What would you do if you were a single homeless person ?

[Lardlizard]

I think I’d try n get in prison or stay in an airport
Where you get toilets for going to the loo and washing
Power supply for a phone and WiFi

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages what you did, I did and in fact lots of women do is counted as being homeless. This is hidden homelessness and often not recognised.

Oh and I know the visible homeless in my area sleep in the parks or along the river in the warmer weather. You only see them in town when it's cold.

I agree that most people on the streets have more problems that lead them to be there. If you are mentally ok you can probably get some help to find accomodation.

I think most cities have tent cities now, and many of the people living there work as you see them getting up and going on their way at the same time other commuters do. How the hell we've got this point I don't know. Well I do, but that's another post.

As for engaging with services, there's only so much they can do with such limited resources. I know most of the homelessness team in my city (through charity work) and they are the most committed group you could meet, but they're very limited in their options. They do provide hotel accommodation in the coldest nights of the year, but some homeless people cannot cope in that environment. They'll be referred on to mental health services, but more often than not are promptly discharged for failing to engage. There's zero consideration for the fact that the failure to engage is due to their poor mental health. There used to be specialist services for those who struggled to engage, but they're rare now.

It really depends where you live I live in a council house opposite me are two blocks of two storey 1 bed council.flats that are homes to either single people or couples, they do come up.for bidding sometimes, there are homeless people in my town of course , I would have to see what the council and homeless services could do to help me, I was watching a documentary a few weeks ago about rich kids going homeless think was the title the very affluent young women spent three nights " on the streets" I did wonder just how realistic her experience was ,the first night she slept in a doorway,the second night she slept in a night shelter and the third night, she "offered" to work for free in a cafe for some food and some money, they accepted , but of course she had cameras following her,she was clean and she spoke very well ,i did wonder if the cafe would be as accommodating to a homeless man who haden t been able to have a wash in a while .

Where I live we have a few regular apparently homeless people begging in town and doing very well out of it. I know one of the local churches offers a bed and food every night of the year, the only proviso being that it’s no alcohol or drugs on the premises. They are always frustrated that even on the coldest nights there are those who refuse the help.

I've always said I'd go to centre parc. You can walk into the park and with a back pack you wouldn't be out of the ordinary. Set up tent in a really dark spot. Pack up really early and go to the pool area to wash etc. Hand wash clothes in their loos etc. Wait for check out days and walk into vacated lodges and clear the fridges. Staff will assume it's your lodge if they walk in anyway. All easier said and done in fantasy land though.

I've often wondered about prison actually. Could you sign up for a degree immediately?

If I found myself homeless and penniless, I would stow away to France & walk to somewhere like rural Greece where there is a good climate and a lot of abandoned houses and even farms. I would then squat on a small farm and try and create a life for myself there. The cost of living and the cold is too much here.

hopefully I would also have kept my laptop during all this, and would be able to start building up a small business as a virtual assistant or social media manager from my abandoned house.

I might need somewhere with Internet at some point so would need to be near a town or village where I could charge my computer and have Internet access. In fact I bet there are still places where you could get food and accommodation in return for work, with no money exchanging hands.

I'd move out to the countryside and be a hobbo. Get myself a basic tent and equipment and keep moving.
Seen quite a few around my area over the years.
For food, I'd hunt rabbits and get veg/fruit from farms (doing some work).
I'd stay far away from cities.

You can’t just give a homeless person a flat and expect them to live happily ever after. I work in this sector and like other PPs have said there are usually many complex issues that need to be dealt with first.

If you put a person in a flat without any knowledge of the benefits system, without any mental health or substance misuse support then the tenancy will collapse. Sadly, funding for mental health services etc have been cut to the bone and it’s harder and harder to get help.

I don’t know what I’d do. I really don’t.

I'm probably very naive, but if I were homeless penniless and alone in the world I'd utilise any hostel/charity for somewhere to sleep, try and stay looking smart and find a cash in hand job, then save what I can for a deposit for a room to rent. Probably with a private landlord who doesn't do credit checks and need a 3 year history of previous tenancies/jobs.

@WifOfBif I'm curious - what would the system do with someone like me if I presented as homeless to support services?

No substance abuse issues, bit of depression, dog owner, well spoken, but got evicted by landlord and couldn't find a new tenancy due to being a dog owner and having been made redundant?

It would depend on why you were evicted. Do you have children? That would increase your priority banding.

Out of every ten council properties that become available you’ll be lucky if two allow pets, and for those two properties there will be hundreds of applicants so in reality, your dog would probably have to go.

If you were lucky you might be found temporary accommodation in a bed and breakfast until a permanent property was found or a place in a hostel became available, but it’s more likely that you would need to find your own shelter and contact a homeless charity like ourselves and keep presenting to the council daily. You would be added to the homelessness list but you might not be high priority.

There wouldn’t be a flat waiting to move you into in my local authority, that’s for sure.

It’s a very sad state of affairs.

Many people do commit minor crimes just to end up in prison for a while and get off the hamster wheel. It’s very sad.

As pp have said, people aren’t really homeless because nobody gave them somewhere to live. They normally have mental health or substance misuse issues which means any placement breaks down as they aren’t able to manage it properly and they end up on the streets again.

@WifOfBif No kids, assume section 21 eviction as I'm up to date on my rent but the landlord could evict on a whim. I'd sooner sleep on the streets than give up the dog as I know without him my mental health would implode.

Seems like I'd fall through the massive cracks in homelessness services. Let's hope I don't end up needing them.

In my nearest city almost every single person seen begging on the streets has an addiction problem, most use heroin and crack. I have personally known some of the people and they don’t want to be housed as they become separated from their friends, isolated and it is far more difficult to get money for their drug of choice if they are in a room a few miles out of town. The bus fares alone are around £4 a day and most of the people I’ve known have never paid a bill in their lives. When they live on the streets or even a tent in one of the parks they are provided with companionship, regular meals from the outreach service and somewhere to sleep when the weather gets too cold. They have a regular supply of passers by who will give money, food and clothing, many earn about £100 a day which will go directly on their drug. The drop in centre provides all day access where they can have as many hot drinks, and two meals a day, it closes late afternoon except in the coldest months. These homeless people have access to advisers for benefits, health, chiropodist, drugs counselling etc.

Wow, there's a lot of romanticised views of homelessness on here!

Take my laptop and hide away in an abandoned farmhouse in France and start a social media business? WTF?!

If you're in this situation for real, I'm sure there are many more things at the forefront of your mind...food, shelter, surviving.

Having thought about it a bit more, I'd probably try and find some volunteering that came with accommodation (eg WWOOF) and take the dog. I've some smallholding type experience and I suppose it would work as a stop gap.

Some of the posters on here don't realise how horrendous some of the hostels or night services are. With some of them, you're more likely to be assaulted/hurt than finding somewhere isolated.

I'd try to live in a car to be honest. A lot of people do it. But even maintaining that is very difficult. There are some good blogs online of people who've managed to do it. The expenses are higher than you think. Having a little experience in this area through a friend and how I was treated by some people in her circle, I hate to say this but I'd stay as far away from people as possible. The normal social rules aren't the same. It's all well and good wanting to help and not being judgemental as I went thru life like that then had my eyes banged wide open by some of the behaviour I was on the receiving end of for a perceived slight that was more like something out of primary/high school. It's a dangerous world.

I might try and find a vacant commerical premises and break in.

Like PP I would stay as far away from other people as I could.

It is very hard to put what someone with no addiction problems would do compared to a lot of those that are actually homeless .

I think I would beg during the day and get into a hostel during the night.

Then when I had enough money rent a room then go and work as much as possible to get myself on my feet again.