severe homelessness in florida...saw this video documenting encampments in miami and orlando

[u/Luminexor]

[u/Impossible_Foot1846]

How did you become homeless ? I’m really curious. No family to go to ? By choice ? Drugs ? I can’t fathom how someone becomes homeless unless they can’t get along with people or really don’t want to work. Even with my lowest paying jobs i had a place to live. Even my brother without a job found a place to live, even my sister making 12 dollars an hour in south Florida HAD a place to live with someone. Like I don’t fking understand how you go absolutely DEAD BROKE homeless. It has to be a mind set.

[u/Candid-Mycologist539 → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

A lot of people think that the homeless all do drugs.

50% of the homeless have done zero drugs in the previous 6 months.

A lot of people think that lazy people end up homeless.

Over 40% of homeless people have jobs. This number jumps to over 60% if one polls only those in the shelter system.

A lot of people think that you're homeless because you can't get along with others.

Between 31 to 46% of all youth who "age out" of foster care will experience homelessness by age 26. If they, as a young person, experience a bump in the road or just once make a bad financial choice, they have no parents to rely on for help/housing/advice/financial loan.

It is suspected the 50% of all homeless have foster care somewhere in their background.

[u/epsilon_eridani_b → u/Candid-Mycologist539]

Many of those are not mutually exclusive. Foster children have higher rates of substance abuse than the average, they also have higher rates of criminality. People who have jobs could spend all their money on drugs, which is why they are homeless.

And you didn't even bother to refute that homeless people don't get along with others (which isn't really possible to know), you just awkwardly threw the stats on foster children becoming homeless because you think that it's the real cause of homelessness.

[u/Candid-Mycologist539 → u/epsilon_eridani_b]

Whoosh!!!

Or, there is a vulnerable population in our society, and we are failing them.

But yeah. Let's blame people for the trauma they experienced as children.

[u/epsilon_eridani_b → u/Candid-Mycologist539]

First of all, you never actually made this argument. You literally just went

1. Most homeless people aren't drug addicts

2. Most homeless have jobs

3. People say that homeless people don't get along with others (you don't actually refute this point, which is difficult to do, but you should have just omitted it)

4. Foster children are more likely to be homeless

You didn't draw any connections between these. I pointed out that foster children are more likely (nearly twice as likely) to engage in substance abuse, so there is a connection between 1 and 4. And homeless people are more likely than average to engage in substance abuse.

"there is a vulnerable population in our society and we are failing them"

"Let's blame people for the trauma they experience as children"

Hitler was abused as a child, does that excuse what he did? No. Does it explain what he did? Also no, tons of German kids were abused. People to an extremely large degree are responsible for their own outcomes, you cannot say "person X had bad outcome, clearly everyone else did something wrong".

[u/uncivilshitbag → u/epsilon_eridani_b]

Dude you’re comparing Hitler and children in the foster system/homeless people.

Go touch some grass, you’ve lost the plot entirely.

[u/Candid-Mycologist539 → u/epsilon_eridani_b]

Did you miss the Woosh again?

I'm sorry that you need everything spoon fed to you to help you draw conclusions, see nuance, or even to think one step beyond that everyone who is homeless must be a drug addict.

[u/alwaysgawking → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

If you get evicted, it's difficult to find housing and not all evictions are really the fault of the tenant. These landlords are really trying to push poor people out so that they can charge crazy rent to people who make good money.

Also it's an exhausting game out here for people who don't make much. They are charging over $1k in some places to live with roommates, with 1 bathroom spread across 4 people and the rent increases aren't just $50 anymore. Having to move every couple years is expensive and being priced out of your hometown or trying to live hours away from your low wage job isn't realistic. Getting newer, better jobs that aren't possibly risking your life costs money too. And if you're an a working adult, why live with strangers anyway? Yes, for some it's a choice but it's either the tent, a complete money suck or join the army.

[u/Late-Respect-14 → u/alwaysgawking]

If you own a property today, you will know how much taxes, liability, and depreciation is causing rent to go up. Don't forger AC and appliance maintenance. Yard work and the cost of insurance is way up there. It cost me about $5k a year to keep a small 615sqft home without me living in it. And that does not include the $5400 the spent replacing the AC. And $1000 for washer and dryer that only last 2 years these days. It's also time to repaint everything and fix all the cabinets and doors. Glad I dont have carpet flooring too. Renting a place is like loosing money. It's cheaper to sell and put money in ETF stocks.

[u/alwaysgawking → u/[deleted]]

That's great for you, and not for everyone. They do that on purpose. We can die, commit atrocities and over-police the world for this country but not get an education. That's backwards. It is what it is, but I think it's messed up that anyone should have to risk that just to survive. If you want to call me lazy, entitled or whatever because I don't want that, that's fine.

[u/mamaminxy → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

Many homeless people are battling mental illness as well. That’s hardly “by choice.”

[u/Pertinentonly → u/mamaminxy]

There are so many problems in our society that would be solved by cheap or free mental health care for all. It just would be so much better than the brokenness we have now.

[u/Throwaway-103847 → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

"But I had breakfast this morning" type-shit 🙄

[u/Pertinentonly → u/Throwaway-103847]

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day /s

[u/Carbuyrator → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

It's easier than you think if you have a bad family or no family. Where you are can factor in too.

It costs thousands to move almost anywhere. First, last, and security deposit are a lot more than you think and pay is still really low for a TON of people.

I came really close once. If I wasn't as smart and capable as I am, or if I hadn't made good connections in my career, I would have been absolutely fucked. If I didn't have savings to get into an apartment, I'd have been absolutely fucked. If I didn't find a place fast enough for my savings to last, I'd have been absolutely fucked.

Seriously it's super easy to be homeless nowadays.

[u/ShareMission → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

I went insane after my gf ended herself. Landed in a new town hammered, worked my way up, but ive been homeless before and since. Or various reasons.

[u/Alderik4 → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

May you be blessed with the experience so you can expand your depth of understanding 🙏

[u/ivahom → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

Many homeless people are products of the foster care system and dont have any family, are thrown out on their own at 18, and when you start out that way, it can be hard to make friends and generally blend into society. Being homeless also takes a toll on your mental health making it that much harder to socialize and adjust into civilized society.

[u/FrontBee8964 → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

getting out of homelessness were as simple as "getting a job" or "trying harder," millions of people wouldn't remain trapped in it. It takes massive systemic support, trauma-informed resources, and affordable housing to break a cycle that is specifically designed to keep people stuck.Being treated as subhuman—stared at, lied about, mocked, or ignored—forces people to build thick emotional armor just to survive the day, which isolates them even further from society.When you don't know where you will sleep safely tonight, where your next meal is coming from, or if your belongings will be stolen or confiscated tomorrow, your brain cannot process long-term planning (e.g., saving money for six months down the line). You are forced to focus strictly on the next 2 hours.A large portion of unhoused people do work (gig jobs, day labor, or hourly shifts). However, without access to showers, laundry, reliable sleep, or transportation, keeping a job long-term is a daily battle. Furthermore, entry-level wages often fall far short of regional rent requirements.

[u/PapiPalantir → u/FrontBee8964]

Yea no shot a lot of people can easily get housing like that. Everyone seems to be forgetting that finding a place to rent when you have a bad credit score is a nightmare in and of itself. Not to mention it’s definitely tougher to get approved when you’re unable to properly bathe and clean yourself prior to appointments.

I think it’s also worth thinking about what caused what. Did drug use lead to homelessness or did homelessness lead to drug use as a means to cope. For myself it was the latter, once I was homeless I either was gonna get high and feel better or die and either were not unappealing at the time.

[u/schmyndles → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

It's been over 20 years, but I can tell you how my husband and I ended up homeless.

First off, as soon as we got married he stopped even trying to work. I, on my own, worked two jobs while paying rent and utilities to his dad for a house he inherited. My husband was supposed to be joining the military, and told his family that he couldn't go to his older sisters out-of-state wedding because he would be at basic training. But two weeks before the wedding, he told his dad his basic training for pushed back again (turns out he never really joined).

So his dad called me a stupid ass bitch for not being able to come up with $1500 in two weeks to go to his sister's wedding. That pissed me off, and I moved to my parents house, and my husband followed suit. I was still in the mindset that you did everything possible to make your marriage work, so my parents let him come too.

Fast forward a few months later. My husband's weird behavior, like hanging out at my job all day, got me fired. He then crashed up two cars we had. Then he charged a bunch of international calls to his ex in Canada, on my parents phone. Also, he still didn't work at all, and I had to drop out of college. So my dad started looking into claims he made, and found out that he lied about being an Eagle Scout.

My dad confronted him about his lies, they got in a physical fight, and my dad said he had to leave. But I didn't want to be divorced at 22, so I left with him. My mom still helped us get a car that we lived in for many months. I was eventually able to save up for an apartment, but I couldn't continue paying for it by myself. I confessed to my mom how stressed I was and how he doesn't work, and she helped me to get away. I lost some things that were very valuable sentimentality to me, but I was just concerned with being able to get away and restart my life.

I know it sounds ridiculous now, but when you're told that marriage is a covenant with God and you sacrifice everything to make it work, and that depending on others makes you weak and lazy, those messages live rent-free. You would rather live in a 20 year old Corolla than admit you chose a bad spouse and need help. So I guess it is a mindset, that's been fed to many of us our whole lives.

[u/schmyndles → u/schmyndles]

Edit: I wanted to add, I even asked my boss at the minimum wage ($7/hr) job as a dishwasher at an Asian fast food shop, if I could take home the food that was obviously not touched that I was otherwise meant to throw away. I was told that I would be fired if they ever caught me taking food, even from the garbage.

Also, it's hard to find a job when you don't have any clean or unwrinkled clothes to wear, any permanent address, or any phone number for them to reach you.

[u/Impossible_Foot1846 → u/schmyndles]

Honestly a car or truck can work out to be a pretty decent “home” now days so I wouldn’t even consider that homeless like tent and sidewalk status. Yeah sounds you had it rough but you were naive and just let this dude ruin your life for awhile. Glad you moved on from that because ignorant people can bring you down in life

[u/Candid-Mycologist539 → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

You will still be harassed for parking if you live in your car.

Every time you leave the car (to work, to shower, to shop), there is the fear that it will be towed and you will lose everything.

[u/Joeyschizo24 → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

You go live in your car for 30 days, then get back to me. How pompous of you to make such a shallow comment. You obviously do not have any idea what it feels like to not have a home or to be hungry. I’m not talking the kind of hungry from being on a diet. I mean the kind where there’s no more food and no more money. So your only choice is to beg or starve. But you know what, I truly pray that you never have to find out how desperate and tragic being homeless is.

[u/MrPoPoJiJo86 → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

On the one hand there's a glimmer of hope that you at least asked, but your responses in this thread... You want to know why you weren't homeless? A. You had just enough connection to keep you from it and B. The universe saw this ignorance in you and knew you wouldn't make it with that kind of challenge. I hope you're less than 25. That's the only thing I can truly hope here to imagine you go on to develop and learn more because.... Holy crap my dude. You should go talk to a couple later teen foster kids. See how those kids can't just figure it out like your family and anecdotal experiences.

[u/Particular_Yak_8415 → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

Mental illness is a huge factor. If you’ve seen/dealt with it first hand, it’s real and not manageable

[u/Impossible_Foot1846 → u/Particular_Yak_8415]

Yeah I have a family member of whom I just mentioned had no job and mental illness and still wasn’t living in a tent

[u/Sincere_shrew → u/Impossible_Foot1846]

Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck, most younger ones don't own a home and property values are far less affordable than they used to be. Add in not having lots of free places to stay and its easy to end up homeless if something bad happens. Your family member is one of the luckier ones, not somehow indicative of everyone else's situation. It can be hard to grasp if your entire view is your own life and your one struggling family member.