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This is a series of 10 tweets posted on August 20th 2022 by user "Housing 4 All is Hot" (Twitter Handle @ahouse4all)
That thread asking people how they would get out of homelessness if they only had $20 is literally people saying "I would simply just'" and then saying something that is literally impossible, unavailable, or has been made illegal by local city governments.
"I'd find a minimum wage job and save up money while I stayed at a shelter!" Who is hiring you when you don't have an address, your ID, or a car? Shelter is full. Also you have to leave the shelter at 6am and show up at 1pm to get a bed. You also have to pay to stay there.
I would panhandle and save!" Panhandling does not pay. Most people don't have cash anymore + are hostile to unhoused ppl. It's illegal in a lot of places = huge citation or in jail. You also have to buy food and supplies daily. They get stolen or thrown out by the cops.
All while this is happening your mental health deteriorates. People don't respond to you when you speak to them and you're kicked out of shops and restaurants constantly. Your stuff is constantly getting stolen. Assaults are common. You have to stay awake at night to stay safe.
There are more people falling into homelessness every day than can be lifted out because of skyrocketing rents, low wages, lack of healthcare, mass incarceration, domestic violence, etc. There is no "just" getting out of it when you're in it.
Also to all these scenarios add more layers of oppression: Being disabled, woman, elderly, LGBTQ+, a person of color, and the more difficult it is. It's not a coincidence that even though Black people only make up 8% of the population they're 40% of unhoused people - it's racism.
LA has made it illegal to sit, stand, lie, sleep in 20% of the city. If you don't know all those areas by memory you could get arrested or fined at any moment if a cop comes by. Sweeps are constant so you have to memorize that schedule or all your stuff gets thrown out.
How do you go to any appointments for benefits if places don't let you come inside with your tent/backpack/belongings that will get stolen the second you leave them unattended? What do you do when you don't have the $35 for your ID that's been thrown away every time you get one?
Also you're unhoused in this scenario which means your credit and rental history is probably bad. Even if you miraculously saved up the $5,000 you need to move into an apartment- a landlord is never going to rent you one with bad credit/eviction history.
I could go on and on but it's terrifying how uninformed people are about how little help there is for unhoused people when the vast majority of people are just a couple paychecks away from being unhoused themselves.
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