Where's the best place to be homeless?
 

I haven't ever been homeless. I wouldn't like to be - I guess it goes without saying that it's better to have a home than to be homeless - but it's something I'm interested in. If you were homeless but could be so anywhere in the world where would you choose?

Homeless people where I live (north west of England) generally seem very anxious, miserable and altogether wretched people. They have no obvious posessions and they tend to sit next to ATM machines asking people that use them for spare change. They are usually ignored or avoided by members of the public. Some make a little money selling a magazine called The Big Issue.


This is in contrast to the homelessness I saw on holiday in California last year. Homeless people there seemed to have a much better life. They often had large bags and packs full of posessions and a lot that I saw had shopping trolleys filled with stuff. One guy I saw near Santa Monica Pier was asleep under the shade of a tree. He looked pretty well-fed and it's a cliche but he looked like he didn't have a care in the world! Someone in San Francisco told me that in that city there are people who are homeless because it's a lifestyle choice they made.

Based on that I would much rather be homeless in Southern California than in Manchester, England. I think if I was homeless somewhere in America I'd try to make my way there - or Florida or Texas - just for the sake of not being cold in the winter.

I'm also interested in homelessness in bygone times. Reading books like Down and Out in Paris and London (George Orwell) and The Autobiography of a Super-tramp (William Henry Davies) - first hand accounts of homelessness in the early 20th Century - makes me think that being homeless was more pleasant eighty to a hundred years ago than it is now.

Where's the best place to be homeless? Has anyone had experience of being homeless? If so, where, when and for how long? How realistic is the notion of gradually relocating hundreds of miles to somewhere warmer?

Cold and wet nights are miserable. They can make you feel like shit for days. It's easy to see how So-cal is better suited to living outdoors. They have outdoor shops, people eat outdoors and throw away perfectly edible leftovers where you can easily snatch it up.

Years ago, I worked at a veterinary hospital that was across the street from a homeless shelter. The shelter was always packed. They had waiting lists for folks to have an opportunity to sleep on a cot and get a couple good meals in. Those in waiting slept in the woods and just perused the streets. Occasionally, homeless men were found dead in the woods from who knows what diseases - possibly just from starvation. Authorities would arrive and stay only long enough to haul off the body of John Doe. {These woods surrounded the clinic btw.} Several times a week, we'd get folks coming in begging for dog food to eat. Thankfully, I only dealt with these situations a handful of times, as the DVM instructed us to often tell them no - we have nothing, to avoid making their visits habitual. But us techs would scrounge up something for them anyways. At Christmas, clients would always bring in loads of cookies, popcorn tins, other goodies, etc. for us. A man came in one time and asked me if he could please have a can of dog food... just one. I gave him a huge popcorn tin instead. I did this right in front of the doctor and silently dared him to say something to me about it. Which he didn't.

Around the holidays, people often drop off turkeys and hams at the shelter. 'Tis the season and all. I just might do that this year. All it takes is a bad turn of luck and any of us could be in the same situation as these folks. No family - friends - roof over the head, etc. It breaks my heart. Even those who are addicts - my heart goes out to them still as I know firsthand about the sickness.

Dude, there's no good place to be homeless. The thought of it sickens me. I'm not being mean or anything but I'm just a bit shocked by such a question. Maybe some members will have good answers - I dunno. I'm sad now :/.

Berkeley, CA.
they're everywhere, and lead a pretty decent life.

In Canada?

Vancouver....and Vancouver Island.

The winters are far easier to bear. The homeless from as far as Ontario (maybe further) make their way out there for that reason.

If you can put up with the rain, it rarely dips below freezing there. Unlike pretty much everywhere else.

I live in BC, farther north than Van, but still in BC. Homelessness is a huge problem. Canada is cold. No matter what. Vancouver is easier for sure concidering they get less snow and it does get as cold. But when it's below zero, it's cold to live without a place to go for constant heat.

I think that if I were to be homeless, I'd try to migrate my way south. Probably heading for California. It's got good weather to be living outside in, and like Oliver said, it's easier to grab things because so much is outside.

Wanted to shout out a quick ty to the op. This thread brought up memories of that above mentioned shelter and I went ahead and pulled it up online. Turns out there are quite a few volunteer opportunities available and I think I'd like to jump on that. Even if it's just for a couple hours a week, it'd be a real feel-good thing for me to consider taking part in :). So thank you.

key west...

Eden's house.

I second uncle phil here.. Key West... You can live in a cave and fish your food up.

Scandinavia.

On the topic, an interesting (if kind of depressing) look at homelessness:

Becky Blanton: The year I was homeless | Video on TED.com

I too would pick southern USA like FL, TX or CA. ... Maybe not Texas, they might shoot me.

Nope, don't pick Texas....unless you don't mind the cops or some governement person giving you a bus ticket to CA. (or Arkansas or Florida).

That's usually the way they get rid of homeless folks in the longhorn state.