Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Apparently you never found yourself in a situation and had children. Volunteering in a women's shelter may be a good way to spend Christmas.
Moving the trash to the trailer park Have you ever spent a week in one?
No, I prevented "finding myself in a situation". If you use reliable contraception, you don't find yourself in any situations that you can't handle. I think it is a crime to bring a child in the world if you can't offer the child anything better than a homeless shelter.
I stayed in a governmental trailer (provided to all tribal families, I believe free of charge) when I worked for several months for Indian Health Service. It was beautiful beyond belief, very quiet and clean settlement, big super comfortable trailer. I am failing to see how it would be bad to live that way.
Portland did a point in time study of a population of 3,801 homeless back in 2015.
I think it is kind of notable that the highest percentages are Single, Disabled, Men. Only 17% of the 3,801 were families. We know there are a lot of programs for families.
So, I'd say one of the best ways to work on homelessness is retraining programs for disabled men.
Homeless people who are in shelter 51% 1,914
Homeless people who are unsheltered 49% 1,887
Families with children who are homeless 17% 653
Single adults who are homeless 83% 3,143
Adult women who are homeless 30% 1,161
Adult men who are homeless 58% 2,208
Youth younger than 24 who are homeless 6% 266**
Homeless people who are older than 55 19% 704
Homeless people who are chronically homeless 28% 1,033
Homeless people who are disabled 57% 2,177
People of color who are homeless 39% 1,477
Veterans who are homeless 11% 422
Those who were homeless for less than 6 months 33% -
Those who were homeless for more than 2 years 27% -
Search your city for apartments renting for $666 a month.
===========================================
If only 30% of your income is supposed to go for rent, then at $2000 a month income, your rent should only be $600.
Search your city for apartments for only $600.
For $2000 rent to be only 30% of your income, your income would have to be $6666 a month. Or divided by 4 weeks divided by 40 hours (ignoring taxes), your income would have to be $41.66 an hour.
Using your figure of $1200 a month for a studio:
To have 30% of your income go for rent for a $1200 studio or apartment, your income needs to be $4000 a month. Or, divided by 4 weeks divided by 40 hours (ignoring taxes), your income would have to be $25 an hour.
Minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour except in those states where it's $15 an hour.
If you are being paid $15 an hour, then rent of $1200 a month would take 50% of your income.
I personally never made more than $12 an hour in my entire life and that was only for about three years. Save? Don't make me laugh. My Social Security now is just a hair under $20,000 a year, so minimum wage really doesn't allow someone to save enough for retirement. And to be clear, minimum wage wasn't always $7.25 an hour. I was making $5.50 an hour (minimum wage was $5 an hour) when one bedroom apartments were $500 a month. There's a reason I was living in my truck.
Edit to add: Them's the numbers. Check my math if you want.
I had been a tenant for 17 years, and had roommates for about 9 of those years. In the first 3.5 years, I was living on $560 per month, which woild be about $1,500 per month in today's money (ie, $18k per year). During those 3.5 years I managed to save almost $4k (which would be about $12k in today's money), of which I spent $3k on a third-hand used car with 100,000 miles on it (I needed it because I was moving to a semi-rural area for the next training, where there was no public transportation - the only 5 years in my life when I did not live in a large city, and had to own a car).
Those reqirements you are mentioning must not have existed in the 1980s and 1990s, because I don't recall the landlords ever asking what my income was. They knew I didn't have much money, but also that I was pursuing training, and that I was a foreigner who didn't want to cause/get into any trouble, which appeared to be a sufficient guarantee of reliability. Many years later, I was for a while a small-scope landlord myself (I had, at different times, a total of 3 small rental apartments). I never asked that the income should be 3x the rent, and when I rented to graduate students, I didn't even ask what their income was (I knew from prior personal experience how low it was :-) - I just wanted the first month rent and security deposit, and made it very clear that I would start eviction as soon as one monthly rent is not paid. I don't see why the rent shouldn't exceed 1/3 of income. If you are very low income, obviously the rent would very likely be 1/2 or more of your income.
Portland did a point in time study of a population of 3,801 homeless back in 2015.
I think it is kind of notable that the highest percentages are Single, Disabled, Men. Only 17% of the 3,801 were families. We know there are a lot of programs for families.
So, I'd say one of the best ways to work on homelessness is retraining programs for disabled men.
Homeless people who are in shelter 51% 1,914
Homeless people who are unsheltered 49% 1,887
Families with children who are homeless 17% 653
Single adults who are homeless 83% 3,143
Adult women who are homeless 30% 1,161
Adult men who are homeless 58% 2,208
Youth younger than 24 who are homeless 6% 266**
Homeless people who are older than 55 19% 704
Homeless people who are chronically homeless 28% 1,033
Homeless people who are disabled 57% 2,177
People of color who are homeless 39% 1,477
Veterans who are homeless 11% 422
Those who were homeless for less than 6 months 33% -
Those who were homeless for more than 2 years 27% -
There’s a program nationwide for all adults with disabilities called the Department or Bureau of vocational rehabilitation to either retrain or place people in jobs. It’s a voluntary program and when I worked in it some of our clients were homeless. We also partnered with other agencies. However, it’s difficult for people to be successful in the long term if they don’t have shelter. Some cities have started shelter first programs.
There’s a program nationwide for all adults with disabilities called the Department or Bureau of vocational rehabilitation to either retrain or place people in jobs. It’s a voluntary program and when I worked in it some of our clients were homeless. We also partnered with other agencies. However, it’s difficult for people to be successful in the long term if they don’t have shelter. Some cities have started shelter first programs.
I am not aware of every program. I noticed a wealthy philanthropist started a housing/work program that has strict rules of conduct and they must be very motivated to get out of their situation. That is not the only program obviously. I wish I could remember the name of it.
I am not aware of every program. I noticed a wealthy philanthropist started a housing/work program that has strict rules of conduct and they must be very motivated to get out of their situation. That is not the only program obviously. I wish I could remember the name of it.
They are really working on the problem here.
That was a requirement for living at the safe park, you MUST be working with the agencies operating locally, or have solid contacts with others.
The drawback was we had some with mental health issues and since they couldn't force them into treatment, they usually fell into cracks.
I think that is the main topic. It lends itself toward a more general discussion of homeless solutions, but that includes the subset of senior homeless. We have this situation, now what to do with it? It seems like the cities without a big homeless population will ignore it, and the ones with a big population struggle with throwing money at a problem with no real understanding of how to prevent the problem from getting worse, while also dealing with the current situation on the streets. Programs that help on the front-end to prevent people from losing their housing situation in the first place through small grants for sudden needs would save the government a fortune in long-term costs of dealing with that person once they are outside.
I also personally think that they need to bring back the SROs and use a short-term voucher program to get people into better shelters and SROs, then have social programs to help those folks get back integrated into the normal system of getting work, or filing for the programs they qualify for, paying their own rent (subsidized or low rents), and becoming part of society again. They call it "Housing First". The current model of making them figure out how to work through the system on their own isn't working. Some folks will need a bit (or a lot) more hand-holding. Obviously the mentally ill will need further support, and we are going to have to deal with that as a society. We can't just leave schizophrenics on the sidewalks in our residential communities or business districts. They need to be in-patients at least until they can get back on their meds and back into the mainstream. That's going to cost some serious bucks, but this situation was created back in the 70s when they eliminated public hospitals for the mentally ill. Some will not make it back into society, and unfortunately, they NEED to be in-patients for their own safety, as well as that of the greater society. Addicts will need to be steered into "shelter in exchange for treatment" situations, although many will not want to, the alternative will have to be more negative in order to make the shelter/treatment a more enticing option.
Can we think of more solutions that are aimed at preventing homeless seniors specifically? Maybe we can do more with senior centers, like providing program support people in senior centers to assist seniors in applying for the support programs they are eligible for. Or maybe sending hard copy, very simplified program information and applications to low-income seniors to help them apply. Provide this at a 5th grade reading level without confusing jargon and acronyms. Don't require online enrollment but provide easy mail-in forms instead. Low-income seniors could be targeted to receive these mailings by using SS and IRS databases to locate the eligible seniors out there. I think the "barrier" to this is that the government may not WANT that many folks to participate, as it would drive up the cost of the programs if everyone eligible applied.
All of this is tied into together.
A local Facebook group here called "Kingsport Lives Matter" put up an article this week from the Kingsport city government that homelessness had increased by 50% in four years, from about 120 to 180, but there was no age breakdown. In saying that, the Kingsport City Schools estimates that 5%-7% of its students are homeless on any given day. That would top that 120 and probably the 180 right there.
Local governments need to partner with charitable organizations that actually work with the homeless. Here, the Salvation Army is a big sponsor of homeless services. There is a local ministry ran by someone from Miami called Shades of Grace that does excellent work, but the city of Kingsport tries to bury the problems, instead trying to throw dollars at every fading business that would potentially locate in town.
Yes, many of those seniors are 60+. I went out to eat lunch in downtown Bristol Wednesday after running an errand. I left the restaurant (keep in mind this was before 1, so the bar business hadn't started) around 1, and an older lady, probably 60+, nearly walked into me shuffling down the street. She was singing at the top of her lungs, looked homeless, had a pair of "too big for her" men's workboots that weren't even tied on, and looked high as all hell.
I was at an Office Depot in Kingsport a few weeks ago about noon on a Sunday. There was a woman slumped against a display outside the store, completely out of it.
Ten or even five years ago, much less prior to that, you just wouldn't see this many obviously homeless/"displaced residents" obviously intoxicated during the day. It's not people "having a few too many" at the bar at closing time - these people have serious, serious problems.
Many of these are seniors. Yes, by the time you get to 60+, many of the heavy drug users in that age bracket are already dead, but there's still a good number of them out there. That's not even counting seniors who are displaced through strictly economic means.
A few years back, Kingsport City razed a couple of low-income housing complexes, and rebuilt them with better units, but the residents had to sign up for a waiting list. I'm sure some of the residents of the previous apartments didn't get signed up correctly for the new ones. The city, and the state of Tennessee, certainly don't care for investing in social services or government agencies to help.
Also, city governments and major employers need to work together to combat these problems. Kingsport City wants to sweep all this under the rug and pretend it doesn't exist. The major employers never consider working with the city, even IF the city was a willing partner, in making the community more appealing and livable. If I'm a white collar professional who is a finalist for a job at Eastman Chemical or Ballad Health that is based in Kingsport, there is going to be no appeal to a declining mill town with obvious homeless, drug, and public safety problems. The data clearly bear this out.
Law enforcement certainly isn't doing their part either. Arresting someone on their tenth public intoxication of the year or something isn't really helping them. They'll be high in public again. There's a 62-year-old Kingsport woman arrested in Sullivan yesterday for "CHARGE DESCRIPTION: VIOLATION OF ORDER TO VACATE STRUCTURE DECLARED UNFIT FOR HUMAN HABITATION." She has no other charges. She was probably staying in an abandoned building or some kind of building not designed as a livable space. Is jailing her a correct course of action?
The homeless and drug addicts, even seniors without "problems," are often becoming the "nail" for the "hammer" of the "law and order" crowd.
I don't know what the solution is, but I can say the Kingsport/Tennessee approach of criminalizing and jailing the homeless and addicts is only leading to further crime and social issues.
Portland did a point in time study of a population of 3,801 homeless back in 2015.
I think it is kind of notable that the highest percentages are Single, Disabled, Men. Only 17% of the 3,801 were families. We know there are a lot of programs for families.
So, I'd say one of the best ways to work on homelessness is retraining programs for disabled men.
Homeless people who are in shelter 51% 1,914
Homeless people who are unsheltered 49% 1,887
Families with children who are homeless 17% 653
Single adults who are homeless 83% 3,143
Adult women who are homeless 30% 1,161
Adult men who are homeless 58% 2,208
Youth younger than 24 who are homeless 6% 266**
Homeless people who are older than 55 19% 704
Homeless people who are chronically homeless 28% 1,033
Homeless people who are disabled 57% 2,177
People of color who are homeless 39% 1,477
Veterans who are homeless 11% 422
Those who were homeless for less than 6 months 33% -
Those who were homeless for more than 2 years 27% -
Well, sure, I don't disagree at a high level, but there's a lot more to it than that.
Let's say I end up homeless. I no longer have an address I can use. It's going to be able to find a job without an address. If I'm homeless for a long time, overdraw my bank account, it's likely the bank will close my account, and I probably won't able to open another one until I Have an income after the first one was closed.
If I was homeless today, there's no way I'd pass for any sort of disability test. I'm a single white guy with no guys. I live in among the reddest of red states. I'd never get any sort of assistance short of just driving to a wealthier, blue state and trying there.
I had been a tenant for 17 years, and had roommates for about 9 of those years. In the first 3.5 years, I was living on $560 per month, which woild be about $1,500 per month in today's money (ie, $18k per year). During those 3.5 years I managed to save almost $4k (which would be about $12k in today's money), of which I spent $3k on a third-hand used car with 100,000 miles on it (I needed it because I was moving to a semi-rural area for the next training, where there was no public transportation - the only 5 years in my life when I did not live in a large city, and had to own a car).
Those reqirements you are mentioning must not have existed in the 1980s and 1990s, because I don't recall the landlords ever asking what my income was. They knew I didn't have much money, but also that I was pursuing training, and that I was a foreigner who didn't want to cause/get into any trouble, which appeared to be a sufficient guarantee of reliability. Many years later, I was for a while a small-scope landlord myself (I had, at different times, a total of 3 small rental apartments). I never asked that the income should be 3x the rent, and when I rented to graduate students, I didn't even ask what their income was (I knew from prior personal experience how low it was :-) - I just wanted the first month rent and security deposit, and made it very clear that I would start eviction as soon as one monthly rent is not paid. I don't see why the rent shouldn't exceed 1/3 of income. If you are very low income, obviously the rent would very likely be 1/2 or more of your income.
Sounds like taking advantage of those grad student renters.
Earlier in the thread someone asked if any had ever been homeless, I was homeless BY CHOICE in the mid eighties, I had no car,no drivers license and obviously no employment, more often than not I slept outside again by choice, I ate what I could scrounge including dumpster diving and only panhandled ONCE and NEVER stole a thing. I couched surfed when I was in colder climates, did quite a bit of hitchhiking and got to see a large portion of this beautiful country , I did this for close to two years until a wake up call changed my life.
Got a drivers license ,a job , a car ,an apartment in that order.
I had to take two busses to my first job. it sucked.
Got married bought a house etc then had another major wake up call.
We changed our life style got out of debt and started saving, we recently left FL after over 3 decades due to to the cost of living there. we live pretty cheap now, dont eat out ,dont drive expensive cars and carry zero debt and hopefully with a little luck and planning we will be ok for the foreseeable future
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Have you ever spent a week in one?
