“If you don’t have anything, you have total freedom.

That’s
something you can’t buy.”
- Craig -

The lack of affordable housing is a national crisis for everyone: college students, the
working poor, lower- and middle-class individuals experiencing unexpected
catastrophes, and people on fixed incomes. All are swelling the ranks of the
homeless. Social scientists say the average person would be out on the street within
two months of losing a job or source of income.

Homelessness is not just a problem of substance abusers, the physically handicapped

or people with mental illness. It can happen to anyone.

Now homeless, you spend all day looking for hot meals, a place to sit without being
told to “move on,” somewhere to take care of bathroom needs and a dry quiet warm
space to sleep. There are no safe places to store belongings.

Few people choose to be homeless. Those who sleep on the streets are guarding the
only possession they feel they have left: their personal freedom.

Personally, i do not agree with Craig’s opinion, as being homeless is destabilizing,

demoralizing and depressing. You’ve lost your base, a foundation from which to
function. It becomes hard to focus. Constant obstacles chip away at your self-esteem
and your healthy personality withers, disintegrates, scatters. That’s why I think
homelessness is a source of dehumanisation and it doesn’t allow one to be fully free,
as he depends completely on how much money he has.

„Sleeping rough” means living with fear and uncertainty on a daily basis. It means
sleeping through the constant worry of being attacked, or waking up missing one’s
things.

You cannot express yourself, as people tend to have a lot of preconceptions about the
homeless folk. People don’t believe you have any education at all when you wind up
“like this.” Or that you’re not a citizen of where you are. Or that you’re there
“illegally.”

One of the hardest parts about being homeless is having been educated, as it is very
hard to accept that maybe one’s childhood dreams of having a succesful career or a
familly are not going to come true anytime soon.
You are not free, you become prone to mental ilnesses or addictions like drugs,
alcohol, etc. In so many little ways, you’re constantly reminded that you are nothing
without money and you begin to feel rootless.

Keeping yourself on a good path is difficult. The streets are cold, the streets are dark,
the streets are dangerous and they care nothing for you.

The most difficult part of being homeless is, however, watching people around you
living normal lives, people whom you used to BE one of.

There is no such thing as freedom when you’re homeless. You are limited by
everything around you and, as the time passes, the situation becomes more and more
difficult to escape from.