How homeless people survive?

Answer 1

Depends on the individual. Some go to food banks, some pan handle, some hold advertising signs eg. "will work for food" so it all depends on...now women with children get more housing support. Homeless get the most help around the holidays. God bless them!

Answer 2

Having been homeless, I can tell you that homelessness ain't that bad. It can get tough finding another meal sometimes, but I never saw many fat people who were homeless, so there's something to say in that regard. To eat, you jump into garbage dumpsters behind grocery stores, restaurants, and any kind of business with food for sale. You go through all of the dumpsters of business which have clothing for sale and find articles of clothing to wear. There almost always are places to sleep overnight that are protected from the elements, and, for those times when you might be caught without a place, you carry a couple of clean garbage bags which you pull over body feet first and headfirst, tearing a hole for your face to be exposed, and you sleep very warmly and keep very dry. You learn to evaluate every cast off item as to its usability and its necessity in your scheme of living. Can it be eaten? Can it be worn? Will it help you exist more easily without encumbering your movements? Can it be sold, and for how much?

Living homelessly gives you freedom you can't have when working and paying bills and accruing debts which also have to be paid. When homeless, you are taking care of yourself and your immediate needs, though you always try to find something to hoard somewhere in order to endure a period of scarcity. You're freer to come and go than when you have a job and a "life". I've had friends and acquaintances, all homeless, who have traveled almost the entire country by hiking and hitchhiking. I know at least a few who never get snowed on since they go north in the spring and south in the fall. One of them crosses the country from the state of Washington to Florida each spring and fall as I've already described. Many homeless people earn money with part-time jobs and move on when they have a stake. Since they are good workers, they are almost always welcomed back to wherever they have worked. So, they can pretty much work as they please wherever they go. The homeless also work for minimum wage or for an agreed on rate for the job to be done, example: raking a yard. What ever the price agreed on, and they're done and free to go when the job is done and they’re paid. Some homeless find ways to use the food-stamp system and some abuse it. Some are receiving disability money, rightfully so. Most homeless people are in some manner emotionally unable to fit into the system of society as represented by the work-all-week and pay-your-debt-society does. They truly are emotionally disabled.

Does this give you any information you might find interesting or pertinent to your question? I hope so.

Answer 3

Barely.

http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/magazines/life/905W-000-031.html
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/05/01/news/top_stories/23_14_124_30_05.txt