My Experience with the Homeless

My Experience with Homelessness

How did I define Homeless? This term targets people who are involuntarily homeless, due to circumstances beyond their control. This could be a family living out of their car due to losing their jobs, or any number of other legitimate reasons. An example would be a family that has just bought a house, a decision made with confidence, due to longstanding employment, and suddenly they were unemployed. Then the bills mounted as they began to look for a new job. However, each opportunity for employment was rejected or did not meet the minimum standards for him or her to survive. They then lose their home, the car, they have no where to go.

It should be pointed out that there are many types of homeless individuals who find themselves in this difficult situation for a variety of reasons. Here are several categories to consider:

1. Marital or relationship breakdown
2. Widowhood
3. Leaving prison
4. Increased drug or alcohol misuse
5. Eviction

When you looked at people that passed you on the street could you tell for sure which of them were homeless and which were not? Sure, there are the obvious ones that appear as we expected them to be. When I was a kid, there were street people called drifters or bums (hobos). Take your choice, because they were almost interchangeable. The Voluntary Homeless (Those whose permanent address is the world, God bless the wandering drunks of the nation!)

But there were those lucky enough or resourceful enough to find a decent shelter if only for a moment. Some of us were determined keep what little self respect and self esteem we had. We bathed, we even tried to dress pretty decently and yes we did have to work. I found a woman's shelter that allowed me to stay for up to 90 days. The rules were very strict.

It was much harder than I first imagined it is. I had pre-conceived ideas about the homeless and was for the most part was surprised how wrong they were. I couldn't even grasp the idea of waking up to go through another day of hope that disintegrated into despair. Once the employer discovered that we were in a shelter for mission, they seemed to dismiss us as unreliable.

Lack of education, job or social skills, or have had problems with the law, found it extremely hard to extract oneself from the cycle of homelessness. With little or no resources such as cell phones or permanent phone number or address or even references valuable time and effort can be wasted looking for work and residences. Some are lucky to be offered a chance to begin again.


I found that people living on the streets were in danger daily. They faced disease, hunger, depression, violence, and a whole host of other problems.

As one of the very lucky ones. I found a good Samarian who believes in second chances. He gave me a decent roof over my head and my needs were met.

It is my sincerely hope that I never have to face homelessness again. If it were in my power to change things for others, I would.

From this experience, I have learned that it is sad that in a country as rich as ours, that so many people have to live in these terrible conditions, especially with children involved. It is even harsher to realize the lack of compassion from others within our communities even though many are just one pay check or one disaster away from being homeless themselves. “But for the grace of God, there go I”.

It was the goal of this article to try to reach the reader's heart and to get them to realize that this could happen to anyone. I was one of the lucky ones that found a Good Samaritan to take me in and give me a chance to recover my dignity and stability.