#houselessness

My partner and I are homeless, and he is currently unable to work due to disability (TBI, seizures, amnesia) leaving us relying on my survival sex work and the generosity of my community for help with daily motel needs to keep us housed and for food help since we r left without SNAP assistance. Motels are $75/nite and its incredibly cold to be stuck outside. Truly anything helps rn ♡ any help is deeply appreciated!

CA: $freakingbabygirl

New data from the BC Coroners Service says at least 458 people experiencing homelessness in the province died in 2023, with the toll almost tripling in just three years. The service says in a news release there’s been a 23 per cent increase from the 373 recorded deaths of unhoused people the year before. It says 91 per cent of the 2023 deaths were classified as accidental, including 86 per cent due to drug toxicity.

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[Video Description: An Instagram video by user _glassmuseum, in which they are sitting in front of the camera and speaking. They say, "Everybody wants third spaces... Until a homeless guy shows up. Now, there's a lot of talk about third spaces for a reason." Examples of posts expressing a desire for third spaces show on the screen. "We need places to form community beyond just home and work. But that begs the question of, who gets to be a part of our communities? You want more parks, more libraries," Posts in which people praise parks and libraries show on the screen. "But then you complain when these public infrastructures are, well, public." Posts of people complaining about homeless people in public spaces are shown. "For the unhoused, the importance of public spaces isn't just a matter of wanting somewhere to chill with friends. It's a matter of existence and freedom. In his landmark essay, 'Homelessness And The Issue Of Freedom'," A screenshot of the first page of the essay appears on screen, then a picture of the author. "Jeremy Waldron argues that the freedoms of the poor are disproportionately restricted under the law, since their material conditions coerce them into a state in which they must choose between survival and the violation of the law. He writes that freedom exists for the homeless 'only to the extent that our society is communist'. Now before you're red scare ass starts to hemorrhage over the C word," Memes of people disregarding and making fun of communism are shown. "Let me explain. But first, let's define our terms. Specifically, let's distinguish between positive and negative freedoms. While positive freedom is the capacity to act according to one's free will," The Wikipedia page for Positive Liberty is shown. "Negative freedom is the capacity to act free from the coercion of others." The Wikipedia page for Negative Liberty is shown. "So, things like loitering laws, public indecency violations." Pictures of signs enforcing these laws are shown. "Though they apply to the rich and poor alike, they apply disproportionately to those who possess no private property of their own and thus who exist soley in the collective space. And so while a homeless person may posses the positive freedom to, say, physically lay down in a park," A picture of someone laying on a bench, using a backpack as a pillow. "They have their negative freedom restricted, since they'll be forcibly removed for doing so." A stock photo of police standing over someone sleeping on a bench. "Because of the regulations placed on public spaces that prohibit certain actions that are typically relegated to the private, like sleeping, pissing, showering. All these actions are natural and necessary, and yet they're prohibited in the public space. And this limitation is no problem for owners of private property, since the public is conceived of as being complementary to the private. However, as Waldron notes," An excerpt from the essay is shown on screen, along with the text "Waldron 32". "'This complementarity works only for those who have the benefit of both sorts of places.' So, if you're homeless, you're stuck in a situation where you're forced to violate the law in order to survive. Because in order to exist, one needs somewhere they can exist. There's oftentimes a contradiction with how people consider the homeless, if they even consider them at all. People don't want them pissing in the streets but they also don't want them pissing in the McDonald's bathroom. People don't want encampments," An article about an anti-encampment law in Ontario is shown. "But they also oppose the construction of affordable public hosing." The Wikipedia article for NIMBY, or Not In My Back Yard, is shown. "There seems to be a desire for increased public life, but only a certain kind of public. But if you want to advocate for community building, then we need to reconsider who gets to be a part of our community." /End I.D.]

Particularly on cold, rainy days (like today), while unhoused, sometimes all I want is a hot meal but it’s so difficult (if not impossible) to cook outside in the rain.

On top of this, I’m physically disabled and chronically ill. Medically, I’m supposed to have assistance with making meals as part of in home care. But I can’t get in home care without a home.

I just finished making dinner for my partner and I, it took 2 hours (3 if you include clean up). My knees are burning, my back is aching in it’s core, I feel like I’m about to faint, and all my joints are screaming. But it’s the only way we could have a hot meal today and get some protein, which is vital for our health conditions.

People judge us for using what little funds we have on McDonald’s some days. Because sometimes, it’s the only hot meal we’ve had in days. And sometimes I’m physically unable to stand, move, and do all the actions needed to cook. Or I faint while cooking. Or the rain doesn’t let up. Or we don’t have access to a kitchen for the day. Or the fire danger outside is too high. The list goes on.

Without my own kitchen to use, I don’t get to sit down while I cook (right now, everything is wet from the rain), I can’t meal prep, I can’t stock up on freezer meals, I can’t use an oven or a microwave to reheat leftovers, I can’t just reach across the kitchen for a fridge item (we have a small amount of fridge space friends let us use), everything about cooking is exponentially harder.

And even if I had 24/7 access to an accessible, full kitchen, it’s not even physically safe to cook my own meals. Even then, having a pre-made, hot, ready-to-eat meal could keep me safe and give me independance.

And all the safety needs for hot meals aside, emotionally, hot meals are also life saving and comfort. Meals are a part of community, culture, love and art.

So many gatherings we have as communities center around food. Most people in the United States would think of ones that often hold great value to Western culture. Mother’s Day breakfast. Spaghetti fundraisers. Wedding cakes. Birthday dinners. Bake sales. Carnival treats. BBQs on weekends. Holiday roasts. Lunches with friends. Casseroles brought to grieving neighbors.

Our world revolves around food.

I firmly believe that no poor person could ever “take advantage” of a system designed to feed us by using food stamps on hot food. This restrictive rule serves no purpose but to punish the most vulnerable of poor people— unhoused, disabled, and those of us living in unsafe conditions.

It also serves to restrict our access to joy and comfort. The joy can sometimes come from the food itself, but also the joy from having shared experiences solidified by the sounds of laughter and forks clinking on plates. The comfort can sometimes also be from the food itself, but also the experience of being loved and cared for while your close friend brings you pizza from your favorite restaurant because you lost your drive to eat three weeks ago and they worry about you. They know you. Those slices of pizza bring color back into your world.

Poor people deserve to be able to have the comfort, joy, and care that goes into a hot meal. We deserve the autonomy to choose foods that are best for us ourselves. We deserve to be able to eat in ways that are accessible to us.

Above all, we deserve access to hot meals.