Have you ever been homeless for more than 24 hours?

Oh gosh no. I do feel so sorry for those that are. I can’t imagine what that must be like. :(

@RayaHope Thanks. I have been locked out of my dorm room in the summer of 2000 for 2–12 days. Was hot in the day and beautiful stary nights. I am grateful that the computer lab and restrooms where not locked.

^^ Well truthfully you weren’t really homeless just very inconvenienced and that was not good and I am sorry that happened to you. Will a very late {{HUG}} help? :)

@RayaHope Hugs always welcome. Thanks and (((Hugs))) right back to you.

Thankfully, no. I’ve had a few homeless students over the years I’ve tried to help. It’s an awful thing.

I did spend two weeks in a real homeless shelter in the late 90’s around Christmas time. Best meals that I ever had. I dislocated my knee and needed crutches to get around. Ith took me a year to be able to walk normally.

My dad welcomed me back home when I qualified for employment insurance and had a large number of checks in the mail.

I mean, as a latecomer to the thread, I think you’re defining ‘homeless’ VERY broadly. I have never been ‘homeless’. Have I been locked out of my house for a time and had to sit in the cold waiting for a locksmith? Yes. That’s not homeless.

I know a guy who as a kid whose parents went through a bad divorce had to sleep on the floor of friends’ houses for years. I don’t consider HIM to have been homeless.

I’ll also note, that alot of those ‘homeless’ folks you see on corners…it’s awful, but I believe a very substantial percentage of them are not homeless. They’re scammers. I commuted through DC for years and went by LEGIT homeless camps. There’s a look. Not in clothes, because the scammers know how to look homeless. But there’s a demeanor.

It’s hard to describe, but I feel like I could tell who the legit homeless were during my walk to work. And it freakin’ BURNED ME UP when I would go by a guy panhandling who was clearly well fed, had bathed, was energetic and didn’t have that look in the eye that the true homeless had. Because I knew he was scamming. And people would give him money all the time because he was working a job. He strategized his approach and people fell for it and wanted to be SEEN giving, and he was taking advantage of that…effectively diverting money from the legit homeless.

Freakin’ still gets me worked up….

I hitchhiked from Calif to Louisiana for a week in the 70’s. I was 15 and was with 2 college guys and we slept on the side of the interstate. At night one person would hitch while the other 2 were sleeping. Although I guess technically it was homelessness, it was only for a week and I chose to leave home.

I agree with @Entropy about the definition of homeless.

@smudges I’m confused, @Entropy definition was about a homeless scammer not really a homeless person. Did I miss something?

@RayaHope I wasn’t very clear, was I? I was referring to his first paragraph where he said that the OP was defining homelessness very broadly. I was agreeing with that. My brain knows what I mean so I assume others do too. :D

This is quite the question. What is required to qualify as a home? A tent with the right aromatic warm girl against you in a cozy sleeping bag under the stars. In fact, with the stars, screw the tent. Home is contentment. Or rather, it should be.

When we moved to a new job in a different town it took about two weeks to find an apartment, so we lived in a tent in a campground on the beach. It was a lot of fun, with a toddler, a dog and two cats.

Technically no. I have lived like I was homeless going on week long backpacking trips. I have couch surfed for a week or so when transitioning between apartments. This is not the same as not having a roof to sleep under or the means to attain shelter. That’s going to be pretty hard to understand without really experiencing it.

I’ve lived on the streets for a few weeks. Though not technically homeless.

Long story.