I Am Going To Become Homeless, Needs Tips On How To Survive Living In A Car With Four Other People.

[Changing4Best]

PS. I did get a lot of help from churches.

One thing that I had trouble with was keeping toilet paper. I would be able to use food stamps (or EBT as they are called now) to buy food, but toilet paper was a problem. If you have food stamps, EBT, it helps. You can apply for them now through SOcial sERVICES IN YOUR COUNTY, woops, sorry about the caps, I must have slipped a finger over there. However, you cannot buy anything but food with them and it cannot be from the deli section of the grocery either, it has to be from the of the grocery areas of the store.

Speaking of Social Services, they can help you too. Look them up in the governmental area of the phone book, probably under County Government. These are in the Blue pages of your phone book. If you do become homeless, stay in touch with them. They may be able to do more for you if you are homeless than if you still in the home.

There is a type of housing that is called Section 8 and this is through some government agency. I am in housing that is under HUD that is for the Elderly and Disabled. It is less expensive than regular rental units. I pay only 30% of my Social Security Disability money each month for this one bedroom apartment. You do have to have an income to rent these apartments though.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

Thank you for the encouragement and advice. I will do that.

Willycat I ordered the books. Be here very soon. Many thanks again.

 

[garden]

You and yours are in my heart and prayers gizmo. I have never 'technically' been homeless because I've always had an address where I could get mail, but I did have to couch surf during a certain season of my life. My friends would let me sleep at their place, I had gym membership so I would shower and groom myself there before I went to work. I did this for a short time before I started renting a room in a house. I was alone, so it wasn't really a big deal. I can't imagine doing something like that now that I have a family. I know you don't need this right now.

So glad that you're getting some really good tips from this thread.

 

[scout86]

@SheilaKathy is right about Section 8 housing. If there's something available (it's limited) it might make it easier for you to afford a place to live. Something else that might make housing more affordable is sometimes you can find an apartment building or a trailer court where you can exchange work/supervising for at least part of your housing cost.

I just took a quick look at California eviction procedures. It's complicated and it varies. Bottom line, it sounds like they have to give you written notice to vacate, with at least 3 days to do it. Then, assuming you don't leave (and why not stay?) they have to go to court, file a bunch of paper work, etc. Sounds like that buys you a minimum of 5 more working days. You can probably drag it out longer. You also MIGHT be able to negotiate with who ever bought the place.

If you can manage motels, this won't be too bad. I used to tell myself "At least I'm not homeless, I have my truck. LOL Never even thought about couch surfing and staying in motels as "homeless". As I understand it, technically that does count. :(

Again, depending on where you are, don't let the school system find out about this. Unless they are really overwhelmed and too busy to care, there might be problems with your local equivalent of child protective services.

 

[ghotiff]

I was technically homeless when young (couch surfed) and as a result I'm always prepared/paranoid about how I would do it again with my kids. So here are my thoughts.

First, watch (but it might be triggering) or read summaries of the movie "life is beautiful" to see how attitude changes everything for the kids. Consider framing this as an adventure/experience.

Practically, I would camp and have read a lot about hiking to understand how they live, including how to cook and clean living from a backpack. Lots of good strategies there. Eg consider making a diy rocket stove or Rangers stove. You would prefereably want to make these before homeless.

Consider calling yourself, not homeless, but backpacking....to you kids and others. More socially acceptable.

Another resource (search term) might be "living off the grid". Lots of you tube videos etc on how to do practical things like clothes washing.

Good luck. I wish you all the best.

 

[The Albatross]

Forgive me but I don't square up having a roof over your head versus a new car Giz. Other peeps have done this too... no food, food brought in, but I have bought XZY... I don't get it. If you have the ability hon, time to throw it all in to avoid homelessness if you can avoid it. I just can't square it up, please forgive me.

 

[reallydown]

@gizmo, so sorry to hear about this. I will keep you in my thoughts. I don't have much to add to the already good advice above. Key things to keep warm/cool (with the warmer weather coming); food (non-perishables are good...like canned fruit etc.) and hygiene (WetOnes, hand sanitizers and yes, toilet paper)

 

[Deleted member 12723]

Thank you Lewa for your understanding.

Thank you Shela Kathy for the information. My daughter tried a housing program and there is a two year wait on this.

Thank you scout. We are not going to inform the schools of the details of our plight. I am going to ask a friend to be able to use her address when we get a po box and not tell the schools. We do not have much of the year left and we want the girls to have all of the stability they can have. The forwarding address forms last for one year. One thing at a time. I am aware of child protective services and the dangers of losing the girls to foster homes. That is why I am trying so hard to get a job so I can rent a place. Thank you for the heads up on that and also the laws. I am more aware now and have an inkling of what we will face. The girls have the summer off. I consider our position temporary anyway.

Alby I totally understand and forgive you as well. It is what it is.

really down, thank you so much for the tip on toilet paper. I really appreciate this so much. I am learning so much right now and feel positive because I am most definitely out of my comfort zone.

 

[Friday]

Few things I haven't seen mentioned (or missed as I scrolled):

- Gym membership. That's daily showers & a warm/cool indoor place you have every right to be in at least a few hours a day. YMCA is often, but not always, the least expensive... And they have a ton of kids programs.

- Swimming pools. I did this with my son when we didn't have utilities for about a year. LOL. He actually really loved it when our water would get shut off for another few months, because it meant going to the community pool every night for an hour. :D

- Community centers.

- Libraries (I've spent a helluva lot of time in libraries whilst homeless. Then, reading. Now? (Like when our utilities were off).. Everything from auditing an Oxford class on preislamic pottery (the things published for free online these days!) to curled up in beanbags with my son watching a film. My own city has crap in the way of free museums... But I've spent a lot of time in the British Museum & others where the enterence fee is a donation.

- BBQ &/or camp stove in the trunk. Being able to cook means being able to use food banks, instead of depending on other people cooking for you (which is a major hassle). Just like tailgating. If you can mostly cook while the kids are in school, and then pack picnic dinners to be eaten at the gym/ library/ community center/ pool? It just becomes part of the outing.

- If you have the money... A storage unit for useful things that you want to be able to get at easily / not cart around wih you. Like wardrobes & bulky food & cooking items.

- Routines. Whether it's every day we wake up and go to the gym, workout/shower before school, go to the community center after school, then the library for dinner & homework... Or Monday is our library day, Tuesday the pool, etc... Having routines that can be counted on (and deviated for fun; Like the free dress rehearsal matinee, or the climbing gym) will normalize things very quickly.

 

[Whirlwind]

I can't help much with services to assist you but while you are "camping" some ideas....

Do you have a tent? Get one, sleeping bags and a pad, army surplus places can help and go on Craigslist or online while you can - get some inflatable mattress pads like for camping. They are worth their weight in gold. Sleeping in a car is hard for a few days, and with 4 I'm not sure you can manage it.

- Bathrooms & places to clean up; park facilities, fast food restrooms you can usually come and go without much notice. Coffee is inexpensive at fast food, refills are free and you have an excuse to linger, use the restrooms and free wifi. Pay showers can be found but after some hunting around, I usually find a place that has great facilities if not a shower. Shampoo/soap..if dire, walk through a hotel, "find" cleaning personnel on a floor and ask them for some extra bottles for the kids etc. They will load you up.

-Kitchen; I kept a crate in the trunk with basics, water bottles, utensils, openers etc. Easy to pull in/out and looks like a "picnic" again, parks often have nice covered areas to eat under with tables etc. Gather good containers now to use for water storage, jugs etc. Not that you can't find them later, its more a matter of convenience/sizes and you want to pack your car very organized and nothing redundant. 4 people is going to be a lot of stuff. Take kitchen towels, double as table covers and even a table cloth to throw over park tables. Fast, clean and it just is nice after awhile. Evenings get cool, have some old blankets and/or old pillows to set on like when you are at a park bench.

-Toiletries; I carry a large tote bag with everything, easy to hand off to another person, aka when at the fast food place, toothbrush/soap, washcloth etc. stock up on toilet paper.

-Food banks, social services like Golden Harvesters may be in your area and can help.

-Clothes. Plan on occasional visits to laundry mat. Keep a bucket in the car to be used for "bucket laundry". Warm water is best but cold will do it, soaking goes a long way. Dry outside, on trees or undies etc in the car, stuff dries surprisingly fast in a warm car.

-Camping - in a national forest camping is free and you can pitch anywhere. Some have facilities too. **most people don't know this but small general aviation airports are great for camping. They often have 24 hour warm bathrooms and camping is free. General aviation is pretty normal to camp and camp under their airplane wing or on site they usually have an area reserved for camping. if anyone asks your husband/kids love planes or are taking lessons...they will know you are there but no one thinks anything of it.

-Seats. You likely don't have room for camping chairs, the small folding ones, great if you do. If not you can use buckets and they fit inside each other or something similar with crates. They double as "tables" too.

-Maps - act like a tourist and go to you local visitor information booths, they will give you free local and state maps (so you can figure where forest boundaries/parks are located)

-Look into hiking passes for cars and if you have some money and depending upon your area/what your plan is - national park pass is good for the car load and often gets you into large park areas -those often have great bathrooms and/or showers. You have to pay for camping though, so the trick is they often border a forest, so you park there and drive into use facilities.

I didn't have to do this with kids in tow and I'm sorry you are in this situation, I hope it is short lived. I agree with the others though, make this a "camping adventure" for all of you. I still camp like this today, on a long drive, don't want to bother with a hotel or I'm out in nowhere land. Oddly, I have some fond memories from this time and I learned some useful things from the experience.

If I can offer anything else, just ask. I would suggest a "dry run" over a weekend before you are in this situation, you will suddenly realize you need "x" and won't believe you didn't think of it before. Speaking from experience.....

Take care, Whirlwind

 

[Recovery4Me]

@gizmo
located these sites with government assistance as well as associated partners:
Dead Link Removed
Dead Link Removed

(((hugs)))

 

[Spiderallis]

I don't know of any resources, but if Detroit had a better job market I'd be sending you directions to come stay with me. Aww Giz, I'm so sorry you're facing such a harsh time, but I know how tough you are- I'm not worried about you, I'm worried about whoever is foolish enough to get in your way.