Profile of a Homeless Person

Whats A Homeless Person Look Like?

When most people think of homeless people the image that comes to mind is your average dirty smelly guy on the street corner holding up a sign that says “will work for food” or “god bless please help” or the crazy person who is yelling at the invisible guy sitting next to him on the bus, and to be honest I would have thought the same thing a few months ago before I started living in my car. I would have never thought you could hold down a job or have your own business while being homeless. Yet I have met several people on the streets that you would never guess to be homeless.

I once met a guy who was 70 years old, retired and lived in a VW bus. When I asked him why he lived this way he told me because he felt totally free living on his own, he had no bills to pay, no tax man chasing him down, no phone to answer and he could move to a different part of the country whenever he wanted. He was absolutely free to do whatever he wanted.

Another man I met from Canada owned a farm and during the off-season he would come to the U.S and just travel for several months living in his car until his visa ran out. I don’t meet to many girls who live in there cars but have met a couple that you would have never guessed lived in there cars. One girl I met was from Germany who was being paid by her company to go to College here in the U.S. She decided to live in her car instead of pay for rent so she could save the money for her future. The other was an artist who just graduated from college and was looking for galleries to show here work.

Some of the homeless people I meet just find jobs when they needed them some I suspect were probably collecting government checks but most just fended for themselves doing odd jobs or perhaps others were laid off from there jobs and just living on unemployment for the time being. I also met a few other starving artists like myself who were just trying to find their way.

The reason you would never know these people are homeless is because they take great pains in not letting people know that they are homeless. Like me they “keep up appearances” to avoid being judged by there friends, bosses or family. They shower every day they keep there clothes neat and pressed they don’t go around telling everyone they are homeless, they don’t break the law (at least no major ones), and they don’t beg for handouts and generally stay out of everyone’s way. Unless you are homeless yourself you would have a hard time recognizing these people.

My closest friends and family have no idea I’m homeless although it pains me a lot to lie to them, I think they are better off not knowing, by sparing them the worry and inevitable fight that would ensue from knowing, many of them would probably take me in if they found out but I would have to refuse there offer. You can say I’m pig headed or stubborn but I know what’s best for me and right now I’m not willing to take the hand out.

I have been getting by from selling off my equipment from my previous career and also from doing the occasional job, but those jobs are far and few between and im about to run out of money. Luckily I have an interview for later this week. But I’m going to keep that story for another post.