pondering an idea

[kengr]

If you were homeless, what would you need to at least make life bearable? And would it make a difference if you were the sort who doesn't do well with other people?

So far I've come up with the following:

1. A dependable income. Not necessarily a job, but a source of money you can *rely* on.

2. someplace *safe* to take shelter and keep your stuff. It doesn't necessarily need to be heated, but at least warm enough that you won't get hypothermia trying to sleep there given warm clothes and blankets. (50 degrees?) Also needs to be secure if you are away for a while (jail, hospital, whatever)

3. some sort of medical "coverage". a way to be able to go see someone when you are sick and *not* have outrageous bills to pay afterwards.

I hesitated about that last one, but anything short of a *large* income (upper middle class or higher) just won't let you deal with the bills if something bad happens.

Anything else folks can think of? Mind you, I'm thinking of stuff that'd be "necessary" not stuff that'd be "nice" to have.

I can't say much more without giving away too much about the story idea :-)

Comments

[alex_antonin]

Reliable, ready access to free showers (complete with soap and shampoo) and free laundry. It's hard to get or keep a job when you smell like piss, or other unpleasant things. With enough income, laundry isn't so much an issue, but showers? Right now the options for showers are, AFAIK, paying for a hostel or hotel for a night, which is a lot of money to spend for a shower, and... well the only other thing I can think of is showering at a friend's house, but I think if they had that, they'd probably have somewhere to stay. So... yeah. Free showers are necessary. And free laundry, for anyone not making enough money to afford laundry.

Pads and/or tampons for the women and girls. Toilet paper. Somewhere reliable to take a shit where you don't have to buy something first. (Seriously, if I ever became ruler of Oregon, that law would go straight in the garbage where it belongs.) I recently saw a homeless guy, on Christmas day, taking a shit right outside a pizza place. Thankfully it was from a moving bus that I saw this.

Free hot meals are necessary as well. Income isn't going to handle that as well if they don't have an actual apartment or house, because they have nothing to cook with, and restaurants are expensive either money wise or health wise. Non-perishable foods can also be hard to transport, due to weight and volume.

An address for their mail, that is an actual address and not a PO box. If all you have is a PO box and no street address, employers aren't going to want to hire you. (Also, an address that doesn't go to a homeless shelter or hotel, because of job discrimination.)

Free cell phone if they don't already have a cell phone, because having a phone number they can be reliably reached as is also necessary for jobs.

New clothes to replace old ones. Again, hard to get or keep a job if your clothes are shit and falling apart. Especially free nice clothes, the kind that's expensive but necessary for getting jobs, including stuff like black slacks for uniforms.

SOCKS. Shoes! Both of those are very important. Even released prisoners used to get new shoes. Dunno if they still do or not. But good shoes are very important. I know some people who save what little money they get towards more expensive shoes just because they last longer, and it's easier to save money for a while and buy shoes once that will last for years than it is to keep buying cheap and shitty shoes every few months.

I would argue as well that access to a pro bono civil rights lawyer would be necessary for many homeless people, due to ordinary job and/or housing discrimination for reasons that amount to "they're homeless" as well as people of color, LGBT people, autistic people, disabled people, and anyone else who get discriminated against by employers and landlords.

Adult education, too. Teach the illiterate how to read, train jobless people new skills so they can get a job, that kind of thing. Education is the great equalizer.

For the people who are addicted to drugs, they need somewhere safe to do their drugs, attended by medics who can stabilize them if they OD, until the ambulance arrives. For heroin users, they need free, clean needles and something like clean spoons to cook the heroin in. Kinda hard to get your life together if you die first from an overdose or AIDS or whatever. Give them that foundation, and they're more likely to seek help getting sober. (Some countries have started doing this very thing, and it works!)

I would also argue that finding a way to get drug addicts free drugs would help a lot, too. If the drugs are free, they don't have to steal, prostitute themselves, or whatever else to afford the drugs. Giving free drugs to drug addicts would make the crime rates go down as a result.

I had an idea a few months ago for a place that's just basically a shit-ton of simple rooms, just large enough for a cot, a shower, and a toilet, like seriously as small as you can get and fit most people in them. Or just room for the cot, and have the toilets and showers being down the hall or something. It would be like an ultra economy hotel kind of thing, useful for anyone from visitors from out of town who just need somewhere to sleep for a night, nothing fancy. And also for homeless people.

Sure, there are some potential problems, like families needing more space and then the issue of people having sex in them. But if the bugs could be worked out, it might be a good idea. Give people in need somewhere cheap as shit to sleep for the night, with a locking door so their shit doesn't get stolen. Maybe even a locking closet so thieves would have to get through two locks to get their stuff, even.

Ultimately, though, the cheapest and easiest thing to do towards ending homelessness would be to JUST. GIVE. PEOPLE. HOUSING. All those houses the banks own that aren't doing anything? Give those to homeless people. Empty apartments? Favor the homeless. Seriously, giving homeless people housing is the cheapest, easiest, and most reliable way to get people permanently out of homelessness. Give them a place to live, and everything else in their life has a chance to fall into place. Having housing is literally the foundation of a stable human life. Without housing, no amount of assistance from others is going to be much help.

[kengr]

Ok, gonna restate some basic principles here. This is for a story. And the things listed (and others) all have to be stuff that is given and then "hands off".

Think "handed a debit card that refills regularly, access to that "safe place, and a medical insurance card that's paid for automatically". No strings attached.

So a job is something that'd be *nice* (because you'd get that money on top of the card), not necessary. And money for "everyday" stuff isn't an issue.

Reliable, ready access to free showers (complete with soap and shampoo) and free laundry. It's hard to get or keep a job when you smell like piss, or other unpleasant things. With enough income, laundry isn't so much an issue, but showers? Right now the options for showers are, AFAIK, paying for a hostel or hotel for a night, which is a lot of money to spend for a shower, and... well the only other thing I can think of is showering at a friend's house, but I think if they had that, they'd probably have somewhere to stay. So... yeah. Free showers are necessary. And free laundry, for anyone not making enough money to afford laundry.

Truck stops have showers. And while you have to pay to use them, that's still an option. There are other public showers, you just have to know where to find them.

Oh yeah, truck stops also usually have laundromats too.

Yes, you said free, but that requires a change to *society* which is not what's gonna happen here.

And the expense wouldn't be unreasonable anyway. Remember, an income is one of the things I already postulated.

Pads and/or tampons for the women and girls. Toilet paper.

Covered by income.

Somewhere reliable to take a shit where you don't have to buy something first. (Seriously, if I ever became ruler of Oregon, that law would go straight in the garbage where it belongs.)

Ok, that is something I thought of, but it mostly falls under "changes to society".

Also, I have *no* idea what law you are thinking of. Anybody business or private person has the right to deny access to *any* part of their property. That's pretty much what "private property" *means*.

That's not something the governor could do anything about. And, alas, business have reasons for that policy. Mostly folks who make *incredible* messes in the bathrooms.

Free hot meals are necessary as well. Income isn't going to handle that as well if they don't have an actual apartment or house, because they have nothing to cook with, and restaurants are expensive either money wise or health wise. Non-perishable foods can also be hard to transport, due to weight and volume.

Again, that's a society thing. And there *are* food kitchens. Plus, if you have *money* to spend (as opposed to food stamps) you can buy hot food in lots of places besides restaurants.

Oh yeah, transportation isn't a problem. I'll leave you to wonder why.

An address for their mail, that is an actual address and not a PO box. If all you have is a PO box and no street address, employers aren't going to want to hire you. (Also, an address that doesn't go to a homeless shelter or hotel, because of job discrimination.)

For various reasons, a job is not necessary in my scenario (remember, this is for a story).

Free cell phone if they don't already have a cell phone, because having a phone number they can be reliably reached as is also necessary for jobs.

Again, jobs aren't necessary (unless you want more money than what you'd be getting which is "adequate" and doesn't have folks breathing down your neck about it)

but yeah, cell phone is on my list of maybes. Also, you can get free phones *now* if you are low income.

New clothes to replace old ones. Again, hard to get or keep a job if your clothes are shit and falling apart. Especially free nice clothes, the kind that's expensive but necessary for getting jobs, including stuff like black slacks for uniforms.

SOCKS. Shoes! Both of those are very important. Even released prisoners used to get new shoes. Dunno if they still do or not. But good shoes are very important. I know some people who save what little money they get towards more expensive shoes just because they last longer, and it's easier to save money for a while and buy shoes once that will last for years than it is to keep buying cheap and shitty shoes every few months.

Again, income would be adequate and jobs are not necessary for it.

I would argue as well that access to a pro bono civil rights lawyer would be necessary for many homeless people, due to ordinary job and/or housing discrimination for reasons that amount to "they're homeless" as well as people of color, LGBT people, autistic people, disabled people, and anyone else who get discriminated against by employers and landlords.

Mostly covered by the "safe place to sleep and store their stuff" and by the "don't need a job to have an income".

Adult education, too. Teach the illiterate how to read, train jobless people new skills so they can get a job, that kind of thing. Education is the great equalizer.

Mostly a social change. Which isn't covered.

For the people who are addicted to drugs, they need somewhere safe to do their drugs, attended by medics who can stabilize them if they OD, until the ambulance arrives. For heroin users, they need free, clean needles and something like clean spoons to cook the heroin in. Kinda hard to get your life together if you die first from an overdose or AIDS or whatever. Give them that foundation, and they're more likely to seek help getting sober. (Some countries have started doing this very thing, and it works!)

I would also argue that finding a way to get drug addicts free drugs would help a lot, too. If the drugs are free, they don't have to steal, prostitute themselves, or whatever else to afford the drugs. Giving free drugs to drug addicts would make the crime rates go down as a result.

Those are all mostly social/legal changes.

[alex_antonin]

Truck stops have showers. And while you have to pay to use them, that's still an option.

Yes, there are ever so many truck stops inside city limits. Off the top of my mind I can think of... zero. I can think of zero truck stops in Portland city limits. You really expect homeless people to walk along the interstate to get to the nearest truck stop?

Oh yeah, truck stops also usually have laundromats too.

Laundromats cost money. And unlike truck stops, can actually be found within city limits.

There are other public showers, you just have to know where to find them.

Therein is the problem. I live with someone who used to be homeless, I know a shit-ton about homeless people because of it, and I didn't even know that was a thing. Which means my source didn't know it was a thing, either.

And the expense wouldn't be unreasonable anyway. Remember, an income is one of the things I already postulated.

Amy has an income, and she's been considering buying a hand washer to do her laundry in because she can't afford the cost of laundry in the apartment. So you may think the expense wouldn't be unreasonable, but it depends on the amount of income. And I don't know what kind of story you're writing, but charities in the real world tend to give just barely enough to manage, if even that.

Also, I have *no* idea what law you are thinking of. Anybody business or private person has the right to deny access to *any* part of their property. That's pretty much what "private property" *means*.

The law in Portland is that in order to use a bathroom in a restaurant or store, you have to buy something first. Unless the business's restrooms are explicitly stated to be public. The law doesn't always get enforced, but some businesses are real sticklers about that law.

It's a law that was supposedly enacted to prevent heroin addicts and other druggies using drugs in the bathrooms, but ultimately is anti-homeless, anti-poor, and inconveniences everyone else.

but yeah, cell phone is on my list of maybes. Also, you can get free phones *now* if you are low income.

You could, before. Not sure if they're still doing that now that Tronald Dumpsterfire is in office.

[kengr]

Actually that gas station near our storage used to be a truck stop. Which is how I know about that stuff.

[kengr]

I had an idea a few months ago for a place that's just basically a shit-ton of simple rooms, just large enough for a cot, a shower, and a toilet, like seriously as small as you can get and fit most people in them. Or just room for the cot, and have the toilets and showers being down the hall or something. It would be like an ultra economy hotel kind of thing, useful for anyone from visitors from out of town who just need somewhere to sleep for a night, nothing fancy. And also for homeless people.

A cluster of "tiny homes", with shower & laundry facilities attached. Which exists in a number of places around town. Problem is getting folks the "tiny homes" and getting land to set them up.

They are also trying something similar without the tiny homes. Shower & toilet facilities (with lockers for storing stuff) near homeless camps.

[conuly]

Salt Lake City, I'm told, has had success with simply providing the homeless with apartments. I think actual apartment (with utilities) + food is enormous.