What would you do if you became homeless?

[Yohan]

Do you have any news articles on the FBI arresting people for being homeless or sleeping on the street? Have you seen it yourself? Or is this another one of your dystopian lies?

In general, sleeping on the sidewalk is not going to violate a ___federal___ law.

Mercury is exaggerating as always, but there are indeed countries where being homeless and sleeping on the sidewalk is an offence - especially in Singapore. You might be arrested, checked for drugs and spend a while in jail, even a few months, to recover - this harsh way of justice was strongly criticized by the foreign press - human rights etc - but they also had to admit that such people after their release were much healthier than before their arrest and able to do some simple job, earning some money and not homeless any longer as the government offers some kind of cheap accommodation for them.

There are also some countries which have rules not against being homeless, but to show up as beggars. Not the beggar will be punished but the person who gives something to them. Philippines has such laws, but in a Christianity orientated society it is difficult to enforce them and to convince people who are into Christianity not to give anything to them, especially to child beggars, as this chaotic country has at least one million children living in the streets and sleeping somewhere in the slums.

[Voyager1]

I think if I became homeless I'd try to get a van and travel across the country. There is a YT series about that called Van Life. Johnny FD was going to do that.

[HouseMD]

I don't get it, why not San Francisco? Much cheaper plane ticket, California is a liberal state, and San Francisco provide good government & local benefits for homeless people. Plus the homeless can supplement their income by stealing everything they need in stores. Remember, shoplifting up to $950 is a misdemeanor. The shop employees can't stop you or they get fired by the store, they can report you nevertheless, the police will let you go even if you get caught and the prosecutor won't even bother to investigate your case.

Because even in San Francisco, the FBI and Homeland Security will arrest you for sleeping on the sidewalk. Same with Los Angeles and San Diego.

Uh.. no they don't. Even the cops can't do anything about the homeless problem in San Francisco, LA and San Diego.
WTF is the FBI and Homeland Security gonna do? It's not within their jurisdiction.

Mercury sounds like a homeless psych patient that thinks the FBI and Homeland Security are out to get him because he's homeless, when in fact it's first responders trying to get him help because he's so psychotic he can't function

[Cornfed]

It wouldn't surprise me if the feds had the possibility to do what Mercury is saying, but obviously it is not universal or even particularly common.

[Natural_Born_Cynic]

Yeah the Feds are too busy catching domestic terrorists and pedophiles. Homeless people are not on their priority list. That's up to the local police, but as I mentioned before... their hands are tied. You can loot, get high, and get welfare from the city and no one can stop you.

[HouseMD]

Yeah the Feds are too busy catching domestic terrorists and pedophiles. Homeless people are not on their priority list. That's up to the local police, but as I mentioned before... their hands are tied. You can loot, get high, and get welfare from the city and no one can stop you.

Plenty of local news stories about guys with even violent crime histories and 40+ pending charges being let go care of "bail reform." Many of them even mock the judges and police on the way out about how they will offend again within the day

[Natural_Born_Cynic]

Yeah the Feds are too busy catching domestic terrorists and pedophiles. Homeless people are not on their priority list. That's up to the local police, but as I mentioned before... their hands are tied. You can loot, get high, and get welfare from the city and no one can stop you.

Plenty of local news stories about guys with even violent crime histories and 40+ pending charges being let go care of "bail reform." Many of them even mock the judges and police on the way out about how they will offend again within the day

Yep! And in San Francisco you can steal up to $950 of merchandise and get charged with misdemeanor. However, the shop employees can't stop you or they will get fired by the shop, the police can't arrest you or even if they do, they will let you go, and the prosecutor doesn't even bother to investigate the case. I believe, it's still going on right now.

[MrMan]

I recently saw a homeless-looking man accepting money from someone drive by on a state highway. I heard 'No pan handling'. There was a cop in a car speaking through his microphone. The homeless looking man walk off.

Some areas have laws against sleeping in certain places and laws against pan handling. Those are local ordinances, not federal laws that get the FBI involved.

[MrMan]

Federal laws do not typically delve into this level of crime. Murder is not a federal crime, typically, unless it is a federal official. There may be some laws governing the military and seaways that are not under any state. But typically, murder is the domain of the state.

Murder most certainly IS a Federal crime!

I am pretty sure there is no federal law against murder, not unless it is a US official or involves the military or some special case. If you murder a federal judge or the president or senator, that might be against federal law. But murder is generally handled by the states.

Credit card fraud is a Federal crime.

It could be, especially if it is interstate.

Statutory rape is a Federal crime.

If you take a minor over state borders, you could violate the Mann act. There might be federal laws against this, but site it. I think the government regulates this sort of thing overseas and in US waterways, and leaves the in-state rape activities to states to regulate. The constitution leaves rights not given to the federal government to the states and to the people. Of course the federal government honors that provision of the constitution less and less over time.

Contributing to the delinquency of a minor is a Federal crime. Kidnapping is a Federal crime.

Prove it. Quote the laws. If kidnapping involves crossing state lines, probably.

Possession of cocaine is a Federal crime. Child pornography is a Federal crime. Terrorism is a Federal crime.

Probably. I'm not sure about child porn if it doesn't cross state borders. Drugs is one of those areas where the federal government hasn't followed constitutional restrictions, IMO.

Have you ever taken a law class? I have, in high school, and also once as a grad student. And I taught law at a university once, because I was technically qualified due to accreditation requirements, the best qualified among the faculty, in fact. But I wasn't practically qualified and I learned a lot of law for that class.

[Cornfed]

Apparently just about any crime can be construed as federal now if they want to. For example, if you rob a fast food place and the potatoes they use in their fried come from another state, you can be said to be interfering with interstate commerce.

[gsjackson]

In the case of murder, the Feds just charge you with violating the victim's civil rights by killing him and SCOTUS has decreed that it is not double jeopardy if the state charges you with murder for the exact same act. There was a lot of clamor by the presstitutes to charge OJ in federal court after he was found not guilty in California. In the case of that poor kid in Charlottesville who ran over a cow trying to escape the melee, the Feds charged him with several counts of violating some hate crimes statute they have now, and I believe Virginia charged him with murder.

[MrMan]

In the case of murder, the Feds just charge you with violating the victim's civil rights by killing him and SCOTUS has decreed that it is not double jeopardy if the state charges you with murder for the exact same act. There was a lot of clamor by the presstitutes to charge OJ in federal court after he was found not guilty in California. In the case of that poor kid in Charlottesville who ran over a cow trying to escape the melee, the Feds charged him with several counts of violating some hate crimes statute they have now, and I believe Virginia charged him with murder.

I'm pretty sure OJ Simson was tried in state criminal followed by state civil court in California. If you have a credible source that he was tried in federal court, please share it.

I'm not saying there aren't some cases where murder or other laws could be tried federally, but these would be specific cases where a federal law exists, not the typical murder. I read about a man in Charlottesville who ran over someone who got a federal hate crimes charge. I don't get how this kind of charge is constitutional. And 'hate crime' makes no sense, since murder is murder, and usually there is some hate involved. Targeting someone because of their race and religion, versus not liking the shape of their nose or their bad breath, shouldn't get an extra charge.

But mostly murder is handled at the state level.

Do you have any evidence it is against a federal crime to be homeless? Not trespassing on federal land or something like that, but just being homeless/

[gsjackson]

In the case of murder, the Feds just charge you with violating the victim's civil rights by killing him and SCOTUS has decreed that it is not double jeopardy if the state charges you with murder for the exact same act. There was a lot of clamor by the presstitutes to charge OJ in federal court after he was found not guilty in California. In the case of that poor kid in Charlottesville who ran over a cow trying to escape the melee, the Feds charged him with several counts of violating some hate crimes statute they have now, and I believe Virginia charged him with murder.

I'm pretty sure OJ Simson was tried in state criminal followed by state civil court in California. If you have a credible source that he was tried in federal court, please share it.

I'm not saying there aren't some cases where murder or other laws could be tried federally, but these would be specific cases where a federal law exists, not the typical murder. I read about a man in Charlottesville who ran over someone who got a federal hate crimes charge. I don't get how this kind of charge is constitutional. And 'hate crime' makes no sense, since murder is murder, and usually there is some hate involved. Targeting someone because of their race and religion, versus not liking the shape of their nose or their bad breath, shouldn't get an extra charge.

But mostly murder is handled at the state level.

Do you have any evidence it is against a federal crime to be homeless? Not trespassing on federal land or something like that, but just being homeless/

Read a little more carefully. I said there was clamor for Simpson to be tried in federal court after being acquitted in state court, not that it happened. But it could have.

Trying someone in both federal and state courts for exactly the same act is constitutional because SCOTUS said it was. I think the decision is plainly wrong, and the "hate crimes" concept is just another layer of Jewish control.

[WilliamSmith]

Imagine you run out of money and are homeless. Would you kill yourself at that point? Seriously, how could you even escape something like that?

@Tsar

1st up: No suicides allowed!
(You probably were just asking about it, not actually considering it yourself, but yeah: No suicides allowed.)

I have been homeless before too, mostly during childhood, but also a few temporary fiascos when I was in my early 20's and decided to take some risks on purpose while in search of a freer independent lifestyle (which worked out in the end, but royally sucked for a stretch of time until I clawed my way back toward solvency).

If it happened to me again now (and for the sake of argument, I'll say I was all alone and didn't have any gfs/friends/etc to ask for temporary help), then these would be my top considerations:

Location for sake of survival:
The climate and how dangerous it is there being the top factors (especially because of the surrounding people one has little choice but to be around when you're poor or homeless).

Prospective earnings (I'd prefer internet-based, but that'd require enough $$$ to maintain and possibly replace some basic devices).

Location for the sake of offline earnings prospects.
(I say "earnings" rather than "employment," because my instinct would be that finding some way to scrap for $$'s to make a meaningful improvement in your own finances is often more viable than being homeless and desperately applying for a zillion jobs, and having to wait to see if you get the jobs...)


On climate:
If you didn't have some kind of heated shelter, some places I've been in before would literally have killed you in the deep freeze that has already happened this Winter (damn "global warming"!).

On the other hand, my current favorite places in the tropics would be easier to live in climate-wise, some even having good prospects for foraging or fishing for food, depending on the area... that is, until there's the potential for disastrous tropical cyclones to make landfall there. Then those same areas are sometimes hit with huge region-wide catastrophes and sudden outbursts of violent crime, as both gangs and desperate locals come out of the woodwork...

People can be a wild card here:
The people around you could be a valuable potential support and contact network.... or they could be a dangerous liability that you'd be better off avoiding.

In some homeless camps, for example, I've heard that the other homeless men have an almost collective cult environment where they'll actively put a beating on any one who is holding back extra resources they've gathered. (So in that case it's hard to imagine getting back on your own feet independently again.) Others have huge substance addiction and mental illness issues, so being a loner is better than actually having to closely associate with people like that.

Here I go again having deep thoughts on HA, LOL... (Self-employment kicks ass, but all I can say is that I wish HappyGuy's assertion that me and 90% of the other newer members are actually being paid to post here was actually true... I'd be raking it in.)

I'll chuck that "wall of text" in here for now and expand on it later...

[WilliamSmith]

1) Move to San Francisco,
2) Apply for welfare in San Francisco and live off government benefits on taxpayer's dime.

@Natural_Born_Cynic
Yeah for US-based people, I was also thinking about #1-2 and San Francisco also, because of how much more subsidies I've heard are there are for homeless people (I think there specifically, but I believe also in some other parts of California).

CA is horrible doomed state IMO, and I heard people are leaving it in droves, but paradoxically I've heard it's drawing in more homeless because of the subsidies + comparatively favorable climate in parts (probably especially the Bay Area where it's less scorchingly hot).
I was talking to some people who were down in San Francisco for business a few years ago, and they said it was surreal because they'd be walking along in a very developed area, and suddenly what felt like a small army of homeless men would emerge out of a park walking together in a huge group practically surrounding them as they passed by (fortunately on some other mission than Death Wish-style crime or capturing and roasting business people for food).

God-awful PDX (where I haven't been for quite a while) has apparently also attempted to subsidize homeless people as a poverty relief measure, so that area has also filled with homeless people.
However, the weather intermittently gets terrible in the winter up there, so I don't see why anyone would go there as opposed to the warmer environments.

No comment on the #3+ "side hustle" steps, LOL (though I have heard that too where there was a ludicrous amount of shoplifting because of their loopy legislation that practically encourages and incentivizes it).
However, a legal alternative might actually be dumpster-diving, especially if you can have clean enough clothes to LARP as someone who actually can get away with checking dumpsters in higher-income neighborhoods.
Lots of people with money through away tons of potentially resalable items, including electronics...