[angelo129]

I think there's been minimal effort to talk about the bigger picture. It's easy to either pick on or extend an offer of help to one person, but hard to understand the bigger social issues that underlie everything being discussed here. I've worked in various parts of social services. The criticisms of people who relentlessly use the system and live feckless lives fail to take some things into account, and they're important things. Many people who are homeless or unemployed (such as one who commented here) once worked hard and had secure middle class lives. They weren't rich, but they had the necessities and a few luxuries and - most importantly - they felt confident they would be able to at least stay at whatever level they'd reached. Every generation improved their lot, and people could be sure that their hard work would pay off in a better life for their children. They had hope, something which is in short supply at present.

Younger people who have wrecked their lives with drugs and rowdy behavior have, in the present state of the economy, nothing to look forward to. Many of the best and most talented are either unemployed or employed in jobs in the service sector that make no use of their talents. I could point to two such in my own family, both with degrees in the sciences from good universities. One mows lawns for a landscaping company, the other works in an office supply store. After five years without a REAL job offer, they are looking towards being 30 years old, still sharing an apartment with three other guys, struggling to pay off their college loans with the pittance they earn. Others have just given up and gone home to Mom and Dad. I am talking now about talented, capable young people who are well educated, hard working and reliable. What hope is there for those who are poorly educated and not particularly talented? The people who would once have had stable factory jobs and a long and honorable working life? In many cases, that's what their grandparents did. This is the first generation in our country to see their children and grandchildren slipping back to a far lower level of prosperity and security. These realizations are like an infection that seizes hold of people, and all the rah rah rah and "you can be ANYTHING if you just work hard" sounds like exactly what it is: empty platitudes.

There's very little that is permanent, safe, stable in the lives of young people. Families are fragmented, divorced (if they ever married), scattered all over the country. Friendships consist mostly of text on a screen. Jobs are hard to find and nearly impossible to keep. We've created a world where every part of people's lives seems to be in a constant state of change, with no points of stability, nothing and no one to rely on. Human nature hasn't changed, but the world has. Changing the world is a task that's pretty daunting, but all the things we're discussing here are just effects, not causes.

[Luna Lovegood]

I thought I'd add my two cents, because I was referred here from the thread I posted recently, found here:
Subsidized Housing Help

The most profitable person on the planet is not a happy one. It is a poor, poorly-educated person that procreates and dies at a steady, moderate pace. It helps if they are addicted to drugs, depressed, anxious, panicked, and easily provoked. This is all money-making gold to those at the top. You cannot afford to be ethical in a monetary system. If you try to be, you do not stay in business for very long.

For many of the posters here, it seems you feel that suffering from homelessness is an incredibly easy and luxurious thing to do. If that's how you really feel, my response to you is, why don't you try it and see how easy it is? Living on the street is not easy. There are some people that try to fraudulently use the system, but that is certainly NOT the norm. Of course it happens, and of course it's wrong when it happens, but that does not mean it is the norm.

In my experience with staying in the shelter and living on the street, it has been the single-biggest most draining thing I have ever endured. You do not understand what it's like to be without resources until they're not there. We live in a society that promotes the idea that if you have resources, the only way to survive is to hoard them. That is what capitalism and the monetary system teach. In actuality, we would all survive much longer and much more efficiently if we shared our resources, rather than hoarded them.

Part of the reason I myself have spent as much time as I have in a shelter, as many do, is because the state make money off of those who suffer from homelessness. Did you know that? Probably not. This explains why time and time again, case workers purposely give out misinformation. They want to help, but not that quickly. At 25 bucks per night per head on average, I can see why. No one wants that cash-cow to end all too quickly. And of course, that lends to why there is practically non-existent resources for those who want to get clean from drugs and alcohol.

I understand there is a certain element of bittersweetness to all of this. Many of you have no concept of what it's like to look at a relative in the eye and treat them as though they are human scum for no reason whatsoever other than ego. I can never conceive what it would be like if my niece or nephew or cousin looked at me and said "I am living in a shelter" and do nothing to help them. The normal reaction should be "come stay with me and let me help you" or "are you warm?" or even "are you drinking water?" For me, that's exactly what happened. And I learned from others that it happens often.

Try taking a shower at your local day-shelter and ask yourself if it's easy. It sounds easy, doesn't it? One shower? How bad could it be? Try it and find out.

The shelter is the lost-and-found of society. I can indeed confirm that most of the people in shelters are absolutely mentally ill and absolutely need medication, but there is no one to help them because their family either forgot about them, or is dead. Those people who "fell through the cracks" in the system are now making the state a boatload of money because of their suffering and not knowing how to get help.

The next time you see someone suffering from homelessness, maybe it might be helpful to remember that you actually DON'T know what that person is going through. You might think you do just by looking at him or her, but they are a person just like you, with their own story, and just because they might be standing on the corner with a sign (which, by the way, always feels extremely humiliating, I don't care who you are), doesn't automatically mean you know them.

I'm a 26-year-old female who wants to make a life for herself and was dealt a bad hand in my life from my family. I'm in college. Furthermore, it has been my life-long dream to live in Vermont, since I was very little. I would want to move to Vermont whether or not I had enough money to rent my own space by myself or with assistance. Please be assured, I never envisioned living on a subsidy program as part of my experience in Vermont. I have felt shame, and I have felt guilt. But I'm not getting any younger, and the place I currently live in is absolutely killing my spirit in every way. I feel that Vermont is my home - I've always felt that way. If I were telling you this and I had money to rent on my own, why would your opinion of me change upon hearing this? My intention is the same. I simply cannot do it on my own.

Not everyone that lives on a subsidy program is a ****head. Like I said, if you think it's the Ritz, then maybe you could try it. If you're not willing to, then I suggest you might eat those words and stop thinking your life is better then others' just because it's yours.

I'll leave you with this:

Zeitgeist - When Jacque Fresco Speaks, We Listen - YouTube

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Luna Lovegood

I'm a 26-year-old female who wants to make a life for herself and was dealt a bad hand in my life from my family. I'm in college. Furthermore, it has been my life-long dream to live in Vermont, since I was very little. I would want to move to Vermont whether or not I had enough money to rent my own space by myself or with assistance. Please be assured, I never envisioned living on a subsidy program as part of my experience in Vermont. I have felt shame, and I have felt guilt. But I'm not getting any younger, and the place I currently live in is absolutely killing my spirit in every way. I feel that Vermont is my home - I've always felt that way. If I were telling you this and I had money to rent on my own, why would your opinion of me change upon hearing this? My intention is the same. I simply cannot do it on my own.

Some dreams aren't very wise. Vermont has a very high cost of living, housing is expensive, and the jobs are low-paying and few. Your dream is setting yourself up for failure. Truly it is. Living in poverty in Vermont won't help your spirit. There has to be other places in the country that won't kill your spirit. If there isn't, you're being stubborn and shortsighted. Do your research. You clearly known nothing about living in Vermont. You can rent a room in a house for $400/month, but you won't likely be living near a job, if there is a job at all. You're better off moving to a low cost of living or a high cost of living city where your $400 room in a house is at least near employment opportunities. Clearly, you're ready to relocate. Be smart and really think about the best place is for starting your new life.

[Luna Lovegood]

I appreciate your feedback.

There is a necessity to take into account the comparison-aspect. What one state might feel is minimal opportunity, another state might feel is nothing short of heaven.

Furthermore, part of how I function in my life has to do with an oddity called "energy sensitivity", and that's really for a whole other conversation. In short, I would rather live on the street in Vermont than where I live now. I've experienced the energy in Vermont first-hand several times, and I have never felt more at peace. I think I could survive anything there, even if it does get rough. I feel like my life's destiny lies in Vermont, and like I said, I've felt that my whole life without any explanation.

[Hopes]

How many places have you been?

We know you'd rather live in Vermont than where you live now. I'm asking where else would you consider.

Vermont can't be THE ONLY place that's right for you. The world is a big place.

[Luna Lovegood]

In my spirituality, it's not about what the best place for me is, it's about what's best for me as far as I can tell based on the proverbial taps on the shoulder from the universe I've felt.

I'm originally from New Hampshire.

My mother moved us to Maine. Then we moved back to NH temporarily before moving out west to Seattle. We were there for 3 years, and came back in pieces.

We came back to Maine. It hit the fan between my mother and I in a very bad way, so bad that the only thing I could do was get out, in a run-a-way fashion. The remainder of my family doesn't really care much about me.

I moved to Portland, Maine specifically, and I stayed put and worked to get the housing help that I have.

As I'm trying to move forward with my life, I feel it's impossible, both for my partner and myself. I am miserable here. I hate the mentality here. I hate the people here. I want nothing to do with it. I feel completely ostracized, and even when I do make connections, it feels that people are so closed-minded here that they are in denial of being closed-minded because they don't realize how bad it actually is. One man told me Portland, Maine is "as progressive as San Fransisco". Give me a break.

I went to school, and I did not take up offers to go here, there, and everywhere by hitchiking or train from people on the street. I didn't get addicted to drugs or booze (in fact I'm sober from booze now) and I didn't get pregnant.

I just know Maine is not my home. I've visited Vermont multiple times, and I feel it's there that I'm meant to be. I think it's important for me to make clear that I want to go to Vermont regardless of what the status of the economy or the job market is like. I believe in the law of attraction because I've experienced it, and I know it's where I'm meant to be.

In my original post, all I wanted to know was information. Obviously, from the stereotypes and assumptions on this forum, I'm not going to get information. That's fine. I'll get it some other way.

[Hopes]

The problem is you don't realize that the stereotypes and assumptions you will get on this forum are prevalent in Vermont.

I can understand your feeling the way you do about Seattle and Portland. People are passive aggressive over there. They act liberal and accepting but they are really very judgmental and talk behind your back. You never really feel accepted there because you weren't raised in the weirdness of it all.

On your way to Vermont, make a pit stop in Pennsylvania for a while. Pennsylvanians are very friendly people who are very direct and honest. You won't have to guess where you stand with people here and you'll be easily accepted because Pennsylvania is all about individual freedoms and tolerance of others. The cost of living is extremely low in western Pennsylvania and many other areas of the state.

For the record, I'm from Pennsylvania. I clearly don't have stereotypes and assumptions about you or I wouldn't be inviting you to my state. I don't think you'll get many Vermonters here inviting you to their state when you don't have much to offer in their eyes.

Consider me a proverbial tap on the shoulder from the universe. So far, the other taps on your shoulder haven't proved accurate or things would have worked out in Portland. Give my tap a shot. You have nothing to lose. It's on the way to Vermont.

[Luna Lovegood]

I dislike the energy in Pennsylvania entirely as well. Like I said, I'm very energy-sensitive, and Vermont-energy is the only type that seems to agree with me.

I had a very spiritual experience while in Vermont that changed my life. I appreciate your feedback, though.

[OhBeeHave]

I will give you my answer as a taxpayer with honest energy. When someone comes to a forum to learn about subsidized housing in another state, the hard-working, hard-pressed people will probably be less than thrilled at the notion of someone else from away looking to suckle from the public teat. It doesn't matter how you try to sugar coat it, how Dickens-like your situation was, what you've experienced. Times are hard for many who are barely hanging onto their homes; more plates on the table means less food on the plate for those who contributed to it while they could.

[Luna Lovegood]

Last time I checked, it's not against the law for me to move to Vermont and utilize public assistance. My mother abusing me was not my fault, and me looking for help is not unreasonable.