Homelessness wouldn’t be a problem if people cared. I hear the right claim that this country is based on Christian principles. I also hear the left try to claim moral superiority. The fact of the matter is, people are more concerned about buying the latest IPod then helping their neighbors.

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The best thing we can do for street homeless is to encourage their participation in alcohol and drug recovery programs as a condition of receiving assistance. Many, if not most, are plowing all of their limited financial resources into tobacco and intoxicants.

The working and unemployed homeless are hiding in parked cars, sneaking into their mini-warehouse rentals, camped in parks or encampments, couch surfing, and squatting.
These need political power and economic recovery.

Those homeless might also need those iPod Touches for WiFi access to find jobs, and for a free Skype number for employment contacts, so they don't have to stand in ten-deep lines at the local Job Service and library for the limited number of listings. You folks who have upgraded to iPhones could donate an 8GB Touch to a homeless unemployed individual and take it off your taxes.

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I work with our local Rescue Mission which addresses homelessness in our city of 45,000. We have a budget of 1.8 million dollars none of which involves tax money (amost all donations from Christian groups)so we are free to address the spiritual problems which frequently are related to homelessness. We find that of the homeless about 1/3 have mental or other problems and will probably never be able to break out of the cycle. The government can help some of these; Christian organizations take care of the rest. About 1/3 could choose a different way to live but refuse to. Homelessness is a way of life (the article would be helpful to them). About 1/3 are homeless for reasons in part beyond their control. They are open to a better way, which involves the kind of help Rescue Missions can give, but also involves life-skill training, programs to bring persons out of substance abuse, job training, a support system, and other kinds of help. I am convinced small towns deal with homelessness far better than big cities. I am also convinced that Christian organiztions have a far greater success rate with the homeless than government-aided programs.

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homelessness is not inevitable, it's about lack of income. The workfare movement in the 80s and 90s pushed people off welfare and into the streets.

The Scandinavian countries, on the other hand, have far far fewer people who are homeless. Of course the Nordic countries are also much more egalitarian with a strong social infrastructure and active governments.

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This reads like a federal handout, or one published by one of those benevolence groups funded (massively) by the government or some "charitable foundation." Both earn colossal incomes by handing out pitances to the poor.

All in all, however, there is some good info here - for the rank beginner, that is. By the time I had been "on the streets"(as soon as my circumstances had taught me, I got off the streets and to the wilderness - all of life's necessities are much easier to get there) for ten years, I had mastered living without income of a home.

One must learn to "hide in plain sight." Certain behavior will cause the public to look right through you. Dealing with the police may require more, things like being able to play a retarded or otherwise disturbed person (sometimes, the daring required to wet yourself or defecate in you pants can prove very useful - nobody wants that in his squad car).

Basically, however, anyone who wants to live without income leaves the city. That's where the government - and the morons who feed it - are. You can get clean (cleaner, matter of fact) in a wilderness stream or lake, better food, cleaner (well, cleaner, anyway) environment, live without fear of being mugged (by either the public or its police departments), and you can go into town when you damned please.

You "go to town," parenthetically, for the purpose of getting the few things the wilderness can't provide: clothes, shoes (Goodwill boxes, dumpsters, etc), reading material, writing materials, tools, etc. Sex, too. The affluent nation throws away and waists enough to keep the individual well outfitted with little effort (about as much as it takes to bend and pick something up). While you're in town, you can get enough to feed a large family just by eating what people leave untouched on the table at pizza parlors.

Et cetera. I little societally un-conditioned thought will get you everything you need, and more.

I'd avoid people who give advice like this, meaning that to live free of government means you must be strong and resourceful. You don't get independence by being dependent. Freedom isn't free, either.

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To the millions who have experienced homelessness since 1980:

When your situation changes, when you finally get a foothold on that ladder out of poverty and are no longer homeless, don't forget those you leave behind.

Do NOT convince yourself that you got back out of poverty simply by means of your own virtues -- you tried harder, were smarter, etc. Poverty isn't that simple. We aren't a full-employment society, and never were. Not everyone can work, and there aren't enough jobs for all who can. We do leave people behind, and those we leave behind tend to be those who fully meet the definition of "the deserving poor" -- the very young and old, the ill, those with physical or mental disabilities who honestly cannot provide for themselves.

We the People allowed our government to take public dollars out of human needs programs (i.e., welfare) for the purpose of covering some 30 years of annual handouts ("tax relief") for the wealthy. We are responsible, and we have a moral obligation to help all those who have been left behind by our economy, the failed health care system, etc.

Before you sing your own praises for being smart enough to climb back out of poverty, reciting "Well, if I could do it, anyone can do it, so there's no excuse", don't lose sight of the reality that you can easily fall back down to the bottom again -- no matter how smart and hard-working you are. Use your experience to help teach the general public about poverty as it actually is in the US today, who the poor really are, and what is needed to build a society that has some concept of morality and fundamental human rights.

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Thanks for this information, AlterNet. Articles similar to this might come in very handy in the near future for many of us. Some ideas for future helpful lists...

- Preparing for economic fallout
- Be your own pimp!
- Living under martial law
- Tips for surviving re-education camps
- How to operate as a member of underground resistance
- Coups d'Etats for Dummies
- Handy Chinese phrases ("I am unarmed," "I surrender," "will denounce capitalism for food," etc.)

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It's REALLY irresponsible for Alternet to promote squatting. Are the authors and the website ready to take responsibility for what happens when a property owner stumbles upon a group of trespassers who read this article in the library? Based on some "right" that was invented by the authors?

Wow Alternet, you're very PROGRESSIVE by putting other people at risk.

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I was homeless, twice. Neither time had anything to do with my skills, ability or work ethic but rather than my mother was a screwup.

There are support structures in place to help in many areas. I 'lucked out' in being homeless in a town where the homeless were something the localGovs and churches cared about. Check into shelters. Hell that's where I spent my junior year in high school. Don't be afraid to ask for help from those willing to offer it.

Education is important and some places offer lower cost tuition if you help out. Look out for grants and other such things that you can apply for and get without a fixed address (hell, give your church's address if you have to). Because education can help...Its no guarantee in this economy but it's better than nothing. Plus schools are generally warm during the day.

Don't be proud. You might have been making 95,000 a year as an executive before Bush decided it would be fun to sell America's future to Exxon (doubt me? Go check their stock price, profit margins and tax rates) and the Pharmacoms but now you're not. If you can get a job at McD's flipping burgers just to get yourself some extra coin. Absolutely do it. I've cleaned toilets for a living when I had to. You can be proud when you're not starving and homeless until then your priority is survival.

Shelters may not be the happiest places on earth but in a lot of cases it beats sleeping on a steam grate. Some even have more private small occupancy rooms. The first shelter I was in was actually a shelter for battered women and families - we were four people to a room and the rooms all had locks on the door.

and don't forget that you're still a voter and you can (and should) still call up and bitch out your congressmen. Reserve the coins to do it daily because the reason those assholes haven' done anything about this problem is because they live in their posh apartments and houses and make 150 some odd kay a year with full free health insurance. They don't know how the command Man lives and the fact is they never will unless you show them.

Good luck people. I've been there. I know how much it sucks. No American regardless of who they are should have to live on the streets.

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You're really screwed if you're homeless and gay. As bad as it is for other minorities (blacks, Latinos, etc.) they all maintain homophobic attitudes that do not disappear when they become homeless. What gay services are offered, are almost exclusively in large cities, and for youth (under 26). Once a gay homeless person reaches 26, what scant services he or she could use are suddenly not available. The streets are very homophobic among the homeless...thanks to the churches which supply most of the shelters, food and services to the indigent...and thanks to hate talk radio which spews homophobic vitriol 24/7...and pocket radios are a common form of affordable entertainment for the homeless.

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Here's a reality check from personal experience:

In socal, bathrooms are pretty tough, better bet is behind dumpsters at night... yup tough to hold it all day but there isn't any other choice. If you're out in sub/exurbia it's a little easier, a heavily wooded median or offramp infield makes an easier bathroom plus you can cathole for better sanitation all around... just beware of the sprinkler schedules... we got a free shower with reclaimed water (stinks somethin' awful) once.

Police are absolutely cruel and merciless. Yeah I know everyone has a "good-cop" story.. forget that shit. Even the "good" guys are assholes when you're homeless and they get a hard-on from beating up families. That happened to us twice. Oh, and they lie lie LIE. ALWAYS. Cops are the enemy. Period. That's reality. Learn to bow and scrape in public and genuflect to avoid the beat-down but don't expect a free pass, the beating will come eventually and you'll be blamed for your injuries. And the county docs and nurses WON'T care about you or your situation and despite the middling-uber class belief system they DO NOT treat you if you're uninsured. I had a broken wrist re-broken and reset later once we were off the street because county refused to treat us after the cops broke my wrist with a baton. Sorry to burst the middling-uber bubble, but your beliefs are shit lies. And don't give me the lawsuit bullshit, you gotta have money to sue.

Families, expect to be split up, kids with mom males, sorry you're on your own.

Xtians are the worst people overall. Yes, contrary to popular myth they will require a thank you praise jeebus to get a ramen noodle cup and two hours being lectured about jeebus. And if you don't meet their "conditions for return" which usually include a "prayer of salvation" you won't get to eat there again. If you're a jew or aetheist, you've got strikes against you. Xtians are filth. That's just reality, people.

water is actually the bigger challenge. Even with backpack gear water is only on the surface a few months a year in socal. If you got a mountaineering filter you're lucky, guard it with your life around others because it will get stolen. I had to bite a feller's ear half off to keep mine.

sleeping is tougher... forget parking lots and foliage cover near watershed bottoms... cops roust anyone and everyone at 2 am and 4 am. The shelters in Ventura county close outside of Dec.-Feb. so forget them. We had better luck pretending to backpack in the local mountains. Showering to go to work was difficult but a one-cup rag bath works in a pinch. Dr. Bonner soap borrowed from a sympathetic soul helps a LOT.

Panhandling is NOT legal in CA. So forget that. Anything you can do off freeway ramps is on a don't be caught basis. And keep in mind there are turfs involved. I got chased off twice at knifepoint before I figured that out. Same with can-bottle collecting... guy smashed my truck with his station wagon because he caught me collecting from "his" cans in one park. This after I offered to split my gathering thus far 40-60 (in his favor). That 40% is the diff between ramen or none.

learn to be hungry and be off meds. It's insane but it's all you get.

Anyone telling you any different is full of shit. Lots of people have "helpful" advice and info for the homeless. Mostly, I learned from personal experience, they're full of shit and don't know from nuthin in the first place.

That's Amerkuh now. Get used to it.

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It sickens me to see some people making millions of dollars while others have to sleep on the street. I say all the poor get together and cut the throats of the rich and redistribute their wealth!

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A story on what one needs to know to live on the streets. Another story, on the same day, on eating roadkill.

Does AlterNet know something about the immediate future that the rest of us don't?

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I'm not quite homeless yet. I'm in a camper trailer on a tree farm. But just in case I put up
http://myhomelessstory.net

If you are facing homelessness it has some suggestions and articles.

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author forgot to tell homeless to CLEAN up after themselves. Whether in parks, cities, outskirts, anywhere .. there is NO EXCUSE for leaving broken beer bottles, needles, human waste, and other trash.

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I've always considered myself a liberal, but I work in a public library and see a lot of homeless folks on a daily basis and a lot just seem to be goofing around with no real desire to do any better. Most, I think, have drug and/or alcohol problems and there really isn't any greatly effective addiction programs (the 12-steps work about as much as natural recovery, 5 percent). Those who don't have addiction issues seem to have severe mental problems, again, not easily treatable. There are undoubtedly people who get down on their luck and get homeless for a while, but I can't imagine they stay homeless forever. If one has his or her wits, I think homelessness is usually a temporary situation. But without the wits, it is a problem. Probably releasing mentally ill back in the 70s was a mistake. I think most would be better in mental hospitals.

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I think the article was good, but I wonder if it was offered up as satire? Honestly, how many of the homeless are aware of these groups or resources the author mentioned.

It breaks my heart to see homeless people, and angers me this country turns away when they see them. I have seen those with two or three grocery carts full of things, and I know that means they were recently homeless. As time goes by, they have less and less and finally, just a few things in one cart (if they are lucky).

We as a society have turned into mean, hateful and selfish self-serving "individuals" fed by the last 8 years of pure right-wing ideology being shoved down our throats everywhere in the media. I hope that the old belief that "Americans are basically good" is still true. We must begin to rebuild community, a sense of being in this together, and catering to our higher selves than pandering to the most base characteristics of our human nature.

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To prove a point I agreed to go homeless for one month and I stayed at it for four years. I kept a holdall (hidden) with a good looking set of clothes and footwear, I ate breakfast and lunch in supermarkets, preferably ones with a bulk food section. All I needed was a shopping cart and some packaged foods which I returned to shelves later. I snacked on grapes and and beries in the produce section and on raisins and other dried fruits and cereals in the bulk section. After I had fed well I emptied my shopping cart and left the store. My decnt clothes passed in Hotel Lobbies where I could sit with a nespaper and catch a nap and meet nice people. I hit the mezzanine during conferences where their was always coffee and snacks. I am a good conversationalist and it serves me well.

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Wanna manage iPhone video and music files freely? Try iPhone manager.

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