Depends how homeless you mean exactly. Sleeping on the street? No, not yet. But moving from place to place, couchsurfing, hostels, and having to speak to an advisor about potentially accessing a homeless shelter, yes. IME there is actually very little help out there. I'm not surprised there are so many people living in tents now. What country are you in? If you're homeless in the UK the council are supposed to find you somewhere, but they often don't. I saw a woman post on reddit the other day about how she presented as homeless to the local council and they gave her three terrible options, one of which was sleeping on the street. More and more poor and disabled people are just being left to fend for themselves.
this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2025
34 points (100.0% liked)
Comradeship // Freechat
2573 readers
51 users here now
Talk about whatever, respecting the rules established by Lemmygrad. Failing to comply with the rules will grant you a few warnings, insisting on breaking them will grant you a beautiful shiny banwall.
A community for comrades to chat and talk about whatever doesn't fit other communities
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
I don't live in the UK, no. But where I live there is practically zero real government safety nets to help people in poverty, because it's a rampant problem and the state can hardly manage to keep the country running as is. The only things that are commonly associated with helping the homeless here are religious institutions.
I don't imagine I'll be literally on the streets, at least not for a while, I could maybe drift around to a few places, but even that I can't burden people forever.
I am genuinely considering a tent tough.
I'm low needs autistic so I wouldn't say I have a "disability" but I spent a few years homeless. Honestly it was pretty fun for me but had decent paying work over the summers to save up.
Overnight "shelters" are pretty fucked. Unless it is going to be below freezing for a while I wouldn't even bother.
Under ideal conditions a good tent will last 2 or 3 times longer than a cheap tent but it will cost at least 10x as much. If something catastrophic happens a good tent will get fucked up just as easily as a cheap tent so don't even bother with a fancy one.
Find out where the soup kitchens are around you or if possible find out what cities/towns that you can get to have the best soup kitchens. If you are going to be homeless you don't need to be hungry. One town I stayed in there were 7 meals a day within a 15 km area and 2 more on weekends.
Scout around for places where you can set up a squat that will put you within a reasonable distance of said soup kitchens but also far enough away from other homeless people. While other homeless people can be really kind and helpful they can also be horrible so it's better to have your own place that you don't show anyone unless you really get to know them.
When it comes to finding your squat you want to keep in mind what will happen if it gets rainy. I've nearly been washed out a couple times because I thought it'd be nice to camp by a creek.
People in cars only really look straight forward, so if you set up beside a road you only really need good visual cover from one direction.
Once you have a spot get a few flattened card board boxes to slip under your tent. It will make the floor more insulated and comfortable.
That's all I can think of right now but feel free to pick my brain if you have questions.