I will also be homeless shortly in a matter of days, so I'll share with you my strategies. This information is highly subjective based on your location but I will operate under the assumption that you are either paralyzed with fear or just simply not informed about your options. From a cursory glance it would seem you are from the US. Your experience will be significantly different to mine in the UK but maybe some of the information will translate over.
In order for me to process homelessness in my mind, I had to drop all my expectations to an extremely low level. This means that you have to be okay with smelling bad. You have to be willing to dig through rubbish. You have to okay with approaching people and asking for help. If you have a lot of pride like I do, that last one is the hardest hurdle.
Your type of homelessness depends largely on your current circumstances. Not everyone that is homeless is broke. I was and will be the kind of homeless that at very least has money for food in an emergency. I have never been so desperate as to beg for money to avoid starvation. I have been hungry, though. With hunger comes fatigue and your inhibition drops drastically which can be a good thing and/or a bad thing.
For me, preperation is important. It depends on your finances but here is a list of things that I have done and will do prior to my homelessness:
- If you know when you will be homeless you need to get on the internet, grab a pen and paper and make a list of useful resources in your area or as far as you are prepared to travel to. For me this is the location of my nearest food bank, the location and number of a local homelessness charity (Simon Community), the number for government social housing, location of soup kitchens or free meal drives and location of libraries. As someone has already mentioned here, having a 24-hour gym membership can be useful. These are less prevalent and I believe more expensive where I come from. Furthermore -- Covid is a thing right now. I also look up each location on Google Maps street view and commit it to memory. My country is also less developed than the typical urban environments of America, so there are parks and woods as very good alternatives to sleeping on concrete -- more on this later.
- If you have the resources to equip yourself, do so. Get a decent sleeping bag -- if you are in the PNW or the MidWest you can pick up some good extreme weather sleeping bags for cheap at Walmart. I have a Coleman one from my time in the States and used it to camp outdoors in N. Idaho and WA during the dead of winter. It will quickly become your favourite belonging. Even if you are sleeping in your car, you will need it.
- Socks. No one talks about socks. Pack some good thick socks or get a hold of some. They're not too expensive and you will need them.
- Long-johns. Get them. It will be your second favourite belonging. The human body is capable of withstanding all sorts of extreme cold if you can retain your heat. Long-johns will keep you toasty in your sleeping bag on the most dire of nights. Tuck them into your socks. Make your clothing air-tight and you will sleep through a blizzard -- I promise you.
- Get a decent bag to carry all your stuff. Nothing too big, but not something that's falling apart. You can probably pick one up for cheap at a thrift store. Americans throw all sorts of good shit away.
- Carry your sensitive documents on your person AT ALL TIMES. Keep them in a plastic bag and sealed so they don't get wet or damaged. Your identity is so incredibly important -- more so in the US. This means you need to keep your SS number safe -- yes those crappy little pieces of paper. I used a Pokemon card holder for mine when I lived in the US. Over here in the UK I just keep my passport safe at the bottom of my rucksack.
- Be organized. Treat your homelessness like an extended camping trip. Yes I know that's ridiculous given the circumstances but it's healthy for mindset and useful for getting you back on your feet. Carry your toiletries in a sealed plastic sandwich bag. Become military with precision.
- Gloves. If you can afford even just a cheap pair of gloves, they will help A LOT on cold nights. Again, tuck them into your clothes and make your body air-tight.
- Similarly, scarf. I have a shawl from my brief time in Romania that I keep with me. It's essentially just a large bit of fabric. It helps to seal my person and I get extremely warm very quickly, but I am grateful of it on cold nights.
- Mindset. Stay positive and maintain a path. As someone has mentioned above, you need to be routinely applying for work. It's important for your future and important for your mind. Think to yourself, well I'm homeless again tonight BUT maybe I'll hear back from those jobs in a couple of weeks.
- Survival skills. Remember that we are creatures of the land, ultimately. Modern life has made us soft, but it is built into you. The will to survive is there in everyone. Apply your mind to your problems and drop your inhibition. Stuff dirty cardboard on your person to stay warm. Do not be afraid to dig through trash, but do it intelligently. In the UK, many of the rubbish bins for supermarkets are tucked behind locked gates. I could scale these, but I would only do this in the dead of night. You have to be smart. If you happen to be in a wooded area, wrap yourself in leafy branches or position yourself so that they act as a shield against the wind and rain. Do whatever you have to to stay warm.
- Look up "makeshift alcohol stove" or "homeless alcohol stove" in google. I have made one with a can before. They are very simple if you have a knife and you can cook little things on them like eggs. Alcohol fuels are cheap also.
- PHONE. Phones are important. You can pick up a tracfone at Walmart for like 20 or 30 dollars and have a year-long subscription for about the same. I forget the prices. I just know I had a functioning phone number for relatively cheap. In the UK I just use an EE SIM on a 10pound monthly rotation. I have the funds to support it. If I didn't I would use a pay-as-you-go SIM and not have to worry about the tenner. You need a phone though. You will not be able to get anywhere without it. Keep it safe.
- Be conscious of people. If you are here, then you're probably acutely aware of people. Not all people are bad, but it's good to have a healthy skepticism. Do not let people near your person or your belongings under any circumstance. This is especially important in the US. It is less of an issue in N. Ireland, but I pay attention to it anyway. I don't sleep near people or put my guard down near people. People are stupid, sometimes on drugs, sometimes malicious and sometimes dangerous. Be a lone wolf. Your fate is your own, unless you are with someone that you trust. That is different and probably very comforting. I do not have that luxury.
- Know how to feed yourself for cheap. Have a basic understanding of basic nutrition. You don't want to run into deficiency problems. For me, I buy £1 packets of couscous or grains en masse. I buy eggs for protein and weight. I cook them on my stove with about 170ml of water and that's me full for the rest of the day. I also carry a packet of sugary biscuits to snack on. You can buy them for dirt cheap over here. I know this is not an option if you don't have a stove, so I suppose you will have to figure something out on your end. There are a lot of ready-to-eat alternatives if you have some funds or dumpster diving in the US can be useful. Again, you would know better than I. When I ate meat, I would buy summer sausage in the US (they sell it at walmart -- it can be expensive but it's high in all the good stuff to keep your fat up).
- Similarly water. Water makes your body work. Know how to fill up your water bottle for free. In N. Ireland, all water from any tap is potable. I just duck into a McDonalds toilet or knock on someones door and ask them to fill up my bottle. Don't buy water if you are in the UK. It's a waste of money.
- Utilize libraries and gyms to stay warm, shower or to use computers for job searches or otherwise. Furthermore when you're applying for work, make sure your C.V. is up to date and functional with references. If you don't have references then fake them. You can do this by simply putting your fake references on your C.V. at the end with a false number or a number from abroad and an email address that you have cooked up. Your employer will only contact your reference after you have been successful at your interview in most circumstances. If you tell them you were living abroad, they will default to email most of the time, only you control the email and write your own reference. This is another reason why frequenting libraries is important -- to check your emails.
- Cut expensive habits. I'm talking alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Their expensive adds up. I used to smoke 20 a day for 5 years so I know how expensive it can be. If you want to eat, you will.
- Skills. What skills do you have? If you do not have ANY access to money and you are in dire circumstances then brainstorm what kind of skills you can offer. For example, I am an artist. If I needed to, I would plonk my arse down in the middle of town and draw some stupid landscapes and sell them for dinner. Traditionally music is the best way to make money on the street, but there are other options too. It just requires you to be proactive and uninhibited.
I have mostly written this to an American audience as I sit back and read it. I'll just add my experience now from my country:
- My supplies are as follows: Knife, bioethanol, trangia alcohol stove, gorilla glue, rope, sturdy camping bag, headlamp, bivy, 1 pairs of underwear, 1 pair of gloves, 2 pairs of thick wool socks, scarf, 1 flannel shirt, 1 hoody, 1 winter coat, pair of jeans, pair of shorts, hand shovel, sleeping bag, toothbrush, toothpaste, antibac wipes, little tub of moisturizer, my documents, compass, map. All of this cost me a total of about £200. I would consider this a heavy pack and excessive. It is the way it is because I like the outdoors. In an emergency I would dump the second change of clothes and hand-shovel. There can be more cuts if the situation was very dire. Like I said before, I only have most of this stuff because of my lifestyle and hobbies. I'm not suggesting that you spend £200 before going homeless, but I think that some of these tools can be extremely useful in terms of survival which is essentially the situation you are entering.
- Apply for social housing. In N. Ireland this is through the Housing Executive. In the rest of the UK I believe this is through local councils. You need to be on their books. They have contact numbers. Phone them, tell them your name and details and they will make a record of you. Our social housing over here operates on a points system. Certain circumstances boost your need for social housing. For example if you are homeless with a child you will immediately have housing. There is no such thing as a homeless child in my country. Unfortunately though if you are a white, good-for-nothing male with no stake in society, you're very far down on that list. Being homeless boosts your chances of being contacted though. It is important to be prepared to travel for your new home. Tell them you don't care where it is. There is comfort in familiarity but being outside in the cold has a habit of decaying that pretty quickly. If you have a history of mental illness that is DOCUMENTED on the NHS or with your local GP, make sure to mention that when you speak to the social housing body of your choice. That will also make sure you get high priority. Do NOT mention that you are homeless by choice -- even if you are fleeing abusive circumstances. They will use it as an excuse to not help you. You need to tell them that you were forced out of your home. Don't worry, they won't check your story or contact the person you are fleeing from.
- Apply for Universal Credit before you leave your current living environment. This requires having a bank account, proof of citizenship and proof of address. Once you have it set up, you can leave and get paid while you travel. This will help finance your homelessness without a need to rely on emergency food banks or otherwise. They will phone you every 2 weeks to ask about your job search. The process is entirely online now except for this part -- they will not send your old address post. Technically you do not have to use their site to document your job search, but I do it to make my phone calls easier. They will grill you and possibly sanction your money if they think you are not looking for work. I am not actively looking for work right now, but I go through Indeed and document the typical jobs I would apply for with the UC website. My advisor that calls is very understanding. Needs must.
- Contact homelessness charities. A user on this site brought Emmaus to my attention. I have no direct experience with them, but they seem like a pretty sweet deal for you folks living on the mainland. They don't exist in N.I. It is my backup to apply through their site and pop over to one of the ones in Wales or Scotland if my social housing attempt doesn't work out. For me in N.I., tomorrow I will contact Simon Community. They have a center in a town near me that I will walk to. If they have a bed for the night, I will stay and then phone the social housing body. I believe they will check with the Simon Community that I'm actually there and process my request for social housing.
- I have and will utilize the land. Since I have some income and a little bit of money in a bank account -- I don't need to worry about using food charity services. I can feed myself on the road. This frees me up from urban environments. Belfast has become very rough at night and I feel as if it is more dangerous to sleep in the city than not. I'm not much of a fighter and I think violence might just crush my already faltering esteem. If you are the same as me, I would advise sleeping in parks or country fields where possible. When darkness falls, no one will be checking on you if you are tucked away beside a hedge or under a bush. The night is your friend. Just remain out of sight and you will be out of mind and free to do as you please.
- If you're applying for work, you don't need a suit. The last job I landed by showing up in shorts and a shirt and talking my way through it. I feel stuffy and stupid in a suit, so I think my confidence swayed it. Anyway, the point is that while a suit isn't important, your physical appearance can be important. Don't go into your job interview covered in mud with your hair all a mess. This is why I carry antibac wipes and a toothbrush. I try to maintain the demeanor of a fully functional man despite it being otherwise. I am very good at pretending and this is important if you want to avoid uncomfortable situations and wish to land a job to get yourself out of your situation.
I think that's it for me. There are many resources out there for homeless people in the UK. For me, I approach it as a survivalist. I don't have a drug addiction or any financial reason for being homeless other than I don't work. I have mental health issues and I'm fleeing an abusive environment, but that doesn't mean that I have to become a stereotype. I wish that life wasn't this way, but for people like me it is. I just want you to know that there are things that you can do to prepare yourself and share my small piece of knowledge. A lot of it is just about getting around town, knowing where is safe to sleep, staying warm, staying fed and researching at libraries. That's my experience. Your experience will probably be different, especially because you are in the US. Either way, I wish you the best of luck brother. There is a path for you, you just have to muster the strength to walk it to the end. It is possible for you to survive and dare I say, while homelessness is horrible, you can also learn a lot about yourself.
Please note that I wrote all of the above from the perspective of a MAN. I cannot attest to the experience of a woman nor have I met a homeless woman in my country before. I suspect that's because they get bumped up the priority list for social housing.
