Homeless in America: Get Creative to Survive

In thinking about my own situation and not having anything to do but loiter, I often think of what the options are for homeless people. I've had my bouts of homelessness and I know hundreds more, of whom I met years ago, who are still homeless. It is a hard sell, having no address, no phone number (heck, no phone!), people telling you just to get a job. With no traceable ID and not the greatest hygiene, it isn't going to happen without a miracle.

But miracles do happen, like the time I was hired for a job because I was homeless. Of course, my boss had been homeless before, too, living out of a car for several months in his youth. So he not only understood, but he gave me a job at that time in my life. It's a place you never want to go back to and the "fear keeps you from ever going through it again" as he put it. Well said. So for those who are homeless, or are about to be, what do you do? State and local organizations can help, but they are limited and often you are put out on the streets during the day and hoping for a place to lay your head at night.

Creative homelessness may sound a little strange, but if you're out on the streets you really do have to get creative in order to survive. Sometimes you have no other choice. Like wintertime, for instance. I was desperate for a place to stay once so I contacted an international student I knew and asked him to hook me up with a roommate. And he did.

Miracle again. I moved in without a penny in my pocket. It worked because she was from a country I had lived in years ago, so we had an instant rapport. She agreed that I could pay starting the following month as long as I made up the difference in the end. It worked out nicely. And that prayer went a long ways.