• PunnyName@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    For most people, it’s easier to become homeless than it is for the homeless to extricate themselves from it.

    • John_McMurray@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      This is all political horseshit. It’s not that hard to get out of homelessness, I was homeless a lot in my late teens and early twenties. Of course freezing to death in a Canadian winter is a strong motivator. Fucking taking a shower and doing work that you’d rather not is all it takes if you’re not mentally fucked or strung out

      • PunnyName@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        As someone who was homeless for 2 ½ years in Los Angeles, I disagree with you.

        And despite my efforts to get a new job after being laid off, I’m about to be back on the streets. So maybe, right now, I don’t wanna hear it.

        • John_McMurray@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Oh look. Exactly who I’m talking about showed up. You’re not willing to do what it takes, you’d rather be homeless in LA than working in Oxnard

          • PunnyName@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            You have a twisted sense of what “rather” means. I can’t get to fucking Oxnard, I have no car.

            I’m spending what little money I have to store what little possessions I have, to get a mailbox, and a gym membership. Because you need an address, and a place to clean up, and a place to change clothes…or just vibe for a little before going back and dealing with the bullshit of homelessness.

            How much is it gonna cost to move to Oxnard without established housing? What employer is going to provide me with immediate housing? How far is the housing from the employer? How good is the transit? If bad, is the money from the employer sufficient to get a car in the area? Are the cars reasonably priced?

            Also, what’s the work? I have multiple injuries that prevent me from doing certain work. I’m older and overweight (largely due to those injuries), so my options are limited. I have mental health issues that need regular maintenance, how’s the emperor’s healthcare package, or do they pay enough to get my own insurance?

            Unless you can guarantee me a residence for free, you might wanna start looking at the nuances of why someone is homeless in the first place.

            I’m more than willing to move to a new location, but moving isn’t cheap, even with a few boxes of necessities, it can be a massive hassle.

            So maybe instead of judging me or anyone else, start providing concrete fucking answers, instead of vague bullshit that strokes your ego.

            • Malfeasant@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              Yeah, but answers are hard, much easier to be a judgemental prick. (And people like that call people like us lazy…)

      • grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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        6 months ago

        Fucking hell man, I was homeless too because of financial reasons (tried something and it didn’t work). It’s true it’s a huge advantage on most people in that situation if you’ve just got your head screwed on right and your eye on the prize.

        We were lucky.

        But even then, the label starts to stick to you after a while. Having made the same excuse of just “having come from the gym” because you carry all your shit to interviews in a duffel bag, starts to ring hollow. You start getting looks or thinking you’re getting looks when you realize people know (how could they know? You work so hard to cover it up). You just start to feel homeless.

        Not everyone can shake that off so easily. And yeah, maybe they’ve got other shit going on that act as comorbidities to homelessness. It’s actually more likely than not, otherwise they wouldn’t be homeless.

        I can tell by the way you speak that in your current frame of mind you probably don’t have the mental space to stop and consider what this is like. So I just hope you meet someone more empathetic than yourself if ever your luck turns sour again - especially if you don’t have your health and all your faculties to pull your through like last time.