Do homeless people have no friends?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm not trying to insult homeless people here but just think about it for a second. If you had a close friend, whom for one reason or another, became homeless, wouldn't you invite them to stay at your house for the time being?

Its either that or people don't care that a close friend of theirs is homeless on the streets.

What do you think?

Define homeless.

I was homeless for three years, I wasn't in cardboard boxes on the streets, I had a roof over my head the whole time, although being out on the streets was a constant threat - staying with friends/family, shelters, bed sits, all homeless, all very much suck...to some living on the streets beats having to ask friends for charity. The feeling of not having your own place, not having the freedom to come and go as you please, not being able to wash in your own shower, have your own things, that's bad enough without also feeling in the way and indebted to friends.

In many places it really is quite rare for a homeless person to be literally on the streets, often they are there because they don't have friends, or at least not friends with homes, or friends soon drift away when in that sort of situation. To be homeless in so many cases you have had to have been through something rough - loss of family, loss of sanity, drug use, loss of job leading to loss of money leading to loss of home...so easy to fall and so hard to get back up. You go through things like that then it's not just your home you lose but also your life in general, including your friends.

My friends couldn't have put me up, they had flatmates or families to consider and I wouldn't have been able to keep me with them for that long, nor would I have wanted them too as that would have added a whole new level of 'ugh' to my situation if I had been depending on others to give me charity like that. My friends knew I was homeless but I never asked them for help, it took me nearly being killed by someone for my friends to realise what sort of situation I was in - as soon as they knew they helped me get out and into emergency housing.

Ok, so your friends did realize in the end how bad your situation was. For people who are homeless for decades, they probably don't have close friends that care for them. If my friend was in trouble, I would try to convince my parents to let them into my house.

I have no friends and I've been homeless. Kind of hard to so when you stink and haven't shaven in a month. Or being mentally ill, talking to yourself being prone to episodes of violence. Really easy to make close friends there. Close enough to want them to STAY AT YOUR HOUSE!

So instead of making ignorant assumptions about something you know nothing about, how about you try being homeless for a week. Heck, you wouldn't last a freaking night at the shelter.

AND a lot of people's relatives don't want them staying with them either. Like mine.

Let's see, foster care, homelessness. Good times for all.

Pretty sure some of them have friends or regular acquaintances.

I'm sure that a lot of them have friends, or become friends with each other

Been there, done that, got my s**t stolen.
I think houseless folks are often comrades.

depending on the definition of homeless i may or may not be, definitely was though. i had no friends and still have no friends.

The ones who are out in the street are the ones who probably have no family nearby or friends or their families don't want them because of their own issues. I wouldn't want someone in my home who was doing drugs so do you think their family would want them staying with them if they were doing drugs? Or they don't have friends because they are isolated. Sometimes they are schizophrenic and their families don't know where they are. Most homeless in the streets have a mental illness.

Oh my family has been homeless. We sold our house and the lady who bought it said we could stay in it until our house up in Washington was done being built. But then in January she decided she wanted to move in so she kicked us out. So we had to move out and we kept our stuff in storage and we stayed at one of my dad's friend's house and we were there for ten weeks. Does this count as homeless? My parents had jobs so even if we had no where to go, we would have probably be staying in a hotel. Homeless?

I lived with my aunt and uncle for seven months when I first moved to Oregon and after my ex and I had separated. I don't even consider that being homeless because I had a place to stay so that would mean my family was never homeless when I was a kid. Sure we had no place to live so we stayed with someone. But yet when someone loses their house and they have no where to go, they stay with friends or relatives and they consider themselves homeless so that would mean my family was homeless. Except they sold their house and their other house was still being built.

I guess it all depends on your perception on homeless. I know not all homeless people live in the streets. That's just the stigma, the stereotype. There are different types of being homeless and not all of them don't have jobs. Some of them work but how did they get a job in the first place? They had a home then and then something happened so now they are living in their car let's say. I am sure they are using a PO box for their mail and they have their other stuff in storage until they find a place to live again.

my experiences on the street are that it is every man for him/herself, for the most part- though if a woman or child gets attacked, it is pretty much curtains for the attacker- by the time the police arrive [if ever] they would have to pry him up off the pavement with a stick and a spoon. this was back in the early 80s, i understand things have gone drastically down hill since then.

There are roving bands of homeless youth here in Portland, and the band seems to stick together. Some of these folks seem to be homeless by choice as a viable option to getting a job and joining the soul-sucking system.

Is it like this in other cities?

I've seen a few that might fit that bill around here, but the vast majority are middle-aged, substance abusing/mentally ill men.

Which Portland?

I don't understand who would want to be homeless by choice. Who would want to not have shelter and be cold or hot?

Also ones who refuse to work for money when you offer it to them or refuse gift cards to fast food places or restaurants are more likely the ones who aren't really homeless. People pretend to be homeless all the time to get money for drugs and some others make a living by pretending to be homeless and they actually have a nice home and a car. That's not being homeless, that is just pretending to be. Panhandling is it called?

I'm referring to Portland, OR.

A few of my old friends have become homeless-by-choice. They do it so that they do not have to work for someone else. I guess it's kinda like becoming your own business. Some people busk, some just sit around, some hitchhike from place to place seeing the country. They enjoy some freedoms that the work-force do not. True it is cold, but people can steel themselves against that. There are definitely a lot of homeless-looking folks around who make a good living off of it, but I don't think there's nearly as much money in it as it's been hyped up to be. And even if there is, if you're willing to stand in the cold for 10 hours a day, and other people are willing to give you money, well... that's a semi-honest living. At least, you're not hurting anyone.

I see. While some do work and make their own money, they choose to be homeless because it's "better for the environment" they say. And what I mean by work is they have a profession and they make money like everyoine else does and they have a bank account but they choose to not own a home or rent. I don't understand it but at least they aren't hurting anyone.