Homelessness has become a serious danger in many large U.S. cities. Some homeless are hopelessly dysfunctional with mental illnesses, some are criminals who fell out of the society they damaged, some are physically disabled and unable to work. Some are illegal aliens waiting for a construction crew to pick them up for cheap labor. Most of them have one thing in common; they don't have family or friends who would take them in and give them another chance.
Then there are the homeless people that can work and can function physically and mentally and arent a serious danger to society. This last crowd we've got the unlucky ones who were laid off and couldn't find work, the unlucky ones whose houses burnt down and they weren't insured, the unlucky ones who are good people but born into bad families who shortchanged them in life and denied them a steady start, broken homes, etc. You got some of them who were aggressively attacked and scandalled and left for dead by someone with more money and power than them. Its this last crowd that I'm focusing on right here.
The question is, what should we require and expect from these downtrodden hard and honest workers who lost it all? Getting out of homelessness is exceptionally difficult, even with a job. Starting with absolutely nothing is much harder than you think. What should we reasonably expect from these poor workers who depend on us to survive?
Here's my list.
The most important things a homeless person needs to get done in order of importance.
1. Get your proper identification. State ID card or drivers license, birth certificate and social security card. Without these things you cant get a job and you cant rent a house.
2. Get a mailing address. You can usually get an address in most American cities through a social service that you can use to retrieve your mail. My city is an exception. So you definitely don't want to be homeless here.
3. Get a job. If you can't find a mailing address to prove your residency to your employer you might just have to lie. Employers dont want to hire homeless people. If you tell everyone that interviews you that you are homeless your chances for landing a job shrinks by 90%.
4. Save your money. Saving your money while homeless is difficult but do your best. Get a bank account if you dont already got one. Do your best, we know its hard. Once you save up a few thousand dollars you'll be ready to re-enter functional society.
Dont let being homeless depress you. You can do it!
* NOTE: Less than a minute following this post my phone screen went white and then my phone restarted itself. Strange coincidence worth noting.