Thx's Homeless Odyssey

[Thx]

Hello middle-Americans,

Back in the 1980s I had a house, a couple cars, a good job as an industrial automation specialist, lots of stereo and musical instrument gear... you know, "The Great American Dream".

This was in the So. Cal, San Gabriel Valley area.

Then our company started losing customers to overseas competition, we went from about 240 employees down to 45 in two years. The whole face of our business and market changed, and a company that was started on the owner's back porch in 1948 and had progressed to making parts for IBM, HP and even NASA was no longer much of a player.

But along come the early 90s and after two years of struggling to hold on, I lost my house and everything I owned, even had to give up my dog. :/

So I was homeless in the big bad Cali and cut my homeless teeth there, but left for the Pacific Northwest after a few months. If I were going to be homeless, I wanted to be in a place with more trees than telephone poles, lol.

12 years on and off I was outside... I never dreamed it would last that long and I became rather expert at it. (Eventually I learned to squat in the rich towns and never hung with the ragged folks,) I have camped in some of the richest communities in America.

Finally, in 2003 I managed to get a reasonably stable roof over my head at a rundown, but affordable old hotel.

And at that time I also started my own landscaping company with a $15 rake from the True Value hardware store.

Now I have six employees, have had my company for ten years and I am semi-retired...

Much of this thread is actually pasted from another thread I set at a wilderness survival forum and reaction to some of their questions, but of course I will be happy to address questions from members here and want to foster discussion of course.

So this from the thread starter I have actually posted at several forums, some where I give newbie homeless advice...
______________________________________________

Here is a true story of my worst night living "outside". (I posted this at a homeless forum and a film maker guy says he is interested in making this into a movie and said he'd be getting back with me very soon. So I'm sitting here holding my breath, (not!), you know how reliable these Hollywood types are. )

The Night Of The Abandoned House.

It was about 6 pm on a Friday night in February and my friends, Mike, Paul and I decided we would take a bus ride to Northbend. It is a drag going home to a dark, damp tent so early in the evening, a leisurely ride to the Bend would make a nice diversion.

We had the mini bus to ourselves and I could have ridden on that little bus all night.

When we arrived our thinking was to buy some small Cokes and sit somewhere warm for a couple hours until the bus was ready to take us back. Big jukebox Friday night eh?

The Micky-Ds was festooned with 30 somethings and their riotous children, we stood there for about one minute and decided to flee for our very sanity.

The three of us ended up at Safeway with fountain drinks. Paul asked me once more if I were certain I didn’t want to buy his large can of pepper spray (I declined) and Mike was telling us about a crazy old man in a Chinatown hotel who used to spray bug spray in the face of prostitutes who erroneously knocked on his door.

I layed a couple of my best stories on ‘em, including the time I was trapped in a dumpster with two cops a few feet away.

We killed a couple hours, then the bus took us back to High Point and I think I arrived at my camp around 9 o’clock.

My “camp” was an old abandoned house, must have been empty for 30 years, completely trashed. We used to call it the haunted house.

I decided to set up in the garage instead of the house, it was pretty spooky and the garage was more open and not as dank.

About 2 am I got up for my nightly smoke break, it was very cold, my breath hovered in front of the smiling full moon. “Our friend the moon” I remember thinking and gazed at the pleasant, benevolent face I imagined looking over us all.

Suddenly two cars pulled up to the front of the house, two sets of identical headlights, I had to think it was a couple cops having a pow-wow or wanting to check the place out, I was not worried, but hid in the shadows.

No, these were not cops, just 10 teenage boys with baseball bats and axe handles twas all.

They all lined up before the front door of the house. It really didn’t quite dawn on me what they were about until the leader said “use that wheelbarrow for the bodies”, “there’s a hole right there, we could put ‘em there.”

Okay, these nice clean-cut, “some mother’s little angels” were hunting the homeless and I don’t think they were going to ask if they wanted to join the baseball team…

Fortunately, they didn’t check the garage. I was panicky, yet my thinking was fast and clear. I think your brain goes on auto-pilot at such times. If they sent one of ‘em to look in the garage I was going to either kill or hurt him seriously so he would want to go to the hospital, tying up him and maybe a couple others tending to him.

Also, I wanted his bat.

Well, upon signal they burst into the house, yelling and beating the walls. The leader took them down into the basement and that was the time I decided to boogie.

I didn’t even take the time to put my boots on, I left in my stocking feet as quickly, but as quietly as possible.

They left their cars unattended and idling, I could have easily taken one and been long gone before they knew. I would have trashed the heck out of it later, but I left my wallet there in my haste and just wanted to take the sure thing and get away on foot, I didn’t know if they heard me and would be in pursuit or not.

I hid in the woods for the rest of the night, I was in shock for a couple days after, I had never been so terrified. I didn’t know if these little angels would merely beat me to death or tie me up and torture me for months.

For a long time after I wanted to get even, and to this day I think I would want to mess ‘em up pretty good, especially the leader. I planned all kinds of booby traps for them and kept my eye out in town for quite some time.

Two days later I went back and all my gear was intact, they never looked in the garage at all.

So this is why I say never squat somewhere too obvious, you are better off way out in a tent where people seldom go.

Your wits are your best friend, comfort and weapon in tough times and dire circumstances, use them first.

Thx
__________________________________________________ ____________

____A note: And it seems my fears were well founded...

About six months after the above incident, a girl from the local high school lied and said a guy she was interested in, but who spurned her had raped her...

I guess she told the guys that I encountered that night because they took the kid to the abandoned house, tied him to a tree and beat him into a coma that lasted six weeks.

Be safe folks, this is why we strongly suggest camping in the woods and staying away from obvious places like abandoned houses and bridges and downtown doorways!

Thx
________________________________________________________

And a further note, the filmmaker guy did indeed make a film about that night and played it at the UC San Bernardino World Homeless Day convention.

He is not a big pro or anything, but is one of the teachers at the college... (I haven't even seen it myself and wonder if I ever will, I asked him for a link... we'll see.)

So, I did live to tell the tale and didn't end up another statistic.

I don't know everything about being homeless, I've never hopped a freight train or eaten out of dumpsters, but just as many folks would say that was to my credit.

This thread is also a survival guide for homeless and those on the edge and there is much, much more to come.

Thx

 

[SAYIT]

Hello middle-Americans,

Back in the 1980s I had a house, a couple cars, a good job as an industrial automation specialist, lots of stereo and musical instrument gear... you know, "The Great American Dream".

This was in the So. Cal, San Gabriel Valley area.

Then our company started losing customers to overseas competition, we went from about 240 employees down to 45 in two years. The whole face of our business and market changed, and a company that was started on the owner's back porch in 1948 and had progressed to making parts for IBM, HP and even NASA was no longer much of a player.

But along come the early 90s and after two years of struggling to hold on, I lost my house and everything I owned, even had to give up my dog. :/

So I was homeless in the big bad Cali and cut my homeless teeth there, but left for the Pacific Northwest after a few months. If I were going to be homeless, I wanted to be in a place with more trees than telephone poles, lol.

12 years on and off I was outside... I never dreamed it would last that long and I became rather expert at it. (Eventually I learned to squat in the rich towns and never hung with the ragged folks,) I have camped in some of the richest communities in America.

Finally, in 2003 I managed to get a reasonably stable roof over my head at a rundown, but affordable old hotel.

And at that time I also started my own landscaping company with a $15 rake from the True Value hardware store.

Now I have six employees, have had my company for ten years and I am semi-retired...

Much of this thread is actually pasted from another thread I set at a wilderness survival forum and reaction to some of their questions, but of course I will be happy to address questions from members here and want to foster discussion of course.

So this from the thread starter I have actually posted at several forums, some where I give newbie homeless advice...

Thx

Just 1 question ... why did it take you 12 years to pick up the fuckin' rake and get to work?

 

[Thx]

Hello middle-Americans,

Back in the 1980s I had a house, a couple cars, a good job as an industrial automation specialist, lots of stereo and musical instrument gear... you know, "The Great American Dream".

This was in the So. Cal, San Gabriel Valley area.

Then our company started losing customers to overseas competition, we went from about 240 employees down to 45 in two years. The whole face of our business and market changed, and a company that was started on the owner's back porch in 1948 and had progressed to making parts for IBM, HP and even NASA was no longer much of a player.

But along come the early 90s and after two years of struggling to hold on, I lost my house and everything I owned, even had to give up my dog. :/

So I was homeless in the big bad Cali and cut my homeless teeth there, but left for the Pacific Northwest after a few months. If I were going to be homeless, I wanted to be in a place with more trees than telephone poles, lol.

12 years on and off I was outside... I never dreamed it would last that long and I became rather expert at it. (Eventually I learned to squat in the rich towns and never hung with the ragged folks,) I have camped in some of the richest communities in America.

Finally, in 2003 I managed to get a reasonably stable roof over my head at a rundown, but affordable old hotel.

And at that time I also started my own landscaping company with a $15 rake from the True Value hardware store.

Now I have six employees, have had my company for ten years and I am semi-retired...

Much of this thread is actually pasted from another thread I set at a wilderness survival forum and reaction to some of their questions, but of course I will be happy to address questions from members here and want to foster discussion of course.

So this from the thread starter I have actually posted at several forums, some where I give newbie homeless advice...

Thx

Just 1 question ... why did it take you 12 years to pick up the fuckin' rake and get to work?

Oh, I worked most of the time, but in Cali I couldn't find anything in my career field and couldn't seem to find any kind of work...

Later, when I moved to Seattle and then a smaller town I worked all the time.

The problem was.. I couldn't afford to live in the prosperous little town where I found work.. rents were always just a bit more than I could afford and I didn't want to live in the places I could afford, then commute everyday.

No, the town I picked was also great for "stealth camping" on the outskirts (and even in town, ahem) and I did eventually get a room at the only rundown hotel in town... only left standing because it was a historical building.

Now, I started my own company with the rake... that was the significance there and I'll get to that story a bit further in the thread.

I was homeless (on and off) for 12 years SAYIT, but not jobless, lol.

Every so often I would take what I called "motel time" and buy a week, maybe two in a rundown motel and just crash land, lol.

Thx

 

[Thx]

This video is a bit long, but is one of the best vids I've seen on how someone can slip into homelessness... This guy's story is pretty common: a broken home and they use up all their resources trying to hold on to what they have...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dixvtfe1waE]From Middle Class to No Class in America - YouTube[/ame]

Eaten alive trying to maintain his place in society, trying to do "the right thing", putting out thousands of dollars here and there, watching agencies fritter his life savings away with fees and fines.

And you know, this is the kind of guy who probably paid his taxes faithfully all his life, yet will feel bad about using "services" like food banks.

Probably he will get back on his feet, having to start from nothing, if he had a crystal ball he would have cashed out and pulled up stakes long before he got whittled down to nothing.

He tried his best to hang on to what he had and lost it all anyway... good money after bad...

So here is a guy that is right on the edge of homelessness, with a kid also...

Hopefully if that happens he will have enough together to get out of Topeka Kansas... they sure haven't done anything for him.

Thx

 

[Thx]

Here is another one that is short documentary length, but well worth the watch, this one and the last are maybe the two best I've ever seen...

(I thought I'd put these up first before we got to the real "nuts and bolts" of surviving homeless. First things first, right? ))

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk_iiVgJi6A]When the Middle Class Becomes Homeless - YouTube[/ame]

(Geez, there are a lot more homeless docs since I last looked a couple months ago!)

Thx

 

[waltky]

Homeless booted out of the 'Jungle' in Silicon Valley...

Crews break up homeless camp in Silicon Valley
Dec 4,`14 -- About 50 muddy souls dragged their meager belongings out of a trash-strewn California creek bed Thursday as police and social-service workers began clearing away one of the nation's largest homeless encampments, a collection of flimsy tents and plywood shelters in the heart of Silicon Valley.

The people forced out of the camp known as the Jungle ended up alongside a busy San Jose road, startling passers-by who slowed down to watch. "People drive by and look at us like we're circus animals," said a sobbing Nancy Ortega. More than 30 police officers and dozens of construction workers in white hazmat suits joined about 15 social-service workers in the effort to take apart the treacherous community that at its peak housed as many as 350 people living in squalor just a short drive from tech giants Google, Apple, Yahoo and eBay. Ortega shuddered and clutched her fleece blanket while watching tractors cram couches, tents, blankets, rotten food and pails of excrement into roaring garbage trucks. "It's just junk to everyone else but to us, that's home. That's our stuff," she said.

On a nearby sidewalk, Al Palaces, a former truck driver who settled into the encampment about eight months ago, said he was trying to think of a plan. "I just grabbed whatever I could because I don't want to go to jail," he said, standing next to an overloaded shopping cart stuffed with dirty plastic bags. For months, social workers have been trying to house camp residents. And four days earlier, they were warned they had until dawn Thursday to leave or face arrest for trespassing. Still, city officials estimated about 60 people remained at the filthy site when cleanout day came. After a rainy night, skies cleared Thursday, and one person after another in varying states of mental clarity and sobriety dragged their belongings in suitcases, shopping carts and on bicycles out of the camp through ankle-deep sludge. By midmorning, dozens had reached the sidewalk, abandoning most of their possessions. But some remained in the slum.

Valentine Cortes, who said he was a journeyman construction worker, said he had no plans to leave his makeshift shelter built into a steep, muddy slope. "I don't know why people got all chaotic today," he said. "We don't have to go." Asked about the warning that he could be jailed, Cortes shrugged, pet a 6-week old puppy in his palm and said, "Then I guess I'll be arrested." Dogs and cats still roamed the square-mile camp, some of them pets, others wild. Rats hopped through the muck. A few dozen protesters gathered at the site holding signs reading "Homeless people matter" and "Stand with The Jungle." The encampment stands in stark contrast to the surrounding valley, a region that leads the country in job growth, income and venture capital.

Kelly, only first name given, a resident of a homeless encampment known as The Jungle leaves with this belongings Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, in San Jose, Calif. Police and social-workers on Thursday began clearing away one of the nation's largest homeless encampments, a cluster of flimsy tents and plywood shelters that once housed more than 200 people in the heart of California's wealthy Silicon Valley.

Palaces said he liked the Jungle better than the streets because people would bring food and police didn't bother the residents. "Even a job wouldn't give me a house" because housing prices are so high, he said. Officials found shelter for about 10 residents Thursday, said San Jose homelessness response manager Ray Bramson. Many more refused the city's offers, citing concerns about safety at homeless shelters, their need to stay with pets and their dislike of sobriety rules. Several homeless-assistance groups also stepped in to help. HomeFirst, the largest provider to homeless people in Santa Clara County, set aside 27 beds at a nearby shelter. Another 50 beds are open in a separate cold-weather shelter. "This feels terrible," said Jenny Niklaus, HomeFirst's chief executive officer, her voice breaking. "People are up to their calves in the mud dragging their stuff into the street." San Jose has spent more than $4 million over the last year and a half to solve problems at the encampment and has housed some 135 people from the site. But it's become increasingly polluted and dangerous.

In the last month, one camp resident tried to strangle someone with a cord of wire. Another was nearly beaten to death with a hammer. And state water regulators are demanding that polluted Coyote Creek, which cuts through the middle, get cleaned out. Personal property confiscated Thursday was to be stored for 90 days before being disposed of in March. The last time officials cleared out the camp was in May 2012, when about 150 people were sent away. But this time Bramson said they will conduct regular patrol to keep anyone from returning. Dismantling the Jungle is a massive job. It will take several days to haul out tons of waste and debris. Heavy machinery will be used to fill in excavated areas where people had been living underground. For some, the sudden abandonment of so many improvised homes was a bonanza. Dau Nguyen muttered to himself as he picked through a trash heap, pausing to wash some of the items in an aluminum-foil bin. "I wait for somebody to leave," Nguyen said, "and then everything is mine."

AP Newswire | Stars and Stripes

 

[SAYIT]

Homeless booted out of the 'Jungle' in Silicon Valley...

Crews break up homeless camp in Silicon Valley
Dec 4,`14 -- About 50 muddy souls dragged their meager belongings out of a trash-strewn California creek bed Thursday as police and social-service workers began clearing away one of the nation's largest homeless encampments, a collection of flimsy tents and plywood shelters in the heart of Silicon Valley.

The people forced out of the camp known as the Jungle ended up alongside a busy San Jose road, startling passers-by who slowed down to watch. "People drive by and look at us like we're circus animals," said a sobbing Nancy Ortega. More than 30 police officers and dozens of construction workers in white hazmat suits joined about 15 social-service workers in the effort to take apart the treacherous community that at its peak housed as many as 350 people living in squalor just a short drive from tech giants Google, Apple, Yahoo and eBay. Ortega shuddered and clutched her fleece blanket while watching tractors cram couches, tents, blankets, rotten food and pails of excrement into roaring garbage trucks. "It's just junk to everyone else but to us, that's home. That's our stuff," she said.

On a nearby sidewalk, Al Palaces, a former truck driver who settled into the encampment about eight months ago, said he was trying to think of a plan. "I just grabbed whatever I could because I don't want to go to jail," he said, standing next to an overloaded shopping cart stuffed with dirty plastic bags. For months, social workers have been trying to house camp residents. And four days earlier, they were warned they had until dawn Thursday to leave or face arrest for trespassing. Still, city officials estimated about 60 people remained at the filthy site when cleanout day came. After a rainy night, skies cleared Thursday, and one person after another in varying states of mental clarity and sobriety dragged their belongings in suitcases, shopping carts and on bicycles out of the camp through ankle-deep sludge. By midmorning, dozens had reached the sidewalk, abandoning most of their possessions. But some remained in the slum.

Valentine Cortes, who said he was a journeyman construction worker, said he had no plans to leave his makeshift shelter built into a steep, muddy slope. "I don't know why people got all chaotic today," he said. "We don't have to go." Asked about the warning that he could be jailed, Cortes shrugged, pet a 6-week old puppy in his palm and said, "Then I guess I'll be arrested." Dogs and cats still roamed the square-mile camp, some of them pets, others wild. Rats hopped through the muck. A few dozen protesters gathered at the site holding signs reading "Homeless people matter" and "Stand with The Jungle." The encampment stands in stark contrast to the surrounding valley, a region that leads the country in job growth, income and venture capital.

Kelly, only first name given, a resident of a homeless encampment known as The Jungle leaves with this belongings Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014, in San Jose, Calif. Police and social-workers on Thursday began clearing away one of the nation's largest homeless encampments, a cluster of flimsy tents and plywood shelters that once housed more than 200 people in the heart of California's wealthy Silicon Valley.

Palaces said he liked the Jungle better than the streets because people would bring food and police didn't bother the residents. "Even a job wouldn't give me a house" because housing prices are so high, he said. Officials found shelter for about 10 residents Thursday, said San Jose homelessness response manager Ray Bramson. Many more refused the city's offers, citing concerns about safety at homeless shelters, their need to stay with pets and their dislike of sobriety rules. Several homeless-assistance groups also stepped in to help. HomeFirst, the largest provider to homeless people in Santa Clara County, set aside 27 beds at a nearby shelter. Another 50 beds are open in a separate cold-weather shelter. "This feels terrible," said Jenny Niklaus, HomeFirst's chief executive officer, her voice breaking. "People are up to their calves in the mud dragging their stuff into the street." San Jose has spent more than $4 million over the last year and a half to solve problems at the encampment and has housed some 135 people from the site. But it's become increasingly polluted and dangerous.

In the last month, one camp resident tried to strangle someone with a cord of wire. Another was nearly beaten to death with a hammer. And state water regulators are demanding that polluted Coyote Creek, which cuts through the middle, get cleaned out. Personal property confiscated Thursday was to be stored for 90 days before being disposed of in March. The last time officials cleared out the camp was in May 2012, when about 150 people were sent away. But this time Bramson said they will conduct regular patrol to keep anyone from returning. Dismantling the Jungle is a massive job. It will take several days to haul out tons of waste and debris. Heavy machinery will be used to fill in excavated areas where people had been living underground. For some, the sudden abandonment of so many improvised homes was a bonanza. Dau Nguyen muttered to himself as he picked through a trash heap, pausing to wash some of the items in an aluminum-foil bin. "I wait for somebody to leave," Nguyen said, "and then everything is mine."

AP Newswire | Stars and Stripes

Yanno, there's lots of peeps who genuinely need society's help and waaay too many who are not doing their part.

 

[Mad_Cabbie]

When you are homeless, you become keenly aware of people who might harm you. Being skittish and wide-eye'd is a powerful tool.

The best way to roll is to dress nice and tell NO ONE that you are homeless.