The Beginning Homeless

[PrincessoftheCape]

Originally Posted by daepro

Does anyone have any information about the culture of homelessness regarding young mostly Caucasian people with dreads who have pitbull type dogs who use rope as leashes. They all seem to wear flannel clothing and boots. Generally they can be seen asking for change around Haight or other areas.
I have seen them all around the country. Wonder about who they really are.

I dunno, but somehow they can afford to keep those big, aggressive dogs fed, and generally maintain cell plans (rarely do I see them without a smart phone pressed to one ear). As I said, I think for a certain subset of young people it's become a kind of counter-culture 'lifestyle' that's considered cool.

[daepro]

Sometimes I think an article about that subgroup would be an interesting read as I see them all over the country. Maybe Rolling Stone or other magazine like that could publish it. Wonder if anyone one of these people journal as no doubt that would be something that could be published as well. I would like to check that out.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by daepro

Sometimes I think an article about that subgroup would be an interesting read as I see them all over the country. Maybe Rolling Stone or other magazine like that could publish it. Wonder if anyone one of these people journal as no doubt that would be something that could be published as well. I would like to check that out.

Never heard of wayward deadheads or trustafarians, huh?

[HappyinCali]

This is a very sad and also inspirational thread. I am very split on the homeless issue. On the one hand, I have gotten into altercations with homeless twice. One time, this guy pulled out his _______ in the middle o the street and was about to take a ****. I told him to put it back in or there would be a swift kick to the balls that followed. There were kids walking around, it was a Sunday morning in North Beach. He actually did it (i am 6.2 ft, former football player, who keeps in shape), but started following me and cursing at me. People like that I despise. I feel that they have lost what sets us apart from animals. Any shred of dignity and decency gone.

On the other hand, I also bought lunch several times to this couple in their 40s/50s that used to show up in the FiDI. They looked very proper and well dressed. Always together, sitting in a corner, not bothering anyone, just stoically asking for kindness with a sign. They reminded me of the people you mentioned, OP, the beginning homeless. I could imagine them living in a tiny apartment in SF, losing their jobs and being excluded from a confusing and increasingly high tech society. It really affected me the first time I saw them.

I also know how easy one could become homeless. My cousin was diagnosed as bipolar 2 years ago after attempting a suicide. She went to a top 50 university, had good grades in a worthless field and was working as an assistant in Chicago. Her parents are old school FOBs who were not equipped to handle the situation. So we brought her to live with us. We were blessed to have good jobs and a nice apartment in which she lived rent-free for 9 months until she recovered and could get a new job and her own room in the city. Recently, she had a relapse and had to leave her job. Once again, she came to live with us. Her therapist told her that the only reason she recovered so quickly from both episodes was because of us and many people didn't have the support network.

It was at that moment that occurred to me how one becomes homeless. Mental disease with no support network is a death sentence. An episode re-occurs and you get hospitalized. Can't keep a job, maybe get disability. Roommates don't want you because they are afraid of you stabbing them in their sleep, given all the news coverage of mentally ill people committing terrible things. You relapse again. This time, no one is there to check you in the hospital. No money, no insurance and then one day you are on the street.

Scary stuff. Count your blessings people

[blukatgrl]

Originally Posted by dalparadise

So, why wasn't he going to that job, or looking somewhere else besides the middle of the street? Why was he panhandling (and doing it so poorly)?

The clock was ticking on this guy! He was, maybe only a week or so away from a big crossroads in his life, where he would either learn a hard lesson in being homeless, ditch the honest routine, learn the hustle and move his operation to the much more lucrative sidewalk, OR--he would give up on the panhandling and use the precious time he has left, seemingly as a sober, presentable laborer who really did look like he was "willing to work" and get a job.

She seemed like she had only been on the streets a week or so, by her clothes.

You assume that you know so much about these people, when you didn't speak to them, you didn't get a chance to learn their stories. You just make judgments based on their appearances, but "don't believe everything you think," a wise bumper sticker once read. How do you know the laborer dude isn't disabled? There are lots of reasons people can't go the normal routes to finding work.

[Caltovegas]

The biggest lie is home ownership. You never own it and can be put out on the street. The scary thing is today if you lose your job and your over say 40 the process begins. That's why I'm in sales. If you can sell you have a chance at any age.

[Mary Massacre]

Originally Posted by PrincessoftheCape

I dunno, but somehow they can afford to keep those big, aggressive dogs fed, and generally maintain cell plans (rarely do I see them without a smart phone pressed to one ear). As I said, I think for a certain subset of young people it's become a kind of counter-culture 'lifestyle' that's considered cool.

When I was homeless and miserable, and trying desperately to take care of myself and stay out of trouble, and being a young girl/woman alone homeless in a big city is very hard. It was not fun for me I remember on occasion being around kids like that and it really did feel like I wasn't good enough for them to care about, or I couldn't afford to hangout with them (not that I wanted to) But there is sort of a sense of community in being homeless where you just sort of naturally take care of each other and look out for each other, and they were not like that at all funny how now that I am off the street and have a little money and I look presentable when i run into kids like that now, they all seem interested in me and are constantly complimenting me.

That just makes me sick. i will never forget how they treated me when I was was down and out! and now they ask me to help them out and for money!!? I mean there are always new street kids popping up but when it is the kids that have been around forever, the ones that treated me the way they do I get so upset.
I think alot of those kids are trust fund babies(not all of them but alot of them), or at least that's what most people have gathered. But they definatly have this additude. I do understand the whole traveling around roaming the earth with nothing but the shirt on your back but. In my homelessness I traveled for awhile, trying to find a better place and to pass the time, but it was never about being cool, and i was always trying to get off the street and build a descent life for myself.

[dalparadise]

Originally Posted by blukatgrl

You assume that you know so much about these people, when you didn't speak to them, you didn't get a chance to learn their stories. You just make judgments based on their appearances, but "don't believe everything you think," a wise bumper sticker once read. How do you know the laborer dude isn't disabled? There are lots of reasons people can't go the normal routes to finding work.

You misread my intentions. I don't believe I made a judgment on the guy, other than one that his situation was troubling to me and I wished there were a way to help on a more universal level, rather than just an individual one.

Regardless of his reasons for not taking "normal" routes to employment, the route he was taking was obviously not going to work out well. It was plain to see was headed for more challenges. That's what was troubling, not the fact that he was panhandling. I get that people do what they must and make no judgments, when others aren't harmed. This guy had a chance, though. He wasn't all the way in a corner yet.

There was still time to make better decisions and I hope he did.

[TVC15]

Originally Posted by dalparadise

This guy had a chance, though. He wasn't all the way in a corner yet.

Sounds like he was already in the corner to me.

But how would you know...did you even bother asking him yourself?