I left San Diego County in May. I had done some research on potential cities to check out. Some of my criteria included: Lower cost of living than San Diego County and less ragweed.
Among other serious health issues, I have a known ragweed allergy. I have lived and traveled all over the U.S. and have a long history of doing better on the West Coast. For a long time, I thought it was just the dry climate, but now I think it is partly that there is less ragweed out here.
The entire Western seaboard has generally low levels of ragweed, from San Diego County to Washington state. But San Diego County has more ragweed than most of the rest of California.
I am currently in the Central Valley. Cost of living here is substantially lower than in San Diego County. I seem to see fewer homeless people here. One article I read suggests that rates of homelessness per capita are probably substantially lower here than in San Diego County.
This fits with what I know from the college class on Homelessness and Public Policy that I took many years ago through SFSU when I was living up in the Bay Area: Excessively high cost of housing contributes to homelessness.
In other words, there is no one cause of homelessness. So there is no one solution.
So, if you are homeless in San Diego County (or some other pricy area) -- especially if you also have no job or other strong ties to the area -- consider leaving. Especially if you have a retirement check or other portable income, leaving may be the easiest way to get back into housing and make your life work again.
Here is a cheap transit out of San Diego County.
Here is a national heat map of house prices. A heat map can help you readily identify cheaper places to live so you can do further research. It is just a color coded map that shows you where prices are, on average, crazy high and where they are more reasonable.
My life in the Central Valley has been a lot less stressful than it was in San Diego County. The lack of ragweed has me feeling better and this directly contributes to me being able to earn more money. I have yet to go find a soup kitchen or food pantry. It is still dicey, but things are generally looking up.
I had compelling reasons for staying in San Diego County as long as I did. I still have compelling reasons for remaining in California. But if you don't have compelling reasons to stay, go someplace cheaper. Even if it doesn't get you off the street, it is just so much easier to make ends meet when things cost less.
Among other serious health issues, I have a known ragweed allergy. I have lived and traveled all over the U.S. and have a long history of doing better on the West Coast. For a long time, I thought it was just the dry climate, but now I think it is partly that there is less ragweed out here.
The entire Western seaboard has generally low levels of ragweed, from San Diego County to Washington state. But San Diego County has more ragweed than most of the rest of California.
I am currently in the Central Valley. Cost of living here is substantially lower than in San Diego County. I seem to see fewer homeless people here. One article I read suggests that rates of homelessness per capita are probably substantially lower here than in San Diego County.
This fits with what I know from the college class on Homelessness and Public Policy that I took many years ago through SFSU when I was living up in the Bay Area: Excessively high cost of housing contributes to homelessness.
In other words, there is no one cause of homelessness. So there is no one solution.
So, if you are homeless in San Diego County (or some other pricy area) -- especially if you also have no job or other strong ties to the area -- consider leaving. Especially if you have a retirement check or other portable income, leaving may be the easiest way to get back into housing and make your life work again.
Here is a cheap transit out of San Diego County.
Here is a national heat map of house prices. A heat map can help you readily identify cheaper places to live so you can do further research. It is just a color coded map that shows you where prices are, on average, crazy high and where they are more reasonable.
My life in the Central Valley has been a lot less stressful than it was in San Diego County. The lack of ragweed has me feeling better and this directly contributes to me being able to earn more money. I have yet to go find a soup kitchen or food pantry. It is still dicey, but things are generally looking up.
I had compelling reasons for staying in San Diego County as long as I did. I still have compelling reasons for remaining in California. But if you don't have compelling reasons to stay, go someplace cheaper. Even if it doesn't get you off the street, it is just so much easier to make ends meet when things cost less.