DIY: On-the-street survival

We hear a lot about how the middle class is shrinking and the rich are getting richer by the day, but what does that mean in terms of personal lives?  If the middle class is becoming poorer, then the poor are poorer yet, and some end up on the street, homeless.

The federal government and cities record the number of homeless--"Counting the homeless in America's poorest city," "Here's Why Homelessness Is Going to Get Worse in 2014," fund programs to help the homeless, and provide services.  But the numbers of people needing assistance is often greater than the services available.

So what does it feel like to be out on the street, not knowing where your next meal is coming from, and without the running water to even brush your teeth? Take a look at "7 Things No One Tells You About Being Homeless." If, on the other hand, you're interested in living off-grid and fully mobile, take a look at this word from the street, "Ultra fully mobile."

Here are some bits and pieces that offer to help with street survival; some should be taken with a grain of salt.

The Space at Tompkins offers an array of resources for the homeless in New York City.

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Street person with friend, The Space at Tompkins

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One of Tompkins' suggestions is a survival kit in an Altoids tin, which is fully described at Field & Stream's site. Note that the comments have some interesting things to say about it and survival kits in general.

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Survival kit in an Altoids tin, Field & Stream

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It follows (at least for me) that if you're homeless you may become a squatter. Lorraine Henning, who has/had a project at Indiegogo, has proposed a handbook, "A Practical Guide to Squatting." While she sometimes sounds like she's speaking tongue-in-cheek, she offers some interesting information.

Here are two sites that offer designs for emergency shelters.  While the designs seem to me impractical for a person without income or resources to implement them, they're still worth a look. There's The Tiny Life and HomeTone.

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Encore Heureux and G studio, room-room, HomeTone

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-- Marge

Homeless in Spain and elsewhere

Last Friday I came across this headline: "Wave of Evictions Leads to Homeless Crisis in Spain."

Wondering how the 2008 financial crisis has affected folks, I started looking around for information.  Wikipedia has a list of tent cities in the U.S.  According to The Telegraph (U.K.), "'Tent cities' of homeless on the rise across the US (2013)." Here's a picture of one in Reno, NV.

It seems to me that as wealth inequality increases, so does homelessness.  To get an idea of how deep the inequality is in the U.S., take a look at this video, featured at the New Economics Institute.

For some perspective on the distribution of wealth, worldwide statistics are available at Global Finance Magazine.  For an idea of what happens to a person or family that becomes homeless or is likely to become homeless, take a look the National Alliance to End Homelessness' Issues page.

Believe it or not some people choose to be homeless. This quote and more facts about being homeless are posted on Anawim Christian Community's page of Myths and Facts about Homelessness:

Homelessness is almost no one’s choice. In one estimate, approximately 6% of the homeless chose that as a lifestyle. But the point of fact is that it is not so much that people choose homelessness, as some refuse the demands made upon them to maintain a house or apartment. To live in a house or an apartment requires on to work for 40 or more hours a week at minimum wage, just to pay for housing, food and utilities. Those who are excellent at keeping a budget might be able to also afford a car. But most of those on the street suffer from some kind of limitation on their ability to do that kind of labor. It could be mental illness or addiction, or it could be a social limitation, or it could be an inherent refusal to do that much work for so little gained.

Me, I'm haunted by the vision of the future depicted in Max Headroom.  From The Pop History Dig comes this image of the streets and the following quote:

But the “big evil” at the center of this world and throughout the series is corporate domination through television.  The setting is not pretty.  Satellites monitor all activity.  At every street corner “securi-cams” monitor the population.  “Electro-democracy” has arrived, but it is controlled by the networks which rig “instant tele-elections.”  Still, the world has 4,000 TV channels, and that’s what the corporations are fighting about.  Among their battle techniques – and those also used occasionally by the underground – is “zipping,” or computer hi-jacking/interrupting of satellite signals.  But mostly the networks are just greedy; primarily interested in controlling viewers for commercial gain and power.  Ratings and advertising are monitored minute-to-minute in real time, and executives are called on the carpet immediately for any slippage.  Television sets, in any case, can’t be turned off  — and they’re everywhere, even built into the sides of trash cans.

-- Marge