Have You Ever Been Homeless?

[Jingthing]

Shelter of course is a basic human need. With the economic crises in recent years in many of our countries, I am sure homelessness or the fear of homelessness has touched some of us, and some of the people we know.

This poll is about homelessness, reality, fears, and expectations among the members here.

Most interesting to me perhaps is the percentage of people here who have already been homeless at some point in their lives. Of course, the definition of being homeless is somewhat subjective, but it is certainly a more dire state than simply being temporarily between apartments.

[Ulysses G.]

I was homeless quite often in my very young hippy days, but it was my own fault and I always felt that I could escape it if I wanted to.

I do not know if I could hack it at this advanced age.

[endure]

You do realise that 'homelessness' is a description of the ideal state for a Buddhist?

"Only a mother knows the pangs of childbirth, and only a mother knows the succeeding joys of motherhood. Only he who has left home knows the relief of relinquishing accustomed bonds; only he who has left home, knows the happiness of being free: an inward experience — indisputable! "The joys of the family life and the joys of the homeless life — these are two different joys: and the nobler of the two is the joy of the homeless life.""

Edited October 16, 2010 by endure

[Lantern]

My first thought was "of course not" but then I realised that my house was sold six weeks before I left the UK.

On arriving in Oz bought some land and lived in a tent till the house had a roof.

So I guess yes is the answer, but probably not in the same way as the OP intended.

[smokie36]

I am technically homeless and have been for the last five years. I guess I'm used to living a hobo existence.

One hotel to the next......although I once spent two nights in London with nowhere to stay as I'd lost my wallet.....this in the days before mobile phones. I was 16 vyears old at the time.

If anyone wants to know where the warmest spot in Euston station is send a PM.

[ozzieovaseas]

Good to see you back to polling again mate, have you been on vacation??

Its an interesting topic nonetheless, as i often consider myself as homeless just by way of being outside of Australia...but of course thats a long way from the actual definition of being homeless.

I imagine it would be a very dire situation if you allowed yourself to become homeless in Thailand. Surely the average joe would take the option of bailing out and heading back to the safety net of our own countries welfare systems before things got that bad.

Having said that, there was the recent case of a female being held in detention for not being able to pay her overstay fine at Rayong. Havent heard any further details on that one, but yeah, its suprising that some people allow themselves to live on the edge, or be on the brink of homelessness as it were.

I must say i am a little suprised at your use of an UN-controversal topic....dont think there will be the opportunity for the usual arguments and flaming on this one...err maybe thats why theres only a few posts so far..

But then again lets not underestimate our beloved fellow posters

[Goshawk]

in my real 'younger' era, i spent a solid 6+ months totally unplanned living/sleeping/eating in & out of the back of a white Ford Escort Van with my labrador dog....

more of a Romany/Gypsy type freedom than true homeless i guess.... but it was great..

been trying to emulate it ever since....

[IanForbes]

It isn't going to happen because my home and everything I own is paid for. And, I'm no longer taking chances with investments. I have enough to last until I'm gone, and my two children will get what ever is left.

However, I've always lived a frugal life so existing on very little is not a problem for me.

[Goshawk]

It isn't going to happen because my home and everything I own is paid for. And, I'm no longer taking chances with investments. I have enough to last until I'm gone, and my two children will get what ever is left.

However, I've always lived a frugal life so existing on very little is not a problem for me.

c'mon ian, what about all the time spent with those bears in BC ? you must have lived real vagabond'ishly rough at some stage to get such great pics ?

Edited October 17, 2010 by Goshawk

[Jingthing]

I was homeless quite often in my very young hippy days, but it was my own fault and I always felt that I could escape it if I wanted to.

I do not know if I could hack it at this advanced age.

Yeah I share your feeling about that. When older, we really do tend to get very addicted to our creature comforts, not to mention many of us have medical issues that need attending to.

However, just so people don't think the question about SURVIVING homelessness was overly dramatic, check out these statistics on homelessness among YOUNG people in the UK. It shows homelessness really is a threat to your very life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/159664.stm

[onnut]

I have been homeless a couple of times, wherein I had no home of my own to go to. but have had good friends put me up on there sofas or in a spare bed until I found a job and could afford rent. but that was only when I went from country to country. never have lost a job or home unless it was me who gave it up to move on. so I answered that I have never been homeless in the poll.

[Jingthing]

Couch surfing with friends to me is "almost" homeless. In my view, actual homelessness means you're living on the street, in temporary institutional homeless shelters and/or a combination.

[chiang mai]

I was homeless quite often in my very young hippy days, but it was my own fault and I always felt that I could escape it if I wanted to.

I do not know if I could hack it at this advanced age.

Yeah I share your feeling about that. When older, we really do tend to get very addicted to our creature comforts, not to mention many of us have medical issues that need attending to.

However, just so people don't think the question about SURVIVING homelessness was overly dramatic, check out these statistics on homelessness among YOUNG people in the UK. It shows homelessness really is a threat to your very life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/159664.stm

The area around Charring Cross and Trafalgar Square is home to many street dwellers, during my visit last month I was surprised to see that many were quite well equipped for sleeping rough, down jackets and good quality sleeping bags and most if not all sat drinking beer/wine by lunch time. The thought crossed my mind that for many of them this was a lifestyle choice rather than anything else, the fact is that in a country like the UK there is no reason why anyone should be without a roof over there head, sad regardless.

[Jingthing]

It is sometimes a choice and sometimes not a choice. In good economic times or in countries with comprehensive welfare states, it can be a sign of mental illness. However, there is no doubt whatsoever that it isn't always a choice. In the US for example there is now a huge increase in families with children being homeless.

In my view, the "choice" argument is really overdone, often by right wingers, Ayn Rand fans, and radical libertarians. It makes it easy to dismiss all of the sufferers because it's supposedly all of their fault. If someone is mentally ill, is that all their fault, any more than someone with a serious physical disease? Suicide is another "choice" and it also kills you.

Edited October 17, 2010 by Jingthing

[chiang mai]

It is sometimes a choice and sometimes not a choice. In good economic times or in countries with comprehensive welfare states, it can be a sign of mental illness. However, there is no doubt whatsoever that it isn't always a choice. In the US for example there is now a huge increase in families with children being homeless.

In my view, the "choice" argument is really overdone, often by right wingers, Ayn Rand fans, and radical libertarians. It makes it easy to dismiss all of the sufferers because it's supposedly all of their fault. If someone is mentally ill, is that all their fault, any more than someone with a serious physical disease? Suicide is another "choice" and it also kills you.

I do agree there are those in society that need help and we should do all we can to provide it, the sick, the mentally unwell and so on. But there is also that layer of people who need to help themselves first before others try to intervene! Finally there is that segment that chooses to live an unconventional lifestyle, let's not confuse which is which by putting them all in the same bucket. As for the "choice" argument being overdone, on some things sometimes I'm so far to the right that I'm in danger of coming back at myself from the opposite direction, that doesn't mean to say though that I'm not capable of objectivity.

[Jingthing]

Homeless people have enough to worry about, simply surviving for the most part, not to mention the risks of being beaten or murdered by delinquent youths, without right wing moralists getting on their cases. It's my impression that most of the world is "one paycheck" away from being in dire straits, and for vulnerable people it doesn't take much more than two or three bad things happening in succession to totally ruin their lives. It happens to lots of people who thought it could never happen to them.

[chiang mai]

Homeless people have enough to worry about, simply surviving for the most part, not to mention the risks of being beaten or murdered by delinquent youths, without right wing moralists getting on their cases. It's my impression that most of the world is "one paycheck" away from being in dire straits, and for vulnerable people it doesn't take much more than two or three bad things happening in succession to totally ruin their lives. It happens to lots of people who thought it could never happen to them.

We're clearly both working from different models, the US and the UK. You should take a walk around central London these days and you might just change your tune, homelessness in the centre of London doesn't mean the same thing as it does in the US, I'm certain of that.

[excaliber]

Jingthing,

without looking like I'm trying to hijack your post, would it have been more appropriate to add "penny-less" to "homeless"?

Staying in hotels and having plenty of money to buy land and houses, etc., hardly fits the bill of "homeless"...IMHO...

[chiang mai]

Jingthing,

without looking like I'm trying to hijack your post, would it have been more appropriate to add "penny-less" to "homeless"?

Staying in hotels and having plenty of money to buy land and houses, etc., hardly fits the bill of "homeless"...IMHO...

An interesting and appropriate point, here we have ex-pats in Asia who have money yet live in hotels for extended periods, clearly such folk have adopted a life style choice and/or are biding their time for other things, such folk who rent are not very much different - the only other option of course is that they are seriously troubled people!

But what if that same model was applied to the homeless of London, biding their time perhaps, the difference between the ex-pat and the down jacketed sleeping bag carrying lost soul near Trafalgar Square is maybe only a difference of scale of funds.

[Jingthing]

Common sense applies here, folks. Of course moneyed people living in hotels they can pay for are not homeless. Geez. Why split hairs?

[chiang mai]

Common sense applies here, folks. Of course moneyed people living in hotels they can pay for are not homeless. Geez. Why split hairs?

OK, so people living in hotels (or similar) on credit (cards) they cannot afford to repay AND have no other abode, are they homeless also!

I think you need to be far more specific about where you're trying to get to with all of this JT, your thought at the outset is a good one but the poll questions are incomplete.

[Jingthing]

Common sense applies here, folks. Of course moneyed people living in hotels they can pay for are not homeless. Geez. Why split hairs?

OK, so people living in hotels (or similar) on credit (cards) they cannot afford to repay AND have no other abode, are they homeless also!

I think you need to be far more specific about where you're trying to get to with all of this JT, your thought at the outset is a good one but the poll questions are incomplete.

Your example - NO! Not until they actually lose their dwelling. Duh!

Poll choices incomplete?

Aren't they ALL? Such is life, snookums.

From the OP -- Of course, the definition of being homeless is somewhat subjective, but it is certainly a more dire state than simply being temporarily between apartments.

Edited October 17, 2010 by Jingthing

[teatree]

If you had to be homeless, Thailand would be one of the best countries to do it.

[JRinger]

Common sense applies here, folks. Of course moneyed people living in hotels they can pay for are not homeless. Geez. Why split hairs?

OK, so people living in hotels (or similar) on credit (cards) they cannot afford to repay AND have no other abode, are they homeless also!

I think you need to be far more specific about where you're trying to get to with all of this JT, your thought at the outset is a good one but the poll questions are incomplete.

Your example - NO! Not until they actually lose their dwelling. Duh!

Poll choices incomplete?

Aren't they ALL? Such is life, snookums.

From the OP -- Of course, the definition of being homeless is somewhat subjective, but it is certainly a more dire state than simply being temporarily between apartments.

what's "subjective" about being homeless? 'No home & no money' is "HOMELESS" in my book. no need for all the double talk.....and splitting heirs takes the 'homeless' equation out of it altogether (couldn't resist)

Edited October 18, 2010 by JRinger

[Jingthing]

If you had to be homeless, Thailand would be one of the best countries to do it.

That's interesting. Can you expand on why? To me the advantages I think of right away are the lack of cold weather (for the most part) and the greater possibility to build makeshift shelters in slum areas (compared to the west where that would be zoned out). Also, perhaps I am naive, but I don't feel that simple poverty is CRIMINALIZED in Thailand very much (for Thais anyway), certainly compared to the US. But there are also obvious downsides. It's hard not to smell living outside in the tropics, and Thais seem to have a low tolerance for smelly people. Then there are the SNAKES, they tend to live outside mostly.

Edited October 18, 2010 by Jingthing

[zaza]

I'd appreciate it more if you could make a poll about statelessness. I wonder how many would admit that

[Jingthing]

I'd appreciate it more if you could make a poll about statelessness. I wonder how many would admit that

That sounds like a different topic entirely and a much rarer state of being than homelessness. It doesn't interest me to start a poll about that but the power to start a poll is open to all members here, so why don't YOU start it?

[GM1955]

This is a very interesting topic, especially for ThaiVisa where the topics are usually just repeats of 2 weeks earlier and totally uninteresting.

I have been really down on my luck before a few times.

But, hey, you know what, life goes on, and luck does does change.

In my own case, I was thinking I was pretty much down, I happened to be in a bar when an Expat engineer walked into the same bar, he got talking to the Bar Owner who was a retired engineer and I was sitting there, an Engineer without a job, and one thing led to another, I ended up working with a great contract with a fabulous rate of pay.

The rest is history.

I'm now one of the highest paid Farang Engineers in SE Asia.

[Ulysses G.]

It doesn't interest me to start a poll about that but the power to start a poll is open to all members here, so why don't YOU start it?

A poll is not a poll unless Jingthing starts it, supervises it (and tells us the correct answers).

[matchless51]

You do realise that 'homelessness' is a description of the ideal state for a Buddhist?

"Only a mother knows the pangs of childbirth, and only a mother knows the succeeding joys of motherhood. Only he who has left home knows the relief of relinquishing accustomed bonds; only he who has left home, knows the happiness of being free: an inward experience — indisputable! "The joys of the family life and the joys of the homeless life — these are two different joys: and the nobler of the two is the joy of the homeless life.""

i did 1 year on an ol Enfield with a swag in India and Nepal, more a Hindu trip, slept at temples, truck stops, woke up in goat paddocks, slept on the Ghats at Varanasi, beaches in Goa, Awsome expierience, still got the bike but go for aircon and cable now, only occasionaly rough it these days, Buddha was a smart guy (Hindu too), i like what he said, the real baba's of India are noble people too, i like them over most Indians i meet.