[nshkr]

As someone who is nearing 2,000 days of two stints of homelessness since 2017, I can offer feedback that such an amount would help to alleviate basic survival pressures.

But, money will not solve any root cause issues. I've been unhoused and out of work for so long that any recovery back to a normal life has become exceedingly unlikely. I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, nor do I do illicit drugs nor prescriptions. My mental state -- stressed in survival mode -- is very much situational, yet there are underlying factors that have led to a state of permanent dysfunction and reluctance to rebuild.

In addition to food stamps, I've survived on help from lifelong/long term friends and strangers (incl'g from kind souls on hn, on a few occasions, even). One kind stranger at the local coffee shop even tried gifting me a new MBP/M2/24GB/1TB a few months ago, but my focus is gone and I was unhoused, still being criminally targeted, so I returned the laptop in like new condition to him a week later. (The side reports regarding systemic/criminal abuse against at-risk folks is a separate but related matter.)

These initiatives matter, of course. I'd gladly make use of such money. But, IMO, more important is to focus on root causes at the relevant time -- i.e. in public school settings when unchecked peer abuse occurs, as one example. Such abuse can grow into an irreparable state of dysfunction and life breakdown.

hth

[bryanlarsen]

> alleviate basic survival pressures.

With those taken care of, tackling the other problems becomes easier. Not easy, but easier.

[nshkr]

Some people simply don't want to be helped, to recover, or to tackling other problems.

This is an unfortunate reality. A person can become broken and doesn't want to be fixed.

[1letterunixname]

I was functionally homeless for 9 years. Food stamps in America are inconvenient as they aren't accepted everywhere, come with strings attached as to purposes, are a way for others to other their users, require onerous paperwork and blasé treatment like a criminal, and are most often insufficient, especially in big cities and Southern states.

Direct cash aid is little-to-nonexistent because of the cynical and discriminatory presumptions "people should work (even if they're disabled)" and "they'll just buy booze and drugs with it".

[nshkr]

Some more details:

I am permanently traumatized by many sounds, including tires crunching on pavement, vehicles passing by, loud boom boom music from trucks, and the presence of cell phone cameras in public.

I am also traumatized by any presence of strangers when my bicycle has broken down, and due to T and H, I cannot be in quiet areas. I was diagnosed with a physical disability but couldnt follow thru on appointments for an untreatable condition while homeless.

I have persistent suicidal ideation. The stress has become enormous lately and today has been absolutely awful. I am shaking and angry, and become particularly stressed during rainfall.

I am outside of a closed starbucks attempting a hack repair on my bicycle brake, awaiting a time to commute without rain.

The long term effects of homelessless have taken a tremendous toll on my mental health and has put me in a state of constant stress and anxiety. I have deteriorated mentally over the years, especially lately. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

I do not want any help.

Aloha.

[nshkr]

I'm in public as usual, stressed out beyond words, dead set on being dead while eternally afraid to face death.

[meowtimemania]

What factors led to you specifically being homeless?

[lossolo]

> in public school settings when unchecked peer abuse occurs, as one example. Such abuse can grow into an irreparable state of dysfunction and life breakdown.

Just guessing but probably there is a reason why he mentioned that.

[nshkr]

Corruption, in a word

[pseudalopex]

Your perspective is valuable. But most homeless people are homeless under a year. Money solves many of their problems.

[dang]

Please don't cross into personal attack.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[nshkr]

Can someone consider giving this person a leg up? It's true that my communication abilities and long term relations helped fill stop gaps over the years.

[__blockcipher__]

> have work very hard to achieve a good standard of living where I don’t rely on others for my needs.

> Seeing as many people have helped you would you mind giving me that money and laptop you were given

One of these things is not like the other

[lobf]

What kind of reply is this?

[Georgelemental]

> still being criminally targeted, so I returned the laptop in like new condition to him a week later. (The side reports regarding systemic/criminal abuse against at-risk folks is a separate but related matter.)

Many "progressives" like to claim that punishing criminals is counterproductive, and the real solution to address crime is to fix the poverty, the "root cause". In reality, the opposite is true: crime is one of the major root causes that prevents honest people from improving their financial situation.

[ryuhhnn]

What do you mean? Crime does not happen in a vacuum. The idea that people steal because it’s fun or commit fraud because they enjoy seeing their victims suffer is not supported by any sort of rigorous sociological or criminological understanding of social deviance. If you want to fix crime, you need to fix the social ills that cause people to turn to crime to begin with. Of course crime prevents people from improving their financial situation, nobody denies that, but the crime itself is not the cause.

[brnt]

It doesn't need to be either or, you know. Or even those answers at all. Or a mix.

Question is: where can you start to make positive and effective changes? The answer almost certainly includes education and preventing people from falling into poverty. You can fight and deter crime at the same time. You probably need all of those, but I'm pretty sure fighting crime alone isn't very effective.