They'll spend $15M to arrest people at a cost of $70,000 annually per person rather than invest that money into things that prevent crime in the first place. You know -- jobs, safety nets, services... No! Let's arrest people at 4x the cost!!!

In the 80's and prior, we had the military industrial complex.

Now it's the law enforcement industrial complex, arresting anyone who can't afford representation so they can bill taxpayers insane rates.

This must stop.

Just wait! Life actually gets worse!!!

I am making a joke but at the same time, I'm 52. I squeaked through the 70's and 80's with an alcoholic father who liked to beat up my mother and I. Once I turned 16, I left home. Mom committed suicide after I left.

Ended up doing some college, then computer programming after a stint in the Air Force. Spent my 20's pretty much dizzy as hell, I loved girls and pool and darts and bars. Spent my 30's teaching English in Asia. Had some fun and dangerous times over there, always research your destination country well before you commit to a job abroad.

I lost my passport in Cambodia, was finally medically evacuated from Cambodia via the US Embassy (I'm 5'9" and weighed 110 lbs, not good!) and was dropped off in L.A. in the middle of December with no money, no ID, and nowhere to go. I had just turned 40.

I spent the majority of my 40's hitchhiking the USA. California to Florida and back twice, then up to Monatana, Idaho, back down through Nevada and Utah twice, then AZ back to FL and finally started hanging out near the places I liked. Eventually that became Houston in the winter and Denver CO or Bozeman MT for summer. I got into house-sitting, I don't hitchhike anymore. I have clients primarily in Denver and Houston and friends all over.

Now I'm 52. Recently diagnosed with spinal stenosis, CES, PTSD and other health issues. It went by fast, although I would have said life moved at a snail's pace when I was a teenager.

You will have to find the motivation to survive whether there's music or not, that's a fact. Life does not come guaranteed with good tunes, although we'll both probably agree it should. Some people tell me I lived the wrong life. Others tell me it's interesting. And some of the drivers that picked me up while hitchhiking -- have told me it was beautiful.

Some rich people are bad. Some are good. Some poor people suck. Others are not. Take everyone at face value. Never lump them into groups. Never burn anyone, and never burn yourself. Watch your back. Hope my little rant helps. You have to find you. You have to decide where you'll go. You have to choose what is important, and what isn't.

And listen to this song regularly by Baz Luhrmann -- "Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now"

They get South Korean assistance (think welfare, housing, citizenship classes) in the beginning. But no joke, and look it up for yourself -- they still have a hard time integrating. The languages are different between the two countries. The culture is vastly different. Most are limited to unskilled labor, which pays very little. Many find it impossible to adjust. Some actually try to go back. Not because North Korea is better, but because they have no friends or family in the South.

Last time I drove the 70 it was all corn!!! 😆

Kansas... Bible Belt state. Corn field, church, corn field, church...

The biggest issue with Kansas is you have the GOP waving Bibles while the Democrats wave everything else. So my vote says "not in this lifetime"...

I think the deportation thing is backfiring. Nevermind third-country deportations. Plus the war in Iran. Plus food / energy prices.... He's basically handed Team "D" a "W" in this election cycle.

You gotta roll with the "feel" of it. Always show the twinkle in your eye, smile, and make a joke. Don't be afraid to follow up with "we should go out sometime"

Show them a good time before you... Show them a good time!

Indulge.

Unemployment numbers come from State's tallies of people that are currently claiming and drawing unemployment. So if you don't find a job in 26 weeks and you're unemployment runs out, you're no longer "unemployed". If you quit or were fired and unable to qualify for unemployment, you're not "unemployed". If you're disabled and can't work you're not "unemployed".

Jobs data is just as bad. They do a survey of business and ask how many are hiring. Even if they don't hire anyone, or it's a ghost job, it's still counted as an "available job created".

As for new jobs filled, they survey payroll companies like PAYCHEX.

Counts of who is looking for a job or not is done with another survey.

Inmates are not counted in any of this.

I made a website of sorts with a page for new hams. There's links to a cheap study guide and a free one, should have all the info you need. There are also some cheaper ham radio reviews, when I first got in I was on a severe budget. But the "New Hams" page tells you everything you need to know. The hobby can seem like a lot when you're new (there is A LOT of directions to go in ham radio). Feel free to ask if you have questions, you can post here or my email at the bottom of the page: https://sites.google.com/view/ki5ona/new-hams?authuser=0

I've been homeless for 13 years, so I'll give what advice I can --

First off, you will live through this.

I've had zero luck with shelters. They're dangerous. Theft, drugs, disease and violence. Maybe the shelter near you is better, and I hope so, but if not you'll need to have a backup plan.

Hotels will drain you dry. DO NOT spend your last dollar on one. In fact, leave now. You need your money for survival. A hotel will eat the dollars you need to survive.

Make sure you have one large duffel bag and a large backpack. You'll need a 1-man tent and sleeping bag (thermal). Keep those and your clothes in the large duffel. Keep toiletries, paperwork (ie: birth certificate), laptop, phone, chargers, etc in the backpack. Get a $15 pocket stove from a Walmart, a $6 small pot, and a $10 can of fuel so you can cook. Get on food stamps and Medicaid ASAP. Do not wait on that. You're homeless, you'll get both, and you'll need both. EBT is roughly $300 per month in food, and you can use it in all 50 states. Make a cardboard sign that says "HUNGRY" and keep it in your backpack. You'll get food and cash. You just need to learn where to fly it.

Winter is coming, and if you're in the DC area it's not a good thing. Cold, wind and rain/snow are your enemies. And DC is not exactly "homeless friendly". Winter is coming, you'll want to relocate. Don't get too caught up in the "red state vs. blue state" balogna. It's more like "can I survive this place for X amount of time?". I do Colorado for summer, and Houston for winter. For your situation, you'll need to find LGBTQ-friendly cities. Texas may sound hick and redneck and all things conservative, but Austin is about as San Fransisco-y as it gets. Shop around, travel around. Chase the weather.

Places to avoid is basically any place that's popular for homeless. Florida. Don't go there (it sucks for homeless people because there's just too many). Same with SoCal. Same with Frisco. Same with Salt Lake City (they're actually in the process of warehousing homeless people against their will, stay the hell away from that!).

I've usually hichhiked between locations, but I've also done the whole panhandle --> short bus ride to nearby town/city --> panhandle for the next leg. It involves swallowing your pride a little, but it's better than going hungry. And don't be afraid to put down "NEED TENT" or "NEED BUS TICKET". You'll be amazed at the help you get.

Stay away from other homeless you see. Visible homeless are almost always guaranteed to be on drugs and willing to steal your stuff. Avoid them like the plague. After a while, you'll learn which homeless people you can trust. And you won't meet those people on street corners.

Avoid downtown areas. Safest places to camp are almost always on the outskirts of cities that still have public transit. Camp out of sight and out of mind. Tent goes up after dark, get some sleep, and take it down at sunrise. Eventually, you find a spot where you can leave your tent up for a while and actually find work. It doesn't happen immediately but it does happen.

In all honesty, the entire Northeast and DC areas are the absolute worst places in the country to be homeless. If things don't start working out, plan an escape to somewhere (literally anywhere) else. No matter where you go, libraries are your friend for charging electronics and using wifi. Showering can be difficult depending on the city. In Phoenix there's municipal pools for just a few bucks that have showers. Houston's parks all have showers for 75 cents. Florida has beachside showers, but a massive homeless population and an overburdened social services system.

That's about all the help I can give right now. It's completely doable, so keep your head up. Keep a very open mind to traveling, it'll likely be your only way out. Feel free to ask if you have any questions, I've been doing this a while.

FYI -- I'm still waiting on my disability case. But in the 13 years I've been homeless I've managed a 735 FICO score, 4 major credit cards, a ham radio license, and I do house-sitting. Still camp when I need to. It's not as bad as it seems, and when I started I literally had nothing more than the pair of shorts I was wearing and a t-shirt. In December. I had been teaching English in Asia, lost my passport, and was repatriated. Started at zero. If this idiot can manage that, you'll do far better. Good luck!

Reformed computer programmer here (born in the 70's, techie in the 90's). My laptop is 16 years old and runs Linux. My phone is an 8-year old refurb I got off Amazon for $80. And I now do ham radio. I even send emails over RF just because I like knowing I can communicate with voice or text without needing cell service or an internet connection.

This is how they start. Lock up the homeless people first. Once you get them locked up, you can start with the other "undesireables". Eventually, you can just put anyone that disagrees with you into a prison or ghetto and then go for the final solution...

"Isms" tend to end badly for everyone. All of them.

We (the middle class) went from capturing 25% of GDP in the 60's and 70's to capturing 7% today. Wealth inequality is the highest it's been since 1929. The only metals getting purchased now are the ones going into datacenters, which will likely only get paid off by a further reduction of our GDP capture once these companies go belly-up.

I hear you on that one. Retirement savings? I don't really know what that is and in all honesty I think it's an urban legend...

What really gets me is the debt tranching. Same game as '08 just with datacenter loans instead of mortgages and much bigger numbers. These guys have over $662 billion in debt OFF BOOK, which is 113% of their on-balance-sheet debt. That's according to Moody's. But other numbers are even more disgusting, Meta's hidden debt is around $420 billion -- three times its transparent debt. Who's going to get stuck with all this debt once it pops? The same people who got stuck with the MBS bill. You and me.

Both parties make their money by serving their puppet masters who steal money from us. The middle class used to capture 25% of GDP back in the 70's. Now we're lucky to capture 7%. And we've had plenty of politicians from both sides that just made the problem worse. It's not Dem's vs. Rep's, it's the rich enslaving the poor. Always has been, always will be.

There's tons of value! Venture capitalists and tech firms sinking their last dimes into circular debt... The government changing finance rules so investment firms can sink your 401k retirement funds into unregulated private equity firms so they can sink YOUR last dime into AI... Investment banks tranching bad AI debt and reselling it just like they did back in '08 with mortgage-backed securities... There's tons of value. You just need an Enron mindset...

The tiny home idea is good, but both solutions completely ignore the same problem that ultimately makes shelters fail: Concentration.

Basically, there's 3 kinds of homeless. One third have psychological issues, one third has physical disabilities, and one third are homeless because of addiction issues.

When you put all of that together in one place, bad habits begin to multiply. As well, the people who run the places begin to dehumanize the people that live there. Shelters always fail. You'll never read about a successful one. Concentration is the main issue. Disease, theft and drugs move in with many of the clients (and is also the reason I'll never stay in one).

To really make a dent in the homeless problem, you have to eliminate the drugs first. If you can eliminate that, 1/3 of the problem goes away by itself. Granted, current addicts may never recover but at least we won't be making any new ones.

Affordable housing needs to happen. If my SSI case is approved sometime this decade, my income will be limited to $900 per month. You'd be amazed at how many homeless that are actually receiving disability but can't afford to live anywhere. Sure, you could rent an apartment. But then how do you eat and pay for other necessities?

If it were me, I'd make it law that any multi-family apartment complex has to have X amount of efficiency-type apartments (like we had in the 70s and 80s) that could be rented for $500 per month. No more first + last + deposit up front. And require that landlords accept deposits prorated. A $600 move-in price is achievable on minimum wage. A $3,000 move-in price isn't.

This would enable a majority of homeless to get themselves off the streets without having to spend any public funds.

But homelessness is a business. And a racket at that. The State of Colorado (and many others) spend greater than $40,000 per year for services for every homeless person you see. And they're still homeless.

The big issue I see now is AI automation, and soon robotics. The "low hire" job market is here to stay, and I see the homeless numbers increasing a lot before any significant change might be installed.

Thank you for your question!

It really does depend on location. If I'm in Houston, Central Park has a few buildings with 75-cent showers. Here in Denver the VA has an office off 35th and York with private showers. If I'm on the road, usually a creek or river. Worst case scenario -pay $12 at a truck stop.