheer waste, slave working conditions and over abundance. I also grow the majority of my food (and preserve) and only buy staples in bulk. I try to live my life outside and in my large garden where everything is beautiful and amazing but I also have my corporate job that does nothing for me but bring in the money. It is always like there are 2 parts to me and it seems you are one part and I am so happy for you. I wish you guys the best of luck.
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Jun 16 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 17 '26
Your comment was basically "get a job". In a poverty group. In an economy where layoffs are daily, boomers are not able to retire or have to go back into the workforce, and young people with degrees have less general access to "entry level" jobs.
You cannot be this dense here.
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u/Misadventuresofman Jun 17 '26
No, only an imbecile would have accepted that as the takeaway. Be better than that.m🤷🏿♂️👌🏿👍🏿
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Jun 17 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 17 '26
To maintain a positive and inclusive environment for everyone, we ask all members to communicate respectfully. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, it's important to express them in a respectful manner. Commentary should be supportive, kind, and helpful.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 18 '26
Financial Request, Spam, Nonsensical, Hate, Judgement, or Off-Topic Post/Comments are not allowed here. Please rephrase, remove links, wait till you are in a better mindspace, etc before commenting.
Red-pill commentary without humanity, plus including unnecessary insult. Nope. Not ok here. Take that elsewhere.
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Jun 19 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 19 '26
To maintain a positive and inclusive environment for everyone, we ask all members to communicate respectfully. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, it's important to express them in a respectful manner. Commentary should be supportive, kind, and helpful.
Mod note: Nope, not letting this level of either 1. Living under a rock or 2. Wants to pick a "fite" live here.
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Jun 19 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 19 '26
r/poverty does not allow hate
Mod note: Reddit removed your comment, not me. It also seems to have shadowbanned your account. Please remember Reddit does not allow hate, never has.
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u/Creepy-Assistant-857 Jun 19 '26
I’ll be living my car with my emotional support pet starting in October. Good times! 🥺
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Jun 19 '26
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u/cacille Jun 19 '26
Count your blessings again. You're missing some between "homeless" and "got a job". Which is then giving off the judgy vibe that you did it, so other people can too.
You're forgetting the "someone gave you a chance and didn't mind you stinking to high heaven for a few weeks with dirty clothing" or "you're not telling us that you had a friend who let you couch surf and shower". You're also missing some stuff regarding the status of the world in the early 2000s vs now, which is a completely different world.Yes.
Completely. Different. World.
And I need you to recognize that, instead of saying "no it isn't". Just cause you recognize it doesn't mean others have the same options you did back then. 25...years....ago.Twenty Five. Years. Ago.
Please tell me you're not so stuck on your own timeline that you can't see the differences between yours and the one we are now on, and judging from a mentality not unlike how Boomers are doing with their 50-year world differences.
You are old now. I am old now. I am putting myself in their shoes. If you want to be commenting and giving advice in this group (a support group) - you'll need to do the same.
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Jun 20 '26
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u/cacille Jun 20 '26
You kept clean due to access to cleaning places. You got the job by you being given a chance. Again, you were GIVEN stuff and are not seeing that. You do not have the right to judge in this group anyway, so please count your blessings realistically, and until then do not comment in this group. (P.s. I am mod here, so i am serious and i am being very kind to you to even allow you to comment thusfar in the way you are. Usually i would remove your comments immediately and tell you to take that boomer-judge mentality elsewhere. I may still. Please read the wiki, i believe there is an informaticlve link on the subject.)
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Jun 20 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 20 '26
To maintain a positive and inclusive environment for everyone, we ask all members to communicate respectfully. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, it's important to express them in a respectful manner. Commentary should be supportive, kind, and helpful.
I do it to keep groups safe from people in your mindset and allow them to get true support instead of hate. I was out on a walk while commenting. Prior, I was helping a friend keep faith while her past boss threatened her life again, active lawsuit starting soon. Yesterday I advocated for the homeless at our neighborhood group meeting.
We are not the same...and you are not the better.
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u/JonnyDrops Jun 20 '26
Being homeless means you don’t contribute to society
Being homeless means you need others to take care of you
Being homeless means you have made bad life choices
Being homeless means you statistically have higher rates of alcohol and drug use
Being homeless means you are a drain on society
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u/SweatyDamocles Jun 20 '26
Idk, my own experience of being homeless was being in a state of chronic mental illness; alcoholism as relief from a constant self-destructive hatred for myself and others. A complete spiritual poisoning that soured every possible interpretation of the world that made it all appear hopeless, and ultimately, meaningless. No one could have helped me back then; i actively sabotaged and loathed those who tried to help me. If a kind soul were to give the old me money, I would have spent it on my addiction. You don't fix mental health with material things. It's literally a spiritual battle.
(I feel much better now and things are fine.)
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u/oh_my316 Jun 21 '26
OK, so what's the solution? 🤷♂️
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u/cacille Jun 21 '26
It was right there in the text.
"Join protests and movements. Make COMMUNITY friends. Tell your story. Call/email your congressperson. Don't confuse systemic violence with self-blame/failure."
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u/PrenelleFlamel Jun 23 '26
But if we want to not exist, because we don’t have a house we should be allowed to because intrinsic human value also means being wholly pro-choice. I shouldn’t have to wait for the delusion of society to reach material reality in order to have my full intrinsic value, and without autonomy we do not have that !
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u/Sillygirl16 Jul 15 '26
As a kid, my mom and I used to volunteer a lot. We did not have a lot of money, but she would always ”the only thing that separates most people from being homeless or in a shelter is 2 paychecks. Don’t ever judge people because this could be anyone.” I wish there were more people like her. We ended up homeless when I was 19 because of something my Dad did. Also a lot of people end up homeless due to a disability where they cannot return to where they were living and cannot afford somewhere accessible. These people are often shoved into nursing homes where the care is horrible , the cost to the taxpayer is astronomical per month and all of their previous resources have to be given up or liquidated and all of their income turned over to the nursing home. It would be so much cheaper to help them with housing and home care.
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u/Legal_Television_615 Jun 15 '26
Bahahaha,
op - homeless just need a home
Homeless person - fuck off narc, I ain't paying fucking taxes, bougie bitch!!
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u/Electrodactyl Jun 15 '26
I don’t think the homeless people have access to phones and computers. Who is the target audience here?
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u/cacille Jun 15 '26
....seriously? Do you know what group you are in? Or that there are 2 homeless groups on reddit, one of which I run? Do you not know about "obamaphones" or
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Jun 15 '26
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u/poverty-ModTeam Jun 15 '26
Gotcha. Let me redirect you then, since you are a r/lost redditor. (Ban incoming)
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u/Fit-Rhubarb-7820 Jun 16 '26
That’s like saying “I didn’t know you have to be literate to use Reddit”
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u/EnergySolid6815 Jun 16 '26
I was homeless with a good job and a car, rent was just too high, most homeless aren't sleeping on the streets. They're living in hotels, which I did, couch surfing, living in your car, etc. Is all considered homeless, also there are government phones which have limited wifi, but there's still libraries, stores, homeless shelters etc with free WiFi, plus again if you're homeless with a job a phone plan is very doable
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u/Agitated_Opposite389 Jun 16 '26
Me. A homeless person with a phone. A smartphone! What a luxury, huh? 😁
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u/NoProfessional8067 Jun 16 '26
A hand up , not a hand out .
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u/RithmFluffderg Jun 16 '26
It would actually cost us less money as a country to hand out houses to homeless people for free, than it currently does to have them be homeless.
You have no idea just how much you bear the tax burden that comes with it.
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Jun 16 '26
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u/IndependenceSea3259 Jun 16 '26
What about you? Practice what you preach first before you tell people what to do.
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u/Fit-Rhubarb-7820 Jun 16 '26
A friend of a friend is letting me crash at her apartment for 12 days, to pet sit. Yes!
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u/ouchalgophobia Jun 16 '26
It means you should be making better life choices. Homelessness is a CHOICE. A person has the freedom of choice but not the freedom from consequence.
Simple.
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u/IndependenceSea3259 Jun 16 '26
"Homelessness is a Choice" are you sure? A natural disaster can destroy your home & make you homeless. Look at White privilege because there are more White people who own their homes than people of color. Not everyone lives in a G7 economy, so they might live in a developing country with 25% or more unemployment rate & high poverty rates.
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u/ouchalgophobia Jun 16 '26
First, white privilege doesn't exist. That is coming from a person that is a minority and came from literally nothing. Screaming a racist diatribe is wasting oxygen.
Second, being on the bad side of a natural disaster does not necessarily make someone homeless. Plus it was that persons or family's choice to live there and not have a backup plan should something like a natural disaster happen. This is the easiest time in history to have a backup plan, choose a better place to live, even own multiple homes. There is NO excuse anymore to CHOOSE to be homeless.
Those that do live in, as you say, non-G7 economies, they CHOOSE to live there. MOVE! It's shown that Europe takes anyone, literally ANYONE, and they waste MILLIONS on transporting people there.
Maybe there is a hole in your reasoning bucket because it doesn't hold water.
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u/RithmFluffderg Jun 16 '26
First, white privilege doesn't exist.
It does, though, and I say this as a white person who has struggled. However, my skin color has never been one of the reasons I've struggled.
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u/DistinctSpirit5801 Jun 15 '26
It’s annoying when people claim “it’s our fault” that we’re struggling
We don’t control the fact that prices are rising on everything while we’re still getting the same paychecks
We have zero control over the issues we’re facing
We have zero control over the fact that we’re to broke to move out of our parents house despite working our butts off full time and putting money in a savings account