Has Anyone ever been homeless?
483461
Contact the local chapter of the Red Cross or St Vincent De Paul Society or the Salvation Army, ASAP.  Most of these organizations can assist you in finding emergency housing based on your situation.  Good Luck and God Bless!
4242
Organize a group of people together to feed the homeless that are in the street. There is such a homeless problem in California and not enough shelters to help all of the homeless. There are a few different people/groups of people I have witnessed that have made it their business to make hundreds of sandwiches a day and pass them out to the homeless. There was a lady in Los Angeles who would cook great healthy homemade soups and drive around to the different spots where she knew the homeless people would gather and she made sure they had something good to eat as regularly as possible. But sometimes people can't do that on such a grand scale and it still makes a big difference on a smaller scale sometimes. Just giving something to a homeless person - a warmed plate of your leftovers from dinner perhaps - is a great thing.\n\nWalk up to a homeless woman who is minding her own business, not begging off of anybody, and give her 10% of your weekly income. I met a man one time who did that because he no longer attended church and it was his form of paying tithes. See how big that woman's smile gets. Depending on what you make, you might be able to divide that among 10 homeless women and still get great, surprised, thankful, almost wondrous expressions of happiness.\n\nVolunteer to mentor or assist a homeless person who is not totally beyond help. There are plenty of homeless people out there who look beyond help. Homelessness is a battle of hopelessness. The longer a time a person remains homeless, the more hopeless they feel about everything. People who have been homeless for more than a year become "The Chronic Homeless" and their chances for being able to escape the confines of homelessnes are statistically decreased. Sometimes people just need an address for employment opportunities, a contact phone number for messages, encouragement, food, a safe place to store clothing and personal belongings. When homeless people don't have at least these meager advantages, it can be intensely difficult to make it back into a more normal type of living environment.\n\nBecome a mentor or a Big Brother.\n\nVolunteer to tutor children or speak to children to motivate them to study well so they can become a graphic designer or whatever they want to achieve.\n\nDonate some of your graphic design services or discount as a donation to help non-profit charities advertise events that can help them achieve their goals.\n\nCounty hospitals often welcome volunteer administrative help.\n\n(Just a few ideas - I could go on forever with this. So many worthy causes out there need volunteeristic people.)
1135543
This is a tricky subject.  I've worked with the homeless and many actually prefer to live on the streets and wouldn't use or care for housing if they had it.  Many of the homeless are also mentally ill.  Tackle that challenge, they can become productive and turn it around.
300266
If that person has made a conscious decision to live on the streets then I dont think they would want any help.  However, Id say that nearly all homeless people do not want to live on the streets.  Many of them have mental illness and simply do not know how to get a job and run a house.  Some homeless people have been released from a prison or a mental hospital and have nowhere to go.  Homeless men especially have often gone through a divorce and have lost their house etc to their wives, sometimes they also lose their job/money due to the stress (or maybe this is what triggered the divorce?), and so they end up with nothing and on the streets.  Its also possible they have had alcohol/drug problems and lost their house because of this, although this is often a by-product of becoming homeless. Or they may have lost their jobs,or been unable to pay their rent and been evicted.  There are many reasons why an adult may become homeless, and I dont think many choose to, I can only guess that these ones maybe have a learning difficulty and believe that life may be easier just drifting here and there and not having to socialise.  As for people who dont want to be homeless you could help them by bringing them soup/warm food and drinks, or suggesting local shelters.  you could also volunteer with a soup kitchen program or donate to a 'homeless' charity.  Well done for querying about homelessness without judging-too many people just presume 'drugs' and this is not always the case.  All the best!
822315
I have witnessed a few things in Social Housing, one such being the roof space of one rented house being boarded out and twenty matresses laid out.\n\nPeople were sleeping on them during the day, which presumably means an equal number of others slept there at night.\n\nNot a bad bit of sub-letting.\n\nThe Occupants were I am told carrying out the lowest of work tasks at hunger rates.\n\nLooked like slavery to me.\n\nIt was duly reported by me, and absolutely nothing done about it.\n\nRackman lives and thrives.
1054894
I've never been rich, but I've been homeless and I didn't deserve it.
883248
Yes, quite a while ago. \nShe now has a new bloke though, unlucky.
870950
I don't really think help is there.  The shelters make you leave early in the morning.  Most jobs require that you have a telephone so they can call you if they want to hire you.  People in the shelters get robbed, unless they don't have anything.  Sure, lots of the homeless like living that way, but for ones that don't like it, it's not easy.
853705
No. I have helped alot of homeless people in the past. I even gave one all my mcdonalds. But as soon as you give them a little, they want more. So I donate all my lightly used clothes and other stuff to the salvation army, and give the coats I no longer wear away as well. I donate anything I no longer use or need. Therefore they can just get good stuff for super cheap, or free.
44392
One Thanksgiving Day, I cooked a complete dinner for my family which included five children and cooked an extra complete dinner for residents of a detox. One freezing winter day, while entering a t-stop (subway)in Boston I noticed several homeless men huddled in a corner. I went to McDonald's and bought them hamburgers, fries, and hot coffee. Both incidents are true. You can pick the nicest one of the two.
774079
Nope, never had that happen. Poor people tend to stay poor. Rich people tend to be stingy!
1013034
A homeless person can be anyone or a family, going through difficult times, through job loss, death of a spouse(the breadwinner), an abused family member, or neglected young teen who has no choice but to leave home, or apartment converted to condos, etc.The singer Jewel was once homeless and she and her mother lived in their car. In most cases, you would not be able to identify a homeless person (or family) if you passed them on the street.
233166
No. I am one of those people who can't stand to see the homeless people on the streets and usually donate to them.  I've given them money and even food.  I know that some of them are not really homeless and do the begging routine to just get money, however I feel that if I do my part and help the ones you can, God will take care of the ones who are doing wrong.  I've donated to those who I've watched take the money and went and bought them something to eat and I've also donated to those who have went straight to the  liquor store.  Atleast I know my heart is in the right place and if they are doing wrong it's between them and God.
781934
would you??\n\nas much as i'd like to say yes, it's hard to trust alot of people out there. it's not the fact that he's homeless - strangers just don't belong in my house especially over night.\n\nthere's other ways to help him out anyway. what good is one bath, one meal, one night in a warm place when the next day he has to go back to the streets. i'd rather try to help him out so he or she can get their lives back on track forever
892534
My apartment building burned to the ground on January 26,2003.\nApproximately 30 people including myself lost every thing they owned. I lost my car when the building collapsed and managed to walk away that morning with just my daughter, my dog and my purse. \nPeople from all over the county came together to make sure every family in that building had a place to stay that night.\nChurches and civic groups arranged to have furniture and housewares donated by merchants in the area, families donated \nclothes, housewares and more furniture.  Total strangers donated $ to a fund set up to help each family get into a new apartment and to make sure their utilities were connected.\nI worked at a car dealership @ the time and the owner of the dealership gave me a car to drive until I had saved up enough $ to pay for it.\nI had $96.00 in my bank account and an 8 year old daughter to support and was left with absolutely nothing due to something beyond my control and total strangers chose to help me and make sure that I had everything my family needed to get on with our lives.\nI have a completely new understanding of what people's kindness can do. I want to be able to make people realize that you can start over, all you may need is a hand.
879341
I was homeless, but not sick or handicapped.  I worked during that time and didn't tell anyone at work I wasn't living anywhere.  I wasn't a vagrant.  What I really wanted was my own shower and maybe a fridge or something where I could have food for more than 12 hours so eating was more convenient.  Honestly, I look back at those times and laugh a little because it was so bizarre.  I don't regret it.  I'm well-off now, but I think it's made me appreciate those who have it rough.  You don't know how much you like running water and electricity until you don't have it.  Also, I understand that you don't need a nice car and fancy house to survive and even be happy.  I learned which parks were the most beautiful.  Life was a little slower because of it.  There were plenty of things that were not fun, but I could still enjoy life and be okay.\n\nBy the way, I was 23 at that time and it lasted only a few months, so I don't know if I'm the ideal candidate to answer your question.
422750
Raised as a foster child with no real home I found myself in a situation where I felt I was a "reject of the system". As I was passed from one bad situation to another I decided that the only way to improve my situation was to part ways from my "home".\n\nI dropped out of highschool and picked up several jobs and lived out of my car, it may seem like a bad situation but it was far better then the abuse and neglict I had been dealing with. Years later on hard work I was able to better myself and put myself in a situation that was far closer to a "normal" life.\n\nMy motivation was to get away from the horrors I had to tolerate, the abuse, the neglect, and the fact that the "system" had abandoned me and turned its back on me and any time there was an issue I was passed to another foster home that at most times was far worse then the one prior to it.