The Homeless, a new experience for me.

[Sourdough]

OK, here I am down here in Florida.  I hang out with my high school buddy and his wife.  I go to his shop during the day, and sometimes he gives me a small job to do to kill time with.  Otherwise I ride his bicycle to the beach (three blocks away) and people watch. 
 
When the Banks folded three years ago my buddy's sister found her self out of a job.  (I thought she was hot when we were 16 and 17).  My buddy was able to find a place for her in the shop. 
 
My buddy has a younger brother, that is four years younger than we are.  Younger brother has been on the wrong side of the law since he was 10.  Constantly in trouble, prison, you name it he's done it.  Anyway the last time he was released from prison the state of Oragon gave him a one way ticket to Florida.  Now he's here, no job, no income, nothing but resentment, and a hand full of trouble.  Due to being a "Sex Offender", he can not find a place to live.  Either a day care facility, liquor store, or a Church is too close at every apartment complex he has tried to find a place to live in.  He's crazy, a psycho, so my buddy and his sister don't want him anywhere near their homes.  I've taken him out to dinner a few times this trip.  I felt sorry for the guy, and at least wanted him to have a good meal.  That ended last Thursday night. 
 
Last Thursday night we met at the shop.  My buddy gives him enough to eat on for a week every Thursday evening at the shop.  So I loaded him into my car and went to a local orential restaurant.  During the course of the evening he starts talking about how he was in Viet Nam, and how many people he killed during his time there.  I calmly reminded him he was in Castle Heights Military academy during the years he was talking about.  He was too young for Viet Nam.  Well that did not go over good but we got through it.  Then he starts talking about how he worked for the CIA during Desert Storm, and how he was there in Iraq.  I got ticked off, since I knew he was lying again.  But I kept calm and changed the subject.  Then a friend came by, and spoke as he went by.  The Psycho went off.  X this and X that.  Getting louder and louder the more I and the wait staff tried to get him to lower his voice.  Finally the police came in, they took him into custody.  The restaurant manager informed me I was not welcome back there, even without the nutcase.
 
Wow that was an experience.  Then the following day, his wife showed up at the shop.  Seems he had met this gal under a bridge one night and talked her into marrying him.  She was looking for either my buddy or I to help her out, since she felt we were responsiable for her Husband being in jail.  Now who was going to help her find something to eat, and a secure place to sleep at night.  She went to ranting and raving around the shop, refusing to go outside or leave.  So my buddy fixed it where she had a place to sleep that night.  He quitely called the police while I was arguing with her.  She got to spend the night in jail as well.  Doubt she saw her husband while there.
 
My buddy and I talked about his brother the next day.  He told me how his parents had tried to help between stints in prison.  And how he had found a place for him to live.  Then after a couple of years of being quite, and living in a good apt.  He got drunk one night and got arrested.  When he got out of jail a day care had opened across the street, and he could no longer live there.  Now he sleeps where ever he is when night fall comes.  Under a bridge, behind some shrubs, in an abandoned car, in some kids tree house, what ever he can find.         
 
The next day my buddy and I went down into Miami to pick up some material.  We stopped at a McDonalds for lunch.  While we were eating he pointed out a woman coming into the building.  This woman was wearing lots of cloths, and the temp was in the 80s.  She had a big bag hanging on her arm.  First thing she did was go to the drink dispenser.  She pulled eight cups with lids out of that bag and filled them with ice and soda.  She put everyone of those cups back in a pocket in that bag to keep it upright.  Then she went to the counter and ordered a $1.00 value meal burger.  Then quitely left.  Then as we were driving back to Ft Lauderdale, he pointed out people I would not have noticed.  All homeless.  He said they flock to Southern Florida, since it never gets cold here.  He also said most are mentally ill, or hiding from someone.

[OldSchoolRanger]

We had a big homeless and emotionally disturbed population in NYS, about 15 - 20 years ago.  We got rid of most of them, when Rudy Giuliani was mayor.  He must have shipped most of them to Florida.     

The rest we took care of by making them into politicians and electing them as governor, and US senators, in NY.

[blind ear]

That guy will only survive under a bridge or institutionalised. the thread took a much different direction than I had imagined.
 
I went through a bankruptcy and divorce many years ago. Had a friend that also went through a bankruptcy. We came to a realization in the process. No one os immune from being homeless. If you become debilitated, car wreck/cripled-brain damaged, a stroke/crippled brain damaged, natural disaster, social upheaval, ecconomic collapse, any number of things quite out of the ordinary can put any person in a position they would never see comeing.
 
Be gratefil for your good fortune, good mind, good health. Many many many are not so fortunate. It can happen to anybody, it can happen to you.
 
Not everyone is homeless because of thier lack of drive, most are homeless because they can't do any better.
 
NewYork City still has a large population that gets power from a city utility pole living in cardboard boxes with a George Foreman grill as thier kitchen and heat source.
 
I never say I will never be there, I have been scared enough by my own circumstances to realize that is not true.
 
ear

[powderman]

I pray daily for the homeless. They aren't all drunks, addicts, or winos. Many are people just like us that circumstances has put them in the street. I knew a homeless lady named Nancy in Corydon Ind. She had been fairly well to do in Mich a year before. She came home from shopping one day to find the police there to evict her and her daughter. Husband had stopped paying the house payment for quite some time. House was cleaned out, she was locked out, bank accts cleaned out. She and her daughter left and a month later her daughter was so distraught she stepped out in front of a big truck when they were hitchhiking, drt, right in front of Nancy. She ended up in Corydon in an old car that she parked in the far corner of walmart. Mgt found out and had her arrested. She had to move elsewhere. First night she was attacked by 8 mexicans, beaten and repeatedly raped. I invited her to our home several times but she refused, with a thank you and a smile. Always clean and polite. Lost track of her several years ago. She would always ask prayer for her friends. POWDERMAN. 

[Conan The Librarian]

I lived for about  three years in a condition that would today be called homeless. I thought it was fun. Travel, working odd jobs, sleeping in unlikely places. Dining on beans and rice, tomatoes and cucumbers most days. It was alright. My clothes were kept pretty clean, and I always looked clean cut. I had an old small army style canvas knapsack and all my stuff fit inside it.  I met some good and interesting people living the same lifestyele. Then there were the dangerous bums and the mental cases that needed to be avoided.


I never abused society like the people you described. never took any assistance.


I earned about 2000 per year back then around 1980. In todays dollars that would be about 4500. Federal poverty line for one person is about 11000 today,  I never felt poor, never was broke, and never considered myself disadvantaged in any way.

[ratdog]

my wifes sister became homeless when california started going to heck my wife told her to come here with her two girls i told my wife to leave her drugged up husband there with his family  my wifes sister stayed here 4 months then her hubby showed up then it was time for them to leave my wife signed on lease that i didn't find out till later i was mad but she paid the rent and is doing ok the LDS church has helped her a lot and family services mostly because she has two kids and a diabetic husband that is worthless. she really knows how to work the system . i don't need her back i have one woman now a good one.that is a sad story sourdough things are getting worse i pray it gets better.

[Sourdough]

This is something we just don't see in Fairbanks Alaska.  Oh yes we do have homeless people, but you don't see them on the street during the winter.  They all find a warm place to stay during the winter, or they don't survive.  They are not on the streets like here in Florida.
 
Was reading an article in today's paper about the homeless here in Florida.  It said something like 75% of the homeless on the East Coast are here in Florida.  I believe it.
 
 
 
 

[bobg]

Sure sounds like NYS to me    OldSchoolRanger. The only cites i am familiar with are Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Rochester. My job took me to Rochester and Buffalo. Sure did see some strange things there.

[Ron/Pa.]

   Have a one time friend who is on the Bi-Polar Express. He picked up a Girly friend that also hopped on. They scour the internet looking for free funds to help them out in life.They are both on " Disability". They get free Aire Ride services and help with their Rent and utilities. Also are eligible for free food and dental and medical. Once a Month they get their Meds and a happy time is had, mostly when selling them to other users. Yes, they have learned very well how to use the system!!

[guzzijohn]

"Yes, they have learned very well how to use the system!!"


It amazes me how well some can use the system. They could probably make a ton of money just by giving seminars on the subject. I have tried to help people who truly need it through my job to navigate the system and I still do not have it figured out. My first wife died from liver failure and could not work the last year of her life. After her death I contacted Social Security about her death. The SS worker told me that it sounded like my wife could have easily qualified for benefits and I should apply retroactively. That would have been nice for covering funeral costs, etc. I tried and got nowhere even with appeals so I guess I don't know crap about the system. 
GuzziJohn

[Spirithawk]

There's a local minister here that bought a piece of land with a large building on it in Springfield, Mo. He wanted to turn it into apartments for homeless veterans. The city refused to let him because it was on a corner oposite a school. Aparantly veterans can be trusted to fight for their Country but not to live across the street from school children. The reverand even offered to put up a high security fence around the building. They still refused to let him. He offered to buy a vacant lot elsewhere, put up a fence around it, and put up tents for the homeless. Stilll....no dice. Last Winter the city made a big deal out of it's churches opening their doors to the homeless when temps dropped below zero. Yeah, a week after the temps dropped and one day before a final warm up. Now days the homeless guy you see might have recently had a high paying job. There was a time that a church was concidered a sactuary to anyone needing shelter. Now they all have locked doors! Wonder what Jesus would say about that?

[magooch]

True--anyone can end up homeless.  All it takes is bad decisions, bad habits, bad planning, and even bad luck.  That is why I have made a special effort to try to do the right things.  And then there is the one thing that all the effort can't do too much about--getting stuck with a turd for a president.  We'll be lucky if all of us don't end up homeless.

[magooch]

We should apply to the U.N. for aid for our homeless.

[ratdog]

let them move in with obama

[Conan The Librarian]

Minneapolis is a welfare magnet for the region, so even though it gets incredibly cold, there are still plenty of bums around. One day I was coming to work there on a Saturday and there were so many bums sleeping in the skyway that connects buildings that I had to step over them to get by. They sure do stink. This was about 10am.

City doesn't do anything about it, except keep giving them aid. They even give  them cell phones.

[victorcharlie]

I was doing some work a month or so ago across the street from the shelter.

I was amazed how many people were sitting outside smoking cigarettes.

Now, tobacco isn't cheap.....just saying....

[powderman]

let them move in with obama

 
Good idea, he made a lot of them that way anyway. POWDERMAN.