Homelessness

[elbroski]

Homeless In Pittsburgh

I've been homeless on and off since I was 16 years old and got kicked out of my parents house in Westmoreland county, (I'm from PA) and let me tell you man...having to ask and sometimes beg people ...just to have a warm room to sleep on the floor in the middle of the winter, and know that your not really wanted there, IT SUCKS!! lol. So I definitely feel you guys who are currently, or did have issues with being homeless. I got kicked out of a three quarter house about 4 months ago for using once, (I was clean for 3 months and met up with an old buddy who just so happened 8) to have a bun of dope that he pulled out in front of me) and basically had nothing but the shirt on my back, a cricket phone wit a few more days of service, and a hundred bucks and a bottle of neurontin (Ah...the little things in life that you appreciate when your down and out lol).

So I wandered around Pittsburgh with no food or sleep for about 4 days before I ran into this dude over on the South Side, we started talking and copped a bundle together (some of my last few dollars.. ) and got high and kicked it at this one house he knew about. Dude was really intelligent and I could relate to him on a whole bunch of levels so we became tight real quick. Told me about this one house that his buddy Ian was renting a room in and that I could prob stay there for a while if I worked out a deal. So I ended up paying him my last 100 bucks to stay there. It sucks sleepin on the floor or couch and feelin like your not wanted, cuz the one girl that lives there is an UBER bitch who has it out for me for some reason. Anyway, the lease is up on the first so I gotta fucking figure out what I'm gonna do in the next two weeks before I'm on the streets again...I can't do this anymore. I've been doing the whole MMT for about 2 months now and have not used any opiate since, swear to god nothing but a bit of pot and occasionally a k-pin plus my daily meds: Neurontin, Doxepin, Ambien.

I also just got my medical insurance turned on so that's awsome, I just can't really leave Pittsburgh because I need to go to the clinic every morning 'till I start getting take home privileges, which will be in about a month hopefully. I dunno man, I just make sure I don't shoot dope, I don't steal or break the law, and I keep looking for work. A part of me just wants to just stay in a homeless shelter and save up until I get a car and then just go....just go and explore, because that's what I really wanna do anyway.

Thanks for listening to my sob story guys, if you have any feedback, criticism or advice it would be GREATLY appreciated. And if you wanna know more about my story or situation (since there's alot more to it), just message me and let me know. THX! :D

 

[toolfan420]

Yeah Respect for deh h0m3lL355!!! Honestly I hate how our society treats its weak, or desperate, or just having a bad go of things people.

Yah it was really hard at times. One time for about 5 months I had a really fucking intense fentanyl habit mixed with oxy and I was living on my buddies couch who had a crazy mom who would wake me up at 6 am every morning chatting about her evil ex husband who beat her.

So basically I was not sleeping, eating serial and whatever scraps I could find which was minima;, hustling drug money(not just for me but for the guy I lived with lmao). And to top it off I was sick 50 percent of the time. I was getting sick every 6 hours. Waking up shaking and shit with nothing for the morning, thinking omfg not again!!!

I looked like the sketchiest motherfucker ever haha I have long blonde hair and I had a beard I am sure. I always wore a black hoody.

God damn! they were hard times. It was so nice though when I would stroll in after 4 hours of hustling with some shit and we would sit back and play some xbox!

I know it is an old post but draigan that sounds a LOT like me, even down to how you look.

Being homeless fucking blows. God damn it is terrible. But in retrospect I think it was a good experience. After going through a pretty serious opiate addiction and bouts of being homeless I have a lot more respect for people, if respect is the word I'm looking for.

I don't have too much advice for anyone other than your regular shelter/soup kitchen stuff. I just wanted to send out some love for the homeless. Cuz I do love you guys.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Hey elbroski, I'd encourage to let the clinic and other organizations know about your needs and to keep an eye out for resources. I know resources are scarce and people in human services can get burnt out and can be unsympathetic about saying no at times. I'm glad you have some hopefulness still going on and whatever good positive vibes or wishes can do I'm sending them at you. Things really can get a lot better.

 

[fluxy]

In the past couple of years ive been homeless and then get some share accomodation for a few months usually until i leave a needle somewhere and i get asked to leave.

Its a shit lifestyle but sometimes it has its moments.

how to get on your feet?

Get on a methadone or bupe program. see if you can find a free clinic to start at. find a squat close to the clinic.

Get on some antidepressants that will help you sleep at night, because nothing brings insanity quicker than sleepless freezing nights, and no hope.

To get enough for bond and rent
, you can maybe sell some of your stash, or divert your dose, or scipts etc. sorry if that broke the rules.

get your phone on, and get in contact with loved ones. visit friends. go to a local church, If got tonnes of help from houses to jobs and cash from people from random churches. try to give back when you get back on your feet.

 

[SilverFeniks]

Damn, had a nice post typed out last nite, and as usual my DeutschTelekom connection scheiße'd out on me ... so the short version.

I haven't been homeless myself; the closest I've come is eating out of trash cans to stay nourished (college) or sleeping in my car for a night when moving.
While the freedom of no ties is unique, there's much to be said for having the security of a roof over your head at night/Winter.

An ex of mine loves to be homeless .. she's a true free spirit. Likes to sleep on the streets of Seattle, panhandle on street corners dressed in odd attire, refuses to work, etc.
I used to crash at her flop-house (like those described above) on occasion (usually to buy off her amazing drug-dealing roomie); having that small taste of the inner-city practically-homeless drug-addicted lifestyle, I really enjoyed the freedom .. like others have said, you meet some amazing people in the drifter crowd; I don't meet anyone living my boring neighborhood life, not even my neighbors!
But as someone with a nice car, good job, and a mortgage, I have too much to lose, and can't just forsake it all at this point.

Against my better Judgment, I let an alcoholic friend of mine move in with me once. I'd kicked out a dumbass friend roomie previously, and swore them off so long as I lived in my own (very small) house, but when a good friend literally begs you, can't say no.
He's a smart guy and a good buddy of mine, but a habitual liar and hardcore alcoholic. He blew both jobs he acquired within 2 days, and picked up his 2nd DUII after moving in with me. Some nights his drinking/partying (while on Probation) upset me so much that I had to flee my own house and sleep in a van in the yard. Finally I had to kick him out (luckily after he finally landed a job; now he's doing a bit better).

In my line of work, I meet several people each day who are varying degrees of homeless ... couch-surfing, staying at the Mission (something I would never do, as an anti-Christer, and even ignoring that), or simply sleeping under a bridge or in a car.
As compassionate as I am (I love interacting with/helping strangers, despite my inability to make friends/lovers), based on my experience, 90% of the homeless brought their situation on themselves .. usually a result of their drug addictions / f*cking other people over.
As Enki said, this can cause a lot of burnout on my end .. when most of the people you deal with are scumbags, you lose the ability to be (completely) sympathetic with the few who truly are destitute through nothing more than a bad hand.

Based on personal experience, if you're homeless but crashing with your drug-using buddies, the chance of you getting clean is about 5% ... with nothing to lose, why not use drugs? hell, we all use them when we have plenty to lose.
Part of the reason I moved to a new city/state was to leave my past behind .. about the only way to get clean without a detox/support group/etc. is to travel as far as you can from any familiarity, placing yourself in a foreign environment with zero connects.

 

[Georgie25]

While I grew up living in California. My "Mom" I use "" because of fact she dosent deserve that title of mom, she was addcited to Herion. Made it her priority, over myself and my two sisters. I was five years old living out of a bronco for more than a month, I will never forget that time that she deicded to use a motel room and I had to sleep in the closet with one of my sisters. It was abosoultley awful, there for I would use opaites or anything close to the matter as I experinced homelessness and not having anything at a young age and it wasnt even my fault. I had to pay the consenques of when she didnt have her drugs and how abusive she was. Fuck that, when someone makes a drug any drug an there own kids. Thats when the shit hits the fan.

Never again, will I ever talk to her. Never again. And you can not blame the substance you can only blame the user. Well that is enough of me ranting in a thread for one night.
=_=

Thats horrible man. My parents were both alcoholics and were quite abusive towards me and each other as a kid as well.

Is she still using to this day?

 

[firebrand]

i was homeless for 4 years, after severe mental trauma. no one knew, not even some my closest friends.

funny shit happened one night, when we had a night out and i scored with this chick. i offered to take her back to my place, when she saw that i was sleeping in a dis-used underground car park, she broke down and cried.

she said she appreciated me being honest with her and would like to keep in touch. we did, for a while, until she moved interstate. she sure was a nice girl...

 

[Ixchellian]

move to Detroit and squat. live in a commune. sleep out of my car & mountainman-it. them's what I did for years when I had to.

 

[Missykins]

Salvation Army? I know it's supposed to be a little rigid, but they can find you a job and their goal is to get you back on your feet again. I know that you have to go to meetings, and I don't know where they would land w.r.t. methadone, but worth checking out. It's safe.

Methadone clinics often have housing resources for people as well--get you into a halfway house, etc., but you have to live by their rules--screens, meetings, job, etc. Oxford House, for example, is one to try. Once again, their goal is to get you off the street and back on your feet, and that requires a lot of structure, but a junkie w/o structure is a relapse waiting to happen in my book.

Good for you for getting clean, and if you can stay clean while enduring homelessness that's a real fucking accomplishment. That's like ten years of clean time wrapped into one day.

 

[Missykins]

Oh yeah i'm still taking the Luvox. I have no health insurance but my family helps me by paying for medication. #60 generic Fluvoxamine tabs at Walgreen's is $129.99 and that is a 30 day supply. I'm lucky to have family members that help with that or else i'd be fucked.

Call the drug company about their patient assistance/discount programs--you may be able to get it at a much reduced cost, especially w/o insurance. Also, ask your doctor for samples--drug reps love to give them out to doctors.

Here is the Luvox number:

Eligibility for Loyalty Card Program
1-650-496-2951
(Dial the operator to call collect)

 

[firebrand]

Salvation Army? I know it's supposed to be a little rigid, but they can find you a job and their goal is to get you back on your feet again. I know that you have to go to meetings, and I don't know where they would land w.r.t. methadone, but worth checking out. It's safe.

Methadone clinics often have housing resources for people as well--get you into a halfway house, etc., but you have to live by their rules--screens, meetings, job, etc. Oxford House, for example, is one to try. Once again, their goal is to get you off the street and back on your feet, and that requires a lot of structure, but a junkie w/o structure is a relapse waiting to happen in my book.

Good for you for getting clean, and if you can stay clean while enduring homelessness that's a real fucking accomplishment. That's like ten years of clean time wrapped into one day.

rigid ? the dnager with these types of organisation is that if you dont follow the indoctrination (and im not talking of that of the army) of certain individuals, you can find yourself on the outer as soon as you can say jack shit.

a lot of people find themselves getting hurt when they get involved with religion.

 

[GirlInterrupted]

I was homeless for some time & I've seen plenty of my friends go homeless because they let heroin take over their lives. It's crazy because in the beginning you never would expect that it would ever happen to you. Oh man I had it going to me before I became addicted, I was living the Teenage American dream, good in sports and academics everything. But now those days are over. I spend more time in rehab than I do school. I've also made plenty of homeless friends. They are very smart people. Sometimes I visit the shelter again just to chill with them, eat some free food too.

 

[ControlDenied]

Homelessness in the states sounds a lot like in canada, except you're on a lot more prescription meds

JUNKY 1: "Want a urine-soaked hamburger bun with catsup?"
JUNKY 2: "No, I need to go see Dr. Levinski about my Paxatral, flexamine and Gollagrox."
--2 hrs later--
JUNKY 1: "How was it??"
JUNKY2: "Fine. He gave me a preprep shot of heroin too!"
--police van comes and hauls them away. they come out 2 years later with gaping arseholes and track marks that would shame Hitler--

 

[ControlDenied]

that shameless joke aside,
ive also been "down and out" several times and it is indeed strangely more fun that "normal" life but thers also this feeling of desperation and doom that is quite horrible. [also, it ends in much quicker death and is not fun at all actually! ha]

someone wrote they "respect" people who survive that shit, but then they added "but I dunno if 'respect' is the right word..."

i would say the word yo're looking for is "fascinated"

 

[Ixchellian]

some of us like being on the road. one of the reasons I didn't mind being homeless was not having unwanted roots anywhere tying me down. that, and the travel. driving and walking is very zen to meh.

plus now I got a lot in common with many of the older homeless.... we're war vets. 8)

speaking of, VFW and Foreign Legion do a lot for the homeless. while they're focused on veterans, anyone can volunteer to help. That most often leads to at least a part-time job. same goes with homeless shelters. most of those are run by the ex-homeless who used to volunteer there

 

[firebrand]

A lot of homeless people I've met have lived a lot more fuller life with tons of life experiences than someone who just works all the time and chases material possessions. To say one is not smart if they don't have their own place to live is very narrow-minded. Every homeless person has their own reasons for being so, whether it is because they choose to be, or if they are in a rough time in their life and aren't able to find a job to pay for a place to stay, or whatever it may be. I don't judge people and I wish no one else would either.

They do give hope. They let people who are struggling know that someone does care for them by giving them food and shelter. If they weren't able to make any money to buy food for the day, do you suggest they break into your house and steal to eat? These places offer a great service, and most of the people that utilize them are very grateful for it and it does society a huge favor as well.


different strokes for different folks. I know of some people who go around the country and are homeless on purpose because they like the freedom of it. If they want to "sit on their ass" as you say, why's it bother you? I think valuing nature and exploring the land and living off of it is of a lot better value than slaving your existence away at a minimum wage job any day of the week.

a LOT of people ? thats bullshit. i found that only around 3-4% and thats a fair estimate, are educated, driven, capable people. then youve got the meek, the mild and the rest are just down right vicious.

if i can put it in context... sure, your not going to get a job if you look like your on the wrong side of death with drug abuse, are you ? thats not smart.

there are the mentally ill, who cant hold down an abode. thats sad...

then there are those who just dont want to participate in a social sense. thats a choice. smart or not ? you decide.

and to those who dont (or wont) get social welfare, they are, 99% of the time, on the run. as for being grateful, they would make up around 10%.

yeah, i get pissed off at malingerers, its a waste of life. lets remember, people have shed thier blood for that freedom, so to sqaunder it is more of an injustice towards themselves. however, for the most part, that lifestyle more often than not, pervades the lives of innocent people minding thier own business. life is precious, treat it that way and it will be a lot better.

 

[Ixchellian]

i wouldnt say that the ffl "do a lot for the homeless..." the legion can be a VERY unforgiving place. not to mention the fact that "what happens in the legion..." i can remember the local gendamerie coming to the sentry and asking for legionnaires that were suspected of raping the towns-women, they were duly told that they werent aware of such people.thats why they have the "bordello de companie", to help stem the behaviour of the psychopathic types, also to prevent s.t.d`s and no, they (the gendamerie) didnt and wouldnt ever get inside that gate...

this aint no "boys own" adventure, the legion is what it is, the U.N. know that and treat human rights in regard to the organisation accordingly. in otherwords, there are no rights.if you get stuck in one of the secret jails, no one will ever know you are there. there is no representation, no re-course and definitly no appeal.

think very carefully before deciding to join. the desertion rate is up around the 65% mark, that should give you some idea of just how tough it is...

I'm not talking about the Foreign Legion. I meant to say American Legion. Similar in a lot of ways to the VFW. Neither press religion on the needy.

 

[firebrand]

VFW ? im sorry, but im not familiar with this term...

 

[Ixchellian]

Veterans-of-Foreign-Wars. It's a community-center, charity, & volunteer network aimed at vets. But even before I was one, I could walk into any VFW or Legion post and ask for honest aid.... and I'd get it, within reason.

most of us tend not to stop protecting-&-defending, even once we've hung our uniforms up. We're a pretty charitable bunch.

 

[firebrand]

dept of veterans affairs gave me the brush-off when i was seeking some help, i think the person who was manning the desk at the time had an issue with the ffl. "oh, a mercanary army!" yeah, like we were doing it for the money ?

so i just self-help these days and the best way i can do that is by getting involved in volunteering.

just recently, i offered to take a severely disabled boy to see the football team that he loves, however, i have a small criminal record which didnt pass the police check (which means sod all anyway) so that had the kybosh out on it. even though the parents (who cant afford anything) were keen on it. he is under state control, so they have the final say.

that got me down for a while, but like they say, get back on the horse.

anyway, form one vet to another, i hope this finds you well.