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I Used to Be Homeless

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Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#111

Post by dsfyu404ed »

Aloha wrote: post #85
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So go through a temp agency. They don't care how over-qualified you are. You're just another body on their call list. If they don't like you they won't call you with any work. Edit: I worked for temp agencies for through college. At the time I probably would have been more useful to them automating some parts of their workflow. They stored everything in spreadsheets but manually copy pasting everything around for the…

Even temp agencies will not take you for the same reasons often - you're too qualified for an entry level role, but no one will hire you because of a lack of recent experience - the min wage, and temp places dont want you, because they assume you will leave as soon as you find a better role.

I've worked for temp agencies. That is absolutely not the case. They don't care if you're over-qualified. If they think you're going to leave they're just not going to give you any temp to hire or long term roles. They'll still call you up when the convention center calls them up asking for bodies to serve food and sweep floors. If you are over-qualified then working for a temp can give you access to potential employers who (after you've shown them you're not a deadbeat while working as a temp) you can then approach about a direct hire position in something you're qualified for if they happen to have one available.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#112

Post by seanmcdirmid »

jki275 wrote: post #106
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How big is a Tokyo 1 bedroom renting for $500/month? Are you sure it isn’t a < 50sqm micro-studio with shared bathrooms?

50 square meters would be very large for a 1 bedroom in Tokyo. My 3 bedroom two hours outside Tokyo was 85m^2 and cost around 2500/month.

Ya, they would be much smaller.

Rents in Tokyo appear cheap, until you look at them on a square meter basis.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#113

Post by nyghtly »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #76

Question for the author or anyone else with similar background: I've previously done a lot of work with homeless and poverty-stricken people, and one of my biggest remaining difficulties is people who won't accept help, or are offended when people only do little things to help. Part of that certainly could come from any drug or mental issue that contributed to their homelessness in the first place, but I'm sure it's…

When you say that they won't accept help, what do you mean? What did you try to offer that they didn't accept?

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#114

Post by Natsu »

deckar01 wrote: post #89
ska wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author may just have meant that he was rejected from such jobs due to being honest about his education when asked, which is a fairly common practice.

I omit irrelevant info from my resume to taylor it towards it's intended audience. I would downplay and even flat out lie to an employer to avoid becoming homeless.

I do wonder what a resume would look like if it contained a HS diploma, one fast food job, and a 30 year employment gap, though...

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#115

Post by PurpleBoxDragon »

cujo wrote: post #52
closeparen wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may work when the concentration is low. I’d estimate 15-20 homeless people on the daily walk between my front door in SOMA and the Muni Metro. Often in relatively dense tent encampments. I’d feel pretty weird giving to one and not the others on the same block. Especially since it’s probably the same people day in and day out. It’d take some serious preparation before going out the door to pack enough for everyon…

I understand what you're saying, but you're literally saying you feeling awkward is more important than someone having food that day. Sure, it's not the most efficient or probably effective, but giving a little bit does make a difference.

>you feeling awkward is more important than someone having food that day

Have you ever spent any money on something that would make you feel less awkward that you could've donated to help feed the hungry? Have you ever bought new clothes when second hand would've worked and you could've donated the difference to feed the hungry? Have you ever spent money eating out when you could've saved money by cooking and donated the difference to feed the hungry?

I wonder if there is anyone who could answer no to such questions?

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#116

Post by frk1206 »

ryanmercer wrote: post #22

>You can start by not judging the homeless. Instead of flying out the gate accusing people of judging homeless, consider this: Not everywhere is like San Francisco where you have actual homeless people living in tent/tarp hovels on sidewalks in busy neighborhoods, come to downtown Indy and many of the 'homeless' people you find randomly around are absolutely not homeless and simply know they can make much easier mone…

I was born/raised in a poor-ish place in south asia and you are generally trained by your parents to believe that most of the homeless/panhandlers are 'fakers'. This myth was quickly destroyed once I spoke to like 5 of them including some people that worked for me who panhandled in their free time (even when they had a job!). They would quickly lay the math out for you and it becomes clear very quickly that these folks don't do this by choice.

I think the faker argument is simply a story richer folks tell to themselves and their kids to prevent major cognitive dissonance since otherwise how can you justify the INSANE amount of homeless/panhandlers there? Branding these folks as the out-group makes it easy to turn a blind eye. No-one chooses to live 10x worse than the general population, beg and be looked down upon.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#117

Post by nyghtly »

ksenzee wrote: post #108
nyghtly wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Homelessness != Substance Use Disorder Moreover, why does treatment have to come at the expense of self-determination? The reality is that people want to receive treatment--if they don't, it is because they encounter a barrier to treatment. Barriers to treatment include: lack of treatment facilities (hospitals do not count), poor quality of existing treatment facilities, unwillingness of treatment facilities to take…

> Homelessness != Substance Use Disorder True. But the Venn diagram overlaps a _lot_. If we magically solved homelessness for everyone with a substance-abuse problem, the people still left homeless would be the ones cities are already able to help.

If you solved homelessness (not with magic, but with money) for everyone with a substance use disorder, then a lot more people would seek treatment, and a lot more would be successful. Even better, you could make that housing into supportive housing, which would prevent deaths from substance use in isolation.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#118

Post by Kalium »

cujo wrote: post #52
closeparen wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may work when the concentration is low. I’d estimate 15-20 homeless people on the daily walk between my front door in SOMA and the Muni Metro. Often in relatively dense tent encampments. I’d feel pretty weird giving to one and not the others on the same block. Especially since it’s probably the same people day in and day out. It’d take some serious preparation before going out the door to pack enough for everyon…

I understand what you're saying, but you're literally saying you feeling awkward is more important than someone having food that day. Sure, it's not the most efficient or probably effective, but giving a little bit does make a difference.

Let's consider a proposal, then. A simple approach. Whenever you encounter a homeless person, stop and interact for a bit. Treat them as a human being, deserving of respect and dignity and humane treatment as a friend and neighbor. Find out what they need. Give the at least enough for a meal.

I'm going to assume 5-10 minutes and $10 per person per encounter per day.

Given that I pass at least 20 of my neighbors experiencing houselessness on each leg of my daily commute, I'm looking at $400 a day in donations and upwards of three hours. This may be sustainable for you, but it would quickly leave me unable to afford to eat myself. And that's assuming everything always goes perfectly, which my experiences living in an area with a sizable population of my neighbors being unhoused suggests may not always reliably be the case.

With this pointedly ridiculous hypothetical in mind, it may be worth considering that people have to choose their own boundaries, in their own lives, and for their own reasons. Your heart is in the right place - compassion and kindness matter! - but it's possible that shaming people for choosing their boundaries might not be the most productive of all possible uses of your time and energy.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#119

Post by rifung »

yters wrote: post #28
WhompingWindows wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read the article and the links he provided, he touches a little upon why people are homeless. There are numerous causes, including mental illness like schizophrenia, financial woes, losing your housing unexpectedly, losing your job unexpectedly, as well as the scourge of drug addiction. Suffice to say, there are MANY reasons, and your pointing to the "high minimum wage" (you call 7.25 per hour high??) is not sensible…

It would certainly be interesting to see exactly the state of homeless people. If they cannot afford housing individually, yet have jobs, why not band together and rent an apartment?

Would they be able to get past a credit check?

I'm not saying they wouldn't; I honestly don't know but I imagine these are the kinds of problems that they deal with which are difficult for people who aren't homeless to empathize with.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#120

Post by pentae »

megaman8 wrote: post #79
closeparen wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may work when the concentration is low. I’d estimate 15-20 homeless people on the daily walk between my front door in SOMA and the Muni Metro. Often in relatively dense tent encampments. I’d feel pretty weird giving to one and not the others on the same block. Especially since it’s probably the same people day in and day out. It’d take some serious preparation before going out the door to pack enough for everyon…

SF just passed 300 million/year measure that's supposed to help the homeless and that's in addition to the 240 million/year of funding that's already there. Both of those combined exceeds the budgets of most cities. First I would say, let's figure out how to use that money so that it's actually working. 540 million/year is enough to give the 7000 homeless in SF 77,000$ per year. Let's put that to good use and make su…

Considering the annual cost of a taxpayer for a prison inmate is $31k a year, surely thats a problem that can be solved with that budget.
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