Homeless In The U.S.A.

beautiful. made me choke up.

 

I've been homeless for 1/6 of my life so I have some insight into this.

Some people are career homeless. They don't want to contribute anything to community. They want to die. They just don't have the balls to end it. I called these guys the home bums. Happy to beg, harass, be violent, get drunk, be drugged up, and damage property. If one of these dudes freezes to death, nature did him, and us, a favor.

Then there's the group that is the homeless majority. This group has mental issues that make it impossible for them to exist in society but they have good hearts, and often, amazing minds. These people really need our help. Cramming them into shelters doesn't work though because the shelters are based upon the same systematic BS that society operates on. Giving them houses won't work because they lack the ability to take care of themselves. The only real hope for these people is that individuals discover their talents and take them in. This rarely happens but when it does, it usually works.

Another group is the noobie homeless. These people just had enough stuff go wrong that they've recently become homeless. They don't want to be homeless. These are the people the shelters work for...as well as shelters work I guess. In the past, people had to be nice and work hard so their communities and families help them when things go south but western civilization has destroyed the family/tribe, and made it possible for anyone with a few bucks to survive, good person or not....so now those people are dependent upon the government instead of their tribe. Sometimes immersion in the homeless system shocks these people into being less selfish and interacting with their families and communities more. Most often though, they end up finding some shitty job and going back into their unsustainable, disconnected lives. Giving them a house might help for a while but their unsustainable ways will catch up to them again eventually.

The group I belong to is the voluntarily homeless. People that realize how the system works, don't want to support it, and actually have the gumption to live by their ethics. We are very rare but growing in numbers. If we were given a house or property, it would get turned into a sustainable community asap. The government will never support this group though because we are the revolutionaries. If the community sees "the bums" growing their own food and thriving without money, they might question their unsustainable debt slave lives and drop out. My solution is to live in my pedal powered mobile home and to travel around stewarding the growth of food forests planted with local edible plants on public and private lands. If enough people got into this, the shock of the collapse won't hit so hard because there will be food in nature again.


When I first decided that houses were over rated, I determined that it was going to get cold where I was. My mom asked where I was going and I told her, "South and West! If I'm sleeping outside, I'm going somewhere where the weather's nice!" It took me 5 days to get from OKC to San Diego. I got rides here and there but walked 340 miles in the process. When I first got there, I stayed downtown and tried to deal with the shelter/urban homeless crap. I put up with that for two weeks before I realized that the homeless "system" was basically prison and wandered over to Ocean Beach and found my new home. Being homeless in San Diego was one of the funnest times of my life. I worked at labor halls a few days a week, slept on the beach or cliffs during the day, and partied with awesome people all night. I never begged or got anything I didn't earn and I never got hungry or cold.

There are a few movements out there that are trying to build small, mobile shelters for the homeless but they're building stuff that looks like refrigerators on wheels and they cost $5k.

I'm working on an idea that could help provide power, transportation, shelter, a kitchen, and filtered water, is built from sustainable materials and recycled parts, and can be built by anyone with hand tools and patience. The trike I'm building will cost about $2500 but I'm going a bit overboard on the first one to hopefully attract the non homeless too. A basic version could be built for less that $500, or even for free if someone was determined enough to scrounge for the supplies.

Eventually, I'd like to tour around and give workshops on building these things. If a city had a homeless population of 100, for $50k, that community could provide permanent housing and transportation for its homeless population. Designate some land that they can camp on and turn into a permaculture food forest and almost all of their needs can be met sustainably, for very little cost.

When the collapse does happen, people that aren't mobile and sustainable are going to have a hard time. Why not transition now?

 

Beautiful! I used to do this in OB....kinda. I'd noodle on the guitar and use the money to buy beer for the wall crew. So much fun!

 

50-70 people who "knew" Ian are so outraged at his death that they destroy property and harass bystanders, yet Ian freezes to death for want of a couch to sleep on.

Textbook example of a bunch of bourgeois douchebags seizing an opportunity to alleviate their boredom.

 

Maybe they knew him but didn't really like him for some reason? Maybe they liked him but he had a mental issue that made it hard for him to be around other people? Maybe it was a fluke deal and he had a place to go but didn't get there for some reason? Lots of possible maybes. The only thing that's not a maybe is the fact that our society's priorities are totally screwed up and that's something worth making a stand about.

Taking it to the streets is a waste of time though. It only makes the movement look bad and shows the government who to keep a closer eye on. If these people really cared and actually wanted to see change, they would quit supporting the corrupt system that causes structural violence like homelessness and get together to form an alternative.

 

Yup I cried @ the end!!!!!