Is there any scenario that you could go homeless ???

[golfreak12]

So I read this article here and it made me think.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/She-was-a-nurse-for-20-years-Now-she-s-14573941.php
This supposably 20 yr old nurse went homeless mainly cause she lost her identification and wallet.
Seems to me there are very questionable actions or nonactions on her part.
Does she not have any friends ?? She has 3 kids. You just couldn't call of of them and had them help you out for a while ?? Find a way to go back to Michigan where you still have a nursing license ??
The article say she got unlucky ?? How the hell can you become homeless after being a nurse for 20 years ?? Feels like something is missing here.

So that brings me to question myself if I can ever be homeless.
IMPOSSIBLE.
Even if I lost all my money in the bank. My house burnt down. I lost all my identifications. Still IMPOSSIBLE.
A simple call to any of my families and friends would solve that.
Maybe if I got dropped off in a 3rd world country and lost all my money and identifications I would be in trouble for a while but I'll still find my way out.
But to be homeless after being a nurse for 20 years, I have to question her actions after losing her identifications.

Now I'm not saying you can't get unlucky and becomes homeless.
It was just hard for me to digest that someone can become homeless after being a nurse for 20 years. Which is why I ask the question if there are any scenario that you can become homeless.

[BicycleB]

Sure.

Fire, identity theft, illness that affects my brain, crushing lawsuit, economic collapse. Those are the ones that leap to mind in less than a minute.

Homelessness is like jail. You think it can't happen to you. But it can. Never confuse "it hasn't happened to me" for "it can't happen to me".

[ministashy]

In the U.S.?  A major debilitating illness, mental or physical, to the point that I can no longer earn any (or enough) income and my relatives can't/won't be able to support me.

Which, IMHO, is something that really sucks about our safety net (or lack thereof), and needs to be fixed ASAP.

[ROF Expat]

It is hard to judge a situation from a single newspaper article, but it looks to me like the woman is a dream case among the homeless. It seems she has marketable skills and no apparent mental or substance abuse issues.  I think she is highly likely to be able to get a job and get off the streets.  Reading the article, I also wondered why she couldn't call her grown children to ask for a loan or a place to stay.  If my mom called me to say she was living in a tent under an overapass as a result of an abusive boyfriend and a robbery, I don't think I'd view the call as a "burden." 

I do believe that people working low-wage jobs without a network of family and friends to support them can be very vulnerable to even minor shocks.  Having a few setbacks at the same time, any one of which might be ok individually, can make people homeless.  If you are living from paycheck to paycheck and then get sick or your car breaks down, it can mean losing your job.  Losing your job could mean not paying your rent and losing your housing.  Suddenly you're on the streets and can't get a shower or a meal, so finding a job gets more difficult, and maybe you lose your car and whatever you used to keep in your home.  Years ago, I read "Nickel and Dimed" by Barabara Ehrenreich and it gave me a new appreciation for the challenges that the working poor have to face.  It also shows why it is so important to have an emergency fund, especially if you are poor. 

Could it happen to me?  I can't say it is impossible, but it is hard for me to imagine a scenario in which I'm homeless that doesn't involve substance abuse or mental illness as the cause rather than financial shock.

[Bloop Bloop]

Sure.

Fire, identity theft, illness that affects my brain, crushing lawsuit, economic collapse. Those are the ones that leap to mind in less than a minute.

Homelessness is like jail. You think it can't happen to you. But it can. Never confuse "it hasn't happened to me" for "it can't happen to me".

Fire - my properties are insured

Identity theft - err, a thief would have to be very clever to sell the properties I/my tenants are living in right from underneath us.

Illness - that's what private health insurance is for.

Crushing lawsuit - that's what professional indemnity insurance is for.

? Because I am pretty sure that is a difficult thing to identity thieve.

Economic collapse - would have to be pretty bad for Certificates of Title on houses to no longer have effect. Then we'd all literally be homeless.

[Linea_Norway]

Economic collapse - would have to be pretty bad for Certificates of Title on houses to no longer have effect. Then we'd all literally be homeless.

^This or collapse of society and war, because of the effects of global warming or any other cause. If the world gets ugly and out of control, I might end up homeless.

[Cranky]

I think sometimes several things go wrong at the same time - depression and job loss and the end of a relationship, for instance. Never say never. I'm not so special that I think that bad things could *never* happen to me.

But I do think that I'm at a point where I've covered most of my bases, but I'm pretty old, too.

[Imma]

I'm sure there are many ways to become homeless even if you used to be pretty wealthy. But I struggle to understand what happened to this woman. How can getting a replacement ID be so difficult? And how come she doesn't have anyone in her life to ask for help or any spare cash or credit card outside of her wallet that she could pay for a cheap hostel for a few days until she gets a new ID. There must be more to this story.

I know in her situation I wouldn't end up homeless.

[Papa bear]

Loss of mental faculties.  Think CTE in football players.  Become such an asshole that everyone pushes you away.  No longer able to do work, depression and giving up on trying to find alternatives.

I find it very unlikely that it could happen to me, but certainly plausible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fuzzy math]

I'm sure there are many ways to become homeless even if you used to be pretty wealthy. But I struggle to understand what happened to this woman. How can getting a replacement ID be so difficult? And how come she doesn't have anyone in her life to ask for help or any spare cash or credit card outside of her wallet that she could pay for a cheap hostel for a few days until she gets a new ID. There must be more to this story.

I know in her situation I wouldn't end up homeless.

I wonder if she never got a TX license and just had her MI one. If she wasn't in the TX system, it wouldn't be easy to just walk into a licensing office without prior record on file.

I could see how temporarily it would be very difficult to rent a hotel room that first night without money or ID. Even if you call someone and they pay by credit card, a hotel might hassle you for no ID. I would hope they would let a person stay if they were to explain that they were just a victim of a robbery. Without a phone though, it becomes more difficult to call someone. The fact that she hitchhiked makes it seem like she might not have had any money for a hotel that first night to begin with. This story does make me think about how I would be temporarily crippled without an ID, credit cards and my phone. I don't keep cash and if I were to lose my purse I would have no access to any account. I do have a spouse though that would be able to help me reestablish these things.

That aside, after the first night  there needs to be plans for getting things back under control. I understand she was in a bad situation when she fled Galveston, but she somehow didn't have a vehicle and didn't have a dollar to her name by the time she left. What happened during the timeframe between her being gainfully employed as an RN in MI to her having $0, no car and no one to call in TX?  If she was being serially abused, I could see how those things were taken from her, but if that were the case she stayed long enough that she needed to have formalized an actual plan in Houston. It seems inevitable that if she couldn't afford the $250 license she was destined to be on the streets within a week. Hell, she needed a plan when she left MI. Why did she move to TX before discovering that her RN license wouldn't automatically be recognized? Why didn't she make plans before she became homeless to get the RN fee paid for? There is definitely lots of backstory missing.

Its sad that a lot of these things come down to personal judgment and planning. Had she not been in a vulnerable position with an abusive partner, it sounds like she still very likely was living on the very edge financially. I hope she got her life back together.

[Laura Ingalls]

I think the OP is being both overly judgmental.  If your house burns down you are homeless.  Being insured and having plenty money doesn’t change that it just makes fixing the problem a million times easier. 

I say that a person who drove home from work one day to find my house straight up gone. I have been homeless while having six figures of cash in my checking account. 

[Villanelle]

I can't think of anything short of plague that wipes out millions of people and other giant catastrophes, or some major and fairly quick degredation of my mental faculites, combined somehow with no one knowing who to contact on my behalf. (I'd like to think it wouldn't take my husband, at least, more than a day to look for me in earnest. 

Friends and families would absolutely put me up, short or long term depending on the scenario.  And they'd send me money to get me to them, if it came to that.  I'm very fortunate in that regard.

The question of not having a phone or ID is interesting.  If I was in my own neighborhood, I could walk to places where I'm known and they'd surely let me use a phone.  Or contact the police, and they too would surely help me communicate with someone.  That option works at just about any location.  And I have made a choice to memorize a few key phone numbers, in part because I want to be able to call a few people--husband, mom, sister, best friend--if I'm ever without a phone.  Now that all our contacts are stored in our phones, so many people don't know any phone numbers by heart.  That can be a problem, at least short term.   

We also have a safety net of access to Navy Marine Corps Relief, which gives small loans immediately, with few questions asked.

And we have, and barring MAJOR changes, will always have, pretty good medical care/insurance.

That said, I recognize that all of these things make me quite fortunate. As for the woman in the article, it sounds like it might have been an issue of compounding of some bad decisions, on top of some misfortune and then just not being lucky enough to have some things in life go her way. 

That part that I found most difficult to believe was this, "Stovall’s grown children live in Michigan. She won’t burden them what’s going on."  She's living under an overpass and won't ask her children for $250 to get a nursing license, or money to buy used shoes for a job interview?  Or funs for a bus ticket back to Texas where she is licensed to nurse?  Something seems to me missing from that story--an estranged relationship or... something.  I understanding be proud, but it's not like she needs to request that they spend tens of thousands of dollars on her or buy her a house, in order for her to meaningfully improve her situation.  And she has prospects and it would seem good reason tho think she could be making decent money soon-ish, with some help, in which case she could pay them back.     

I think the OP is being both overly judgmental.  If your house burns down you are homeless.  Being insured and having plenty money doesn’t change that it just makes fixing the problem a million times easier. 

I say that a person who drove home from work one day to find my house straight up gone. I have been homeless while having six figures of cash in my checking account.

I took "homeless" in this context to be "no where to stay, and for more than a night while you sort things out".

[GuitarStv]

I think the OP means 'sleeping on the street' kind of homeless, not 'freak disaster ruined my home so I'm sleeping in a hotel for a couple weeks' kind of homeless.


There's very little chance of the former happening to me.  I've been lucky enough to develop savings habits, to have a good paying job, to have a supportive family and friends, etc.

Much of that is simply through luck though.  If I had made some choices differently in the past I could easily find a different answer.  I'm pretty introverted, with few friends.  Several of my closest friends have died in recent years, and I haven't found new ones to replace 'em.  If I hadn't met my wife then I wouldn't have her connections (and her generally more outgoing nature), so the support network I'd have would be much smaller - limited primarily to my small close family - mom, dad, step mom, and sister.  If my family hadn't instilled the value of being tight-fisted with money, I could easily be living paycheck to paycheck . . . blowing it all on ever more expensive music equipment and inflatable sex dolls.  That would change the whole equation quite a bit.

[Cranky]

We have a friend, who lives in our neighborhood, who is constantly on the verge of homelessness. I think that he has some sort of psychological issues, but I couldn't say what they are. He's a nice person. He's kind. He's intelligent. He's educated. He is just absolutely incompetent at ordinary practical life things. (His heat wouldn't come on, and he called the police, who kindly came in and explained to him how to change the batteries in his thermostat.)

He's been fired from his last two jobs, and I think he's just given up. He really needs to be in some sort of supportive housing, I think, but he doesn't want that. Sigh.

[Just Joe]

Seems like a phone call with the help of police or a social worker would get her a set of documents and a copy of her license. Especially with smart phones and ubiquitous nationwide calling these days.

I'd still like to know more about why she can't call her family and seek help. I know if this were my family member or friend I'd drive there to get them without a thought about it. Or send them cash and a bus/train/plane ticket. I'd want to know why things became so dire but I'd do it. I'd help them past the crisis and to reestablish themselves.

This lady needs to start earning some money and then act like she is living through the Great Depression until she has a big stack of cash in the bank and all her basic needs met.

[renata ricotta]

Economic collapse - would have to be pretty bad for Certificates of Title on houses to no longer have effect. Then we'd all literally be homeless.

^This or collapse of society and war, because of the effects of global warming or any other cause. If the world gets ugly and out of control, I might end up homeless.

Agree - this is what I consider to be the biggest threat to my general life safety (other than things like major illnesses or accidents which can strike anyone regardless of preparation or safety nets). Insurance, Certificates of Title, checking accounts, and even property ownership are social constructs and if your society explodes, they don't mean very much. Most countries have a historical period you can look to where people who had money, connections, and social safety systems were forced to flee in the night with the clothes on their backs and lost everything due to political upheaval. Tens of thousands of Europeans in modern western countries did that less than a century ago, and their network of people who could help them (neighbors, family, friends, religious communities) were simultaneously decimated by genocide to boot.

OP it might take a lot MORE for you to end up in a dire life situation, including homelessness, but it sure as hell isn't impossible and there's no reason to believe the right cocktail of circumstances couldn't do it for you.

[OtherJen]

Seems like a phone call with the help of police or a social worker would get her a set of documents and a copy of her license. Especially with smart phones and ubiquitous nationwide calling these days.

I'd still like to know more about why she can't call her family and seek help. I know if this were my family member or friend I'd drive there to get them without a thought about it. Or send them cash and a bus/train/plane ticket. I'd want to know why things became so dire but I'd do it. I'd help them past the crisis and to reestablish themselves.

This lady needs to start earning some money and then act like she is living through the Great Depression until she has a big stack of cash in the bank and all her basic needs met.

There may be estrangement, or she may be dealing with major depression. I've dealt with the latter (not to the point of homelessness, thankfully), and yes, it is very difficult to ask for help with even the smallest things because you do feel like a burden who doesn't deserve the help.

[Imma]

I'm sure there are many ways to become homeless even if you used to be pretty wealthy. But I struggle to understand what happened to this woman. How can getting a replacement ID be so difficult? And how come she doesn't have anyone in her life to ask for help or any spare cash or credit card outside of her wallet that she could pay for a cheap hostel for a few days until she gets a new ID. There must be more to this story.

I know in her situation I wouldn't end up homeless.

I wonder if she never got a TX license and just had her MI one. If she wasn't in the TX system, it wouldn't be easy to just walk into a licensing office without prior record on file.

I could see how temporarily it would be very difficult to rent a hotel room that first night without money or ID. Even if you call someone and they pay by credit card, a hotel might hassle you for no ID. I would hope they would let a person stay if they were to explain that they were just a victim of a robbery. Without a phone though, it becomes more difficult to call someone. The fact that she hitchhiked makes it seem like she might not have had any money for a hotel that first night to begin with. This story does make me think about how I would be temporarily crippled without an ID, credit cards and my phone. I don't keep cash and if I were to lose my purse I would have no access to any account. I do have a spouse though that would be able to help me reestablish these things.

That aside, after the first night  there needs to be plans for getting things back under control. I understand she was in a bad situation when she fled Galveston, but she somehow didn't have a vehicle and didn't have a dollar to her name by the time she left. What happened during the timeframe between her being gainfully employed as an RN in MI to her having $0, no car and no one to call in TX?  If she was being serially abused, I could see how those things were taken from her, but if that were the case she stayed long enough that she needed to have formalized an actual plan in Houston. It seems inevitable that if she couldn't afford the $250 license she was destined to be on the streets within a week. Hell, she needed a plan when she left MI. Why did she move to TX before discovering that her RN license wouldn't automatically be recognized? Why didn't she make plans before she became homeless to get the RN fee paid for? There is definitely lots of backstory missing.

Its sad that a lot of these things come down to personal judgment and planning. Had she not been in a vulnerable position with an abusive partner, it sounds like she still very likely was living on the very edge financially. I hope she got her life back together.

Yeah I think that's what's was going on. It's terrible and I hope she had escaped from that situation now but I think there's more to the story than 'lost her ID and became homeless'.

Maybe I'm from a country with a much more efficient bureaucracy, but what I would do is go to the police, file a police report (where I live this is 100% necessary to get a replacement ID)  and call a person I trust - a relative or partner and ask them to book me a room somewhere and send me some money (though western Union if there was absolutely no other option). With that money I would buy food and the cheapest phone I could find and get a new ID. In case of emergency that would only take 24 hours in my country. I'm pretty sure that if you show a police report of theft and the room is paid in full a hotel wouldn't refuse you where I live. With a new ID the next day I could get access to my bank account again. As a precaution I never carry my bank card and credit card in the same place. If I were abroad I would contact the police there and call the embassy and travel insurance from there. I'm sure I wouldn't end up on the streets in that situation either.

But of course, I come from a privileged situation that I have some money (not much by MMM standards but a bit to save me from these kind of emergencies) and some social network (not close family, not anyone who's wealthy, but someone to call). And on top of that I'm not in a situation of mental illness, substance abuse of anything.

Total societal collapse is something that's much more likely than most people like to think about, but it's not something I worry about because it's not something I can prevent. What I've learned from my ancestors is that social ties are more important than anything when that happens.

[BicycleB]

Everyone who assumes it's easy to get an ID in USA, please read the following articles, which are examples of an endless stream of publicly available information documenting (no pun intended!) that it's not so easy. From volunteering experience with the homeless, this kind of problem happens all the time.

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2017/05/15/without-id-homeless-trapped-in-vicious-cycle

https://www.scpr.org/news/2015/06/03/52147/how-an-id-card-can-make-or-break-a-homeless-person/

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/26058747/without-id-many-homeless-are-unable-to-get-help-or-into-shelters/

It's likely that readers of this forum have such a strong combination of ability, resources, cultural training, mental health and privileged identity that individually we are not likely be homeless for long, or end up without ID. But once you get that far down, it is indeed hard to recover.

[golfreak12]

I think the OP is being both overly judgmental.  If your house burns down you are homeless.  Being insured and having plenty money doesn’t change that it just makes fixing the problem a million times easier. 

I say that a person who drove home from work one day to find my house straight up gone. I have been homeless while having six figures of cash in my checking account.

Sorry if I came off that way.
I actually posted a reply saying so but I guess I never push the "post" button.
I know you can get unlucky and becomes homeless.
My main thinking applied to her particular story and not anyone else. I have the most compassion for the homeless. we regularly give to the homeless where we sense that they can't help themselves.

[nancyfrank232]

Anything can happen

Never underestimate Fate

[FINate]

I agree that there's almost certainly more to the story. But talk is cheap so I'll take this article at face value for the sake of discussion.

Stovall’s grown children live in Michigan. She won’t burden them what’s going on. The year was supposed to be her big adventure, a gift to herself after two decades nursing and even longer raising her three kids. She’d lived in Houston once before, back in the early 1980s. She said she’d let them know when she found her dream apartment.

She shouldn't need anyone to tell her that her big adventure went terribly wrong. So stop already! Turn around, like, yesterday! Yes, she should absolutely "burden" her children. This doesn't need to be a huge burden. It's only a ~2 day drive from Ann Arbor to Houston. One of her kids could drive there, pick her up, and bring her home in less than a week. Less than a week to rescue your mom, the one who brought you into this world and then raised you. I would feel awful if my mother was living like this and didn't "burden" me with her situation. Once back home in MI she could live for a few weeks with her kids until the ID situation is sorted. After that, her nursing license is still good in MI, so she can start looking for nursing jobs again. On the surface (again, taking it at face value), this looks like an extremely poorly planned mid life crisis.

[jlcnuke]

Sure.

Fire, identity theft, illness that affects my brain, crushing lawsuit, economic collapse. Those are the ones that leap to mind in less than a minute.

Homelessness is like jail. You think it can't happen to you. But it can. Never confuse "it hasn't happened to me" for "it can't happen to me".

Fire - I have insurance that covers that.
Identity Theft - isn't going to take away all of my accounts and sources of income and my home immediately, so I have adequate time to address such an issue without becoming homeless.
Illness that affects my brain - plausible, but would still necessitate that I lose both my own ability to recognize what benefits I have as well as losing all support from family and friends (through their action and/or my own) to keep me away from the help that is available.
Crushing lawsuit - 401k as well as primary residence are both protected from being taken by a lawsuit, so not an issue.
Economic collapse - would still necessitate some follow on action to result in the loss of my home as well.

Exceptional drug dependency resulting in life spiral is the only thing other than mental illness that I've seen as a plausible cause for homelessness that doesn't require a healthy person making poor decisions (in this case I'm talking after the poor decision to start using drugs that cause the addiction and calling the addiction a disease, not a decision).

[charis]

Yes, ID issues are a big deal for the homeless population.  But there are giant holes in this article that is masquerading as a "it could happen to anyone" reverse fairy tale.  It's one thing to take something at face value.  It's another to blindly accept a glaringly implausible premise.  She clearly didn't go from a stable nursing career to homeless because her wallet got stolen the day she arrive in a new town.  She might have told that story to a journalist but it doesn't pass the smell test.  If my mother completely disappeared the day she "moved" to a new city, she would be reported missing.  There's a reason this woman won't/can't contact her children. She hitchhiked to a supposed adventure year, obviously didn't have any money sitting in an account somewhere (even if her wallet wasn't stolen), and didn't make a police report after being robbed.

[Bernard]

Yes,
it's possible that I could become homeless. If my wife and I fall off a cliff while hiking and spend a year in the hospital, then exiting it blind and paralyzed, our house would have gone into foreclosure and we'd be in a really bad spot, just to name one example.

That out of the way, there's more to the story told.

1) If I escape an abusive partner, I'll get a restraining order, then seek shelter with a friend 'til I find another place to live. I do not quit my job, especially if my savings amount to $0, have no car, no extra clothes, and then hitchhike to a state a galaxy away.

2) I have a US passport (book) in the safe in my house, a US passport card in the safe at my work, and my Certificate of Naturalization in a bank deposit box. Any of these 3 documents is sufficient to get every other document I'll ever need, such as a SS card, a new driver's license, a new passport, etc. Any of these 3 documents is also sufficient for work and I-9 form purposes, meaning I would never, ever, have to show an employer my SS card or my driver's license, ever.

3) If I have family, even remote family, I would contact them when I'm about to sleep under a bridge. She didn't do that.

There is so much more to this story then we could ever speculate about.

[Kem]

Fresh out of college in the early 2000's (where I rented an unconverted coal room in which to sleep) with 2 degrees in aviation which I obtained through massive 6 figure leverage I struggled to find work.

Those degrees did not translate into the decimated field - jobs were not plentiful and I eventually ended up selling mutual funds and life insurance after I tore my lat (with no medical insurance, racking up more debt) and could no longer paint.  Soul sucking work. It provided enough income to choose 2 out of 3:  food to eat, student loans to pay, roof over my head.  I choose to eat and was forced to pay the loans. 

This left me sleeping in a car for 2 seasons until I was able to forge a career path for myself rather than trying to follow the suggestions of peers/society. 

The majority of this shift was in realizing that I needed to provide value on my own merit rather than just accept a job.

Some good lessons learned. 

[Linea_Norway]

I think that many people on this forum are pretty intelligent and mentally strong people, who would be able to mitigate such a situation. It could be that the general population is less lucky in being able to prepare and improvise.

[partgypsy]

It's (hopefully) a pretty low possibility that I would become homeless (knock on wood). But I know a number of people who either have been homeless, or are at high risk for being homeless. One of my friends in college was homeless, living in a car with her mother before she got accepted into college. She had very little money while in college but did finish her degree. A friend who was high functioning but with mental illness. Most of the time he slept on friend's couches, but also would do things like ride the bus all night or have other places he would stay out the rain when he didn't have a place to crash. My sister is also likely to become homeless if not for her family.

I have a friend who is only 10 years older than me whose father died when she was a child, came from an abusive background, moved away from her family. She has worked all her life and has a house, but is on an extremely tight budget. None of her relatives are alive anymore and even if they were, if something happened to her she has no family to help. 
I hope people, even if they themselves are not in danger of being homeless, have sympathy for those who are. It is easy to be an armchair quarterback but you didn't live their lives.

[Cranky]

It can be quite challenging to replace ID, btw.

Several years ago, my wallet was stolen and I only realized it the next morning, at which point my cards had all been shut down. Replacing debit/credit cards and getting my money back was annoying, but accomplished pretty quickly.

However, replacing my ID was quite a project. I needed Item A to replace Item B, and I needed Item B to replace Item A, and I no longer had either of them. So instead, I needed about 5 different things, at least one of which had to be notarized. It took me at least 6 weeks to get that all done, and I am in a stable situation, own a house, have a bank account, etc., etc.

[golfreak12]

It's (hopefully) a pretty low possibility that I would become homeless (knock on wood). But I know a number of people who either have been homeless, or are at high risk for being homeless. One of my friends in college was homeless, living in a car with her mother before she got accepted into college. She had very little money while in college but did finish her degree. A friend who was high functioning but with mental illness. Most of the time he slept on friend's couches, but also would do things like ride the bus all night or have other places he would stay out the rain when he didn't have a place to crash. My sister is also likely to become homeless if not for her family.

I have a friend who is only 10 years older than me whose father died when she was a child, came from an abusive background, moved away from her family. She has worked all her life and has a house, but is on an extremely tight budget. None of her relatives are alive anymore and even if they were, if something happened to her she has no family to help. 
I hope people, even if they themselves are not in danger of being homeless, have sympathy for those who are. It is easy to be an armchair quarterback but you didn't live their lives.

The point of this thread wasn't meant to degrade the homeless situations.
1) I found it peculiar that a 20 year nurse put herself in a homeless situation and..
2) Could you ever find yourself being homeless in any situation.

[Alternatepriorities]

I can think of several scenarios where I would chose to be homeless but I'm not sure that's being considered by most. For example if my DW were to die unexpectedly I would probably sell our house and most everything else, pack my saddle bags and ride my bike until I figured out what I wanted to do next... That would very likely involve sleeping under bridges and cooking over an open fire as I rode across Canada...

The only scenario where I am likely to be homeless not by choice is a major disability or a mental health change that completely remakes who I am... As long as I have my health any other set back can eventually be remedied with a good saw and hard work at the very worse.

Sidney Huntington"s life story in "Shadows on the Koyukuk" has given me new appreciation of how one person can accomplish when they refuse to quit. His life makes mine look pretty easy and he lived to 100. I knew him at the very end of his life and attended his funeral. At 99 he was stilling living rather than just existing. Reading his story he lived that way his whole life. Everything he owned was wiped out multiple time, and he just started over and rebuilt it.

[OtherJen]

How can getting a replacement ID be so difficult? And how come she doesn't have anyone in her life to ask for help or any spare cash or credit card outside of her wallet that she could pay for a cheap hostel for a few days until she gets a new ID. There must be more to this story.

Sometimes you flee an abusive situation with only the clothes on your back and what you can grab on the way out the door.

From the article:

Stovall didn’t realize how easy it was to become homeless until it happened to her. She fled an abusive boyfriend in Galveston, hitchhiking her way to Houston. When she was dropped off by a corner store in Third Ward, she pulled out her phone and wallet to orient herself. Someone swiped both out of her hand.

It took her just under a month and help from a church group to get a receipt for her Social Security Card and Texas identification card. The charity paid for a copy of her birth certificate. She got lucky: It arrived in three weeks. She was told it could take up to three months.
----
Lack of identification is such a problem in the homeless community that there are charities set up with divisions to help the homeless navigate the process of obtaining their papers, and police departments offer a form of identification for the homeless. But IDs, like everything else, gets stolen on the streets. If a person is new to Texas — like Stovall, who came from Michigan only a few months ago — the stringent Texas ID requirements are even more of a burden. And without an ID, Stovall couldn’t get services at some nonprofits, much less a job.

I know in her situation I wouldn't end up homeless.

Maybe, maybe not. This sounds like a horrid combo of mental illness (maybe depression or burnout from a long nursing career), trauma from abuse, and random street crime. I've been through the first and remember how hard it was to ask for help from anyone. Adding the other two to the mix would have been paralyzing.

[FINate]

It's amazing what 5 minutes of internet searching can turn up.

There was a missing person case filed, now closed because she's been located: https://www.facebook.com/MissingPersonsCasesNetwork/posts/locatedelizabeth-ann-stovall-tomaszek-45richmond-township-michiganlast-seen-marc/330364024490445/

And apparently she had a DUI this past summer: https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/Texas_State_Galveston_County_County_Court_at_Law_1/MD-0388268/The_State_of_Texas_vs._ELIZABETH_ANN_STOVALL-TOMASZEK/

Now to be clear, I don't think a DUI is a huge moral failing. Lots of folks make these kinds of mistakes, and certainly a DUI shouldn't condemn one to life on the streets (ETA: well, nothing should condemn people to the streets). Will also acknowledge that having some wealth makes a huge difference in the US as it provides a buffer against legal consequences. So I'll call a spade a space here: different outcomes based on something arbitrary such as wealth is injustice. Furthermore, our justice system is problematic in the way it traps people in a cycle of poverty and inability to get jobs.

That said, I wonder what the story is behind the DUI. Not like this was 10 years ago, was just a few months back. I know journalists want to tell a certain narrative, and they are looking to paint their characters in a sympathetic light. But dang, I wish they would do a little bit of vetting and put all the pertinent info out there. I don't generally distrust the media, but this is the kind of thing that makes people skeptical.

[MoseyingAlong]

And apparently she had a DUI this past summer: https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/Texas_State_Galveston_County_County_Court_at_Law_1/MD-0388268/The_State_of_Texas_vs._ELIZABETH_ANN_STOVALL-TOMASZEK/

That said, I wonder what the story is behind the DUI. Not like this was 10 years ago, was just a few months back. I know journalists want to tell a certain narrative, and they are looking to paint their characters in a sympathetic light. But dang, I wish they would do a little bit of vetting and put all the pertinent info out there. I don't generally distrust the media, but this is the kind of thing that makes people skeptical.

The DUI is a huge factor. It can be very difficult to work as a nurse with a DUI, especially one so recent. It is considered as showing a lack of good judgement.

[golfreak12]

It's amazing what 5 minutes of internet searching can turn up.

There was a missing person case filed, now closed because she's been located: https://www.facebook.com/MissingPersonsCasesNetwork/posts/locatedelizabeth-ann-stovall-tomaszek-45richmond-township-michiganlast-seen-marc/330364024490445/

And apparently she had a DUI this past summer: https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/Texas_State_Galveston_County_County_Court_at_Law_1/MD-0388268/The_State_of_Texas_vs._ELIZABETH_ANN_STOVALL-TOMASZEK/

Not to be clear, I don't think a DUI is a huge moral failing. Lots of folks make these kinds of mistakes, and certainly a DUI shouldn't condemn one to life on the streets (ETA: well, nothing should condemn people to the streets). Will also acknowledge that having some wealth makes a huge difference in the US as it provides a buffer against legal consequences. So I'll call a spade a space here: different outcomes based on something arbitrary such as wealth is injustice. Furthermore, our justice system is problematic in the way it traps people in a cycle of poverty and inability to get jobs.

That said, I wonder what the story is behind the DUI. Not like this was 10 years ago, was just a few months back. I know journalists want to tell a certain narrative, and they are looking to paint their characters in a sympathetic light. But dang, I wish they would do a little bit of vetting and put all the pertinent info out there. I don't generally distrust the media, but this is the kind of thing that makes people skeptical.

Great find.
I actually saw this article about a month ago and yesterday when i looked up " 20 year nurse homeless" its still the only article that showed up.
Tbis explained everything.

[use2betrix]

If someone develops a mental illness, such as paranoid schizophrenia, virtually anyone could end up homeless. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, how much family, friends, etc.

All it takes is developing a sever case of the mental disease and losing all trust for every person around you. You could start to believe your spouse, friends, family are all creating some sort of “plot” or out to get you. Some people even believe everyone is government spies, aliens, etc.

If you then wander away from your home (maybe you think your home is bugged or under surveillance) then you would be on your own with no way to support yourself.

In these cases, I could see anyone ending up homeless. Anyone with a true understanding of the disease or working with/knowing people with it would really realize it.

For “me” barring an illness like the above, I have enough family and friends for support that I could have a roof over my head in most all circumstances.

[Schaefer Light]

It could happen.  If your family is all dead or in another country and you don't have any close friends, then you really need an emergency fund.  Otherwise, a job loss coupled with getting evicted could definitely do it.

[Imma]

How can getting a replacement ID be so difficult? And how come she doesn't have anyone in her life to ask for help or any spare cash or credit card outside of her wallet that she could pay for a cheap hostel for a few days until she gets a new ID. There must be more to this story.

Sometimes you flee an abusive situation with only the clothes on your back and what you can grab on the way out the door.

From the article:

Stovall didn’t realize how easy it was to become homeless until it happened to her. She fled an abusive boyfriend in Galveston, hitchhiking her way to Houston. When she was dropped off by a corner store in Third Ward, she pulled out her phone and wallet to orient herself. Someone swiped both out of her hand.

It took her just under a month and help from a church group to get a receipt for her Social Security Card and Texas identification card. The charity paid for a copy of her birth certificate. She got lucky: It arrived in three weeks. She was told it could take up to three months.
----
Lack of identification is such a problem in the homeless community that there are charities set up with divisions to help the homeless navigate the process of obtaining their papers, and police departments offer a form of identification for the homeless. But IDs, like everything else, gets stolen on the streets. If a person is new to Texas — like Stovall, who came from Michigan only a few months ago — the stringent Texas ID requirements are even more of a burden. And without an ID, Stovall couldn’t get services at some nonprofits, much less a job.

I know in her situation I wouldn't end up homeless.

Maybe, maybe not. This sounds like a horrid combo of mental illness (maybe depression or burnout from a long nursing career), trauma from abuse, and random street crime. I've been through the first and remember how hard it was to ask for help from anyone. Adding the other two to the mix would have been paralyzing.

I guess the whole 'getting a new ID' process is so different (and so difficult) in the US that it's just hard for me to grasp. I think it's bizarre that you would need a whole pile of documents that apparantly take months to arrive. Needing ID to get a new ID is a really strange catch 22 situation. Stolen IDs happen all the time to everyone so I'm really surprised there's apparantly not a streamlined process for that.

Someone in my direct family was formally homeless for a year and without valid ID (not on the streets) and I was there when they finally applied for a new ID  and where we live that's a super easy thing to fix. Getting a new ID and officially registering at a new home was probably the easiest part of the whole situation. I also didn't mean to say being homeless can't happen to me, but the claim of this article is she became homeless because her ID was stolen. I don't think that's a valid claim. She became homeless due to other stuff and her stolen ID was just the next problem she was facing.

[GuitarStv]

Now to be clear, I don't think a DUI is a huge moral failing.

Getting a DUI means you were caught knowingly putting other people's lives at risk.  If that isn't a huge moral failing, what is?

[charis]

How can getting a replacement ID be so difficult? And how come she doesn't have anyone in her life to ask for help or any spare cash or credit card outside of her wallet that she could pay for a cheap hostel for a few days until she gets a new ID. There must be more to this story.

Sometimes you flee an abusive situation with only the clothes on your back and what you can grab on the way out the door.

From the article:

Stovall didn’t realize how easy it was to become homeless until it happened to her. She fled an abusive boyfriend in Galveston, hitchhiking her way to Houston. When she was dropped off by a corner store in Third Ward, she pulled out her phone and wallet to orient herself. Someone swiped both out of her hand.

It took her just under a month and help from a church group to get a receipt for her Social Security Card and Texas identification card. The charity paid for a copy of her birth certificate. She got lucky: It arrived in three weeks. She was told it could take up to three months.
----
Lack of identification is such a problem in the homeless community that there are charities set up with divisions to help the homeless navigate the process of obtaining their papers, and police departments offer a form of identification for the homeless. But IDs, like everything else, gets stolen on the streets. If a person is new to Texas — like Stovall, who came from Michigan only a few months ago — the stringent Texas ID requirements are even more of a burden. And without an ID, Stovall couldn’t get services at some nonprofits, much less a job.

I know in her situation I wouldn't end up homeless.

Maybe, maybe not. This sounds like a horrid combo of mental illness (maybe depression or burnout from a long nursing career), trauma from abuse, and random street crime. I've been through the first and remember how hard it was to ask for help from anyone. Adding the other two to the mix would have been paralyzing.

I guess the whole 'getting a new ID' process is so different (and so difficult) in the US that it's just hard for me to grasp. I think it's bizarre that you would need a whole pile of documents that apparantly take months to arrive. Needing ID to get a new ID is a really strange catch 22 situation. Stolen IDs happen all the time to everyone so I'm really surprised there's apparantly not a streamlined process for that.

Someone in my direct family was formally homeless for a year and without valid ID (not on the streets) and I was there when they finally applied for a new ID  and where we live that's a super easy thing to fix. Getting a new ID and officially registering at a new home was probably the easiest part of the whole situation. I also didn't mean to say being homeless can't happen to me, but the claim of this article is she became homeless because her ID was stolen. I don't think that's a valid claim. She became homeless due to other stuff and her stolen ID was just the next problem she was facing.

I have lost my ID (driver's license) several times over the years and never once needed to produce documents to replace it. Just ordered a replacement online.  But you need internet access, an online account, and a credit or debit card to pay for the replacement.  In my state at least. 

[FINate]

Now to be clear, I don't think a DUI is a huge moral failing.

Getting a DUI means you were caught knowingly putting other people's lives at risk.  If that isn't a huge moral failing, what is?

Exceeding the speed limit puts people's lives at risk, but in most cases this is a mere infraction. However, if one is grossly exceeding the speed limit the severity of the consequences increase. Her DUI was a misdemeanor, which likely means she was slightly over the limit and doesn't have any priors. So yes, I think it's a moral failing, just not a huge one. If it was a huge moral failure this would mean she's a danger to society and should be incarcerated. The US already has far too many people in prison.

[GuitarStv]

Now to be clear, I don't think a DUI is a huge moral failing.

Getting a DUI means you were caught knowingly putting other people's lives at risk.  If that isn't a huge moral failing, what is?

Exceeding the speed limit puts people's lives at risk, but in most cases this is a mere infraction. However, if one is grossly exceeding the speed limit the severity of the consequences increase. Her DUI was a misdemeanor, which likely means she was slightly over the limit and doesn't have any priors. So yes, I think it's a moral failing, just not a huge one. If it was a huge moral failure this would mean she's a danger to society and should be incarcerated. The US already has far too many people in prison.

Something can be a huge moral failing without resulting in jail time.  I'd argue that the legal system is only loosely correlated with morality.

[FINate]

Now to be clear, I don't think a DUI is a huge moral failing.

Getting a DUI means you were caught knowingly putting other people's lives at risk.  If that isn't a huge moral failing, what is?

Exceeding the speed limit puts people's lives at risk, but in most cases this is a mere infraction. However, if one is grossly exceeding the speed limit the severity of the consequences increase. Her DUI was a misdemeanor, which likely means she was slightly over the limit and doesn't have any priors. So yes, I think it's a moral failing, just not a huge one. If it was a huge moral failure this would mean she's a danger to society and should be incarcerated. The US already has far too many people in prison.

Something can be a huge moral failing without resulting in jail time.  I'd argue that the legal system is only loosely correlated with morality.

Fair enough. I don't want to derail a thread on a semantic issue, so I'm happy to leave it at that.

[FINate]

And apparently she had a DUI this past summer: https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/Texas_State_Galveston_County_County_Court_at_Law_1/MD-0388268/The_State_of_Texas_vs._ELIZABETH_ANN_STOVALL-TOMASZEK/

That said, I wonder what the story is behind the DUI. Not like this was 10 years ago, was just a few months back. I know journalists want to tell a certain narrative, and they are looking to paint their characters in a sympathetic light. But dang, I wish they would do a little bit of vetting and put all the pertinent info out there. I don't generally distrust the media, but this is the kind of thing that makes people skeptical.

The DUI is a huge factor. It can be very difficult to work as a nurse with a DUI, especially one so recent. It is considered as showing a lack of good judgement.

I hadn't thought about this, but it makes sense. Thanks.

[simonsez]

If someone develops a mental illness, such as paranoid schizophrenia, virtually anyone could end up homeless. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, how much family, friends, etc.

All it takes is developing a sever case of the mental disease and losing all trust for every person around you. You could start to believe your spouse, friends, family are all creating some sort of “plot” or out to get you.

Spot on - I have a family member who you just described perfectly.  They grew up upper-middle class with a great family and network but something has always been off and it has become exacerbated and intolerable with age.  And they won't accept (more) professional help because obviously that is another plot.  Result = family member is essentially a nomad, moving from place to place until they burn more bridges and move somewhere else, I don't see any future path OTHER than homelessness.  A lot more ugly details and lifelong efforts in there, it's just sad and a bit scary.  It could happen to anyone.

[BlueHouse]

As long as my sister is alive, and if I don't develop mental illness, I'll never be homeless. 

Once all my siblings are gone though, I could see not wanting to be a burden on others and trying to handle everything on my own.  Then if I lost all my possessions and ID, I'd be just another person in this nation of homeless people.  Everyone has a story and mine wouldn't be any more compelling than anybody else's.  This makes it clear to me that having an advocate is so important in this country.  If no one else cares about you, and there's no one to fight for your rights, then you just go to the end of a long long line.  That's really scary. 

[Kl285528]

This reminds me of something that happened at a rental property I own. One bedroom condo, tenant was a middle aged single woman, who was my tenant for 10 years. Perfect tenant, always paid rent on time, no complaints as a landlord.

One day, the rent check failed to appear. I called her phone number, got no answer, and no one returned my call after leaving a message. Gave it a few days, called her employer, who said "No, we haven't seen Terri (not her real name) for about a month." Hmmm.

Went by the condo, knocked, finally let myself in when I had no answer. It looked like she still lived there. Every bit of furniture in place, closets full of clothes, etc. Buttttt...... Fish tank on but with dead fish. Food looks old in the refrigerator.

It looked like the tenant just disappeared.

I called the police. No evidence of foul play. Finally filed eviction paperwork so that I covered myself to start moving her items out and rerent the place. As we are cleaning it out, found a diary / journal that hinted at a bad relationship... an abusive, alcoholic boyfriend. Found a sister's phone number in some other personal papers. Called the sister, who assured me that Terri was ok. Would not fill in any other details for me.

So, I'm left to wonder.... What the heck happened? My best guess is that Terri fled from someone, and had to do it quickly. It really did look like she just got in her car and drove away without ever coming home. Bizarre.

I bet Terri is doing fine today. But I wonder if Terri had to change her name, and cover her tracks to be safe...

In contrast to the story that is the genesis of this thread, we are missing alot of details about how an RN gets to this point. But, imagine an abusive relationship, that also alienated her kids, and she is constantly making poor choices.... Would love to know all of details.

[Channel-Z]

As a journalist, sadly, whenever we get a tip about a sorry situation, a sob story, the first thing we do is check the person's criminal history and missing persons reports.

By the way, I suspect it would be too easy for me to become homeless. I'm a loner. I guess it would depend on how many misfortunes happened at once. I have an Aspie brother who gets a lot of help from our parents. I don't know what's going to happen to him when he's too old to work.

I tangentially knew someone who got carjacked in San Francisco days after moving there and ended up homeless for about three weeks. He lost everything, the wallet, the phone, everything he needed to prove who he was and pay for anything. He wasn't able to show up to his new job. It took him two days to find a police station, and about a week to find a homeless shelter.

One of my co-workers lived in his pickup for about a month after getting kicked out of his rental home, but didn't tell anyone about it until after he found new housing.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

People who live temporarily with friends or family are still technically homeless.

Mustachians aren't at as much risk, but most people are only a few paychecks away from homelessness. Might take awhile for the bank to foreclose, and for other options to decline, but that's the fact. I personally know a woman who's husband changed the locks on her house and emptied the bank accounts literally while she was at work one day. She had access to nothing but the clothes she was wearing. OK, she had resources and money she was entitled to, but it took a long time for that to actually be usable. She was homeless and staying in spare rooms for more than 6 months sorting it out.

[Steeze]

These days it would be very difficult - but I suppose if I (re)developed a binge drinking habit anything is possible, especially all of the worse things.

I lived in my car / a tent for a while in college while in between apartments for a couple months. Semi-homeless, because I am sure if my family knew what I was doing they would have scraped some cash together and made sure I was ok. (They were 1000+ miles away)

Have done my fair share of couch surfing, staying in spare rooms, basements, sleeping in cars, and long term camping. Have done the food stamp thing, hit free church dinners, food pantries, stolen food from grocery stores, and gotten my produce from the “free bin” behind the grocery store too.

Most of that was the result of never asking for help, and could have been avoided if I planned better and wasn’t so out of control in general. At the time I thought I was being resourceful and saving money. Looking back I was on the edge of disaster.