This seems to be something people don’t always give second thought to. When people talk about the homeless, the first things thought about are images of people on busy city streets in rusty clothes waiting around near allies. In there, the answer is quite static, because it can be I guess. But if that’s the case, change the setting and that changes too. In the places where I’ve lived, people often needed that mapped out. Where are they known in your rural locales?
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Mostly in cars. The people that are marginally better-off have old RVs. The people who can’t afford wheels will hide a tent in the bushes. Vehicle or not, everyone seeks out similar places where they are unlikely to be noticed or hassled: lightly-used dirt roads on public land, parking areas at trailheads, closed campgrounds, behind abandoned businesses on the edge of town, etc.
Their cars. There were also a few staying in an abandoned building, but it burned down.
When I lived rural adjacent they would either live in barns or in the bushes by the railroad tracks, they’d make like a fort in the brush and drink in there all day, when I worked in ER one of them came in with the bones sticking out of his toes because he had let his diabetic foot wounds progress so far. In my city some of them live on the land next to the highway on ramp in tents, and they walk quite a ways away to the nearest intersection to panhandle.
TIL foot degradation is a survivable thing. I hope he’s alright.
Hope so. The smell was unreal
In a van down by the river.
I should’ve seen that coming.
Yeah, glibness aside though I really don’t know of any particular spaces. There’s a couple farmlands I’ve seen around that welcome ‘vanners’ but I get the impression those are more by choice folks that essentially camp here and there. Kind of the commune thing where they travel the country and live anywhere they want for a month or two.
I live in Finland, so uh. There are none
How does that work in Finland, like you can just ask and boom they give you a roof?
There are many social programs, but the biggest one is “Expense assistance”, where the state will make sure you have minimum amount of money required for living after income. In practice it’s around 600-1000€,just enough for the cheapest rent and cheap food. However that’s all you need to get back on your feet.
How does it prevent repeaters?
Its calculated after income, so you will only receive the bare minimum needed for basic living. However if you want to live in a small apartment with no actual disposable income there is nothing stopping you. Thats actually how some students get by.
I have no idea where he slept, but there was one former millionaire homeless dude who setup shop on the side of the highway for over a decade. He sold honey, pine seeds and some other stuff like that that he managed to forage around the area (probably getting into people’s property too).
Nobody offered a former millionaire a roof to stay under for ten years?
We don’t have many, mainly because winter simply isn’t survivable here in the Appalachians fully outside.
There is a spot near a stretch of woods at the edge of town that sometimes has a camp going, but it’s usually itinerant homeless folks rather than locals. It’s not far from the highway, and a railway, so it makes sense.
The town is still small enough that locals don’t stay homeless for long. There’s always a trailer or garage room or attic room that can be used for the friend of a friend, or inlaw or whatever, to get someone through a winter, and that’s usually enough for someone to find work or to get onto one of the various programs for people in need.
The last truly homeless, as in not even temporary shelter, she died maybe five years ago? Before covid I know. She was not well mentally, and wouldn’t take medication, or much of anything. She stayed clear of any lawbreaking that the sheriff would have to take action over, and didn’t bother anybody. She’d mostly pick up odd jobs and stay in one of a few abandoned houses. That’s where she died. Had a stroke and that was that. One of the deputies found her while checking the property out on regular patrol.
As much as I have issues with organized religion, the churches also do a good job here, making sure that folks have basic clothes and some food, and the Methodist church has been known to open their basement for short term use. Doesn’t sound great, but it’s pretty well set up for “lock ins” or whatever they call them when you don’t actually lock the door. But basically overnight sleepovers for church members and their families. So it’s clean, dry, and there’s basic facilities.
But, yeah, compared to the city I lived in for a while, there’s a lot less long term homelessness for sure.
There are small hunting cottages out here that people squat in. Owners were constantly contacted in the past about it but nothing ever got done.
The owners sound like they were being covertly generous.
There’s not many where I live because homeless people usually need to beg and there’s no point begging in the countryside where you’ll see three people a day.
I’ve never been to a rural area where there weren’t at least a few places with a higher passerby frequency than that.
Video taken in my county showcasing a little of how the homeless live around here: https://youtu.be/9YEyLb4iVHQ?si=5S6uCpv5WTQzjBMa
That looks a lot like how it works where I live.
In tents on the riverbanks in my friends town
There are homeless encampments near railyards, usually.
Beyond that, woodland trails that are near infrastructure, like highways.
There’s a shelter a town over, and you rarely but occasionally see makeshift shelters by the power lines up the mountain a few minutes
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