Picking a place to stay, making plans, making progress

So, I talked about this some in I Traveled to San Diego as a Hobo, But You Probably Should Not, but I had specific parameters and goals driving my choice of being in San Diego County for over three years.

Some of those will not generalize. Some are particular to me. And I left San Diego at some point and no longer live there. I again chose the new place based on some metrics I find useful.

When I first got to San Diego County, someone dropped me and my sons off in some suburb or smaller city. I was really broke at the time and I went to a food closet and I got a list of resources and we then walked to downtown San Diego because that was where all the soup kitchens were. I had never before lived in a big city, and here I was homeless in one.

So, when I left San Diego County, I again chose a fairly large city to go to. I am not currently receiving food stamps and I have not been to a soup kitchen or a food pantry in a long time, but I still go to the library regularly to get Internet access and to charge my phone and tablet. It allows me to work and it gives me access to water fountains and bathrooms during the day. It also keeps me in out of the weather if the weather is bad.

I am not crazy about the idea of being homeless in a small town. A larger population allows me to be more anonymous, there are likely to be more services generally available so I am not a burden on the community, and larger cities tend to have stores that are open 24 hours and are more likely to have stores and eateries open on holidays. "The big city never sleeps" is a huge help when you have no home.

When I say a bigger city is more likely to have services generally available, I don't just mean soup kitchens and homeless services. I mean things like public libraries and parks as well. These have been much more important to my life on the street than soup kitchens. Those did help me keep body and soul together for a time, but libraries and public parks with bathrooms and picnic tables so I can sit down and eat hot foods I have purchased have been far more central to my existence than homeless services.

One of the good things about San Diego County is that it rains so little and it rarely gets to freezing temperatures. This makes sleeping outside far, far safer. I think it would be rough being homeless someplace where it rains constantly.

Where I am currently, it only rains a little more than in San Diego County, but summer is far hotter and winter is far colder. I am healthier and have been on the street -- actually, camping in a tent -- for several years now, so that has not been that big of a deal. It would have been a lot harder for me to deal with when I first hit the streets.

So, if you are homeless, a larger city with decent weather has substantial advantages.

I prefer to live on the fringes and hike out to a camp site every evening. I like accessing the stuff in town, but I have never slept on a sidewalk. Not once.

So, if your safety net comes completely unraveled and you find yourself homeless, consider traveling to the nearest large city (if you aren't in a big city to begin with, obviously). If you have a choice between two or three large cities, consider the weather that each has.

If you really want to live someplace far off, relocating as a homeless person is relatively painless compared to packing up all your crap in a bunch of boxes, loading up a truck, driving cross country and having to have a rental arranged, etc. You toss what few possessions you have in a back pack and you start walking. Or, if you have a few bucks, you buy a bus ticket.

Then find an area where you can access bathrooms and shopping -- groceries, cheap hot foods, cheap clothes, etc -- and a good library and other public spaces that works for you. Find a hidden away corner where you can camp that isn't too long of a walk.

Generally speaking, if you sleep too close to residential areas, they will call the cops on you and get you rousted. I try to find some little patch of wilderness or a dirt utility road or something like that.

I try to go in once a day around dark, come out once a day as early in the morning after dawn as I can manage. I carry out my trash in the morning. We pack it in, pack it out. I think not trashing the area and not setting up a tent semi-permanently like I am squatting is part of why locals seem to tolerate my presence and not call the cops.

I left San Diego County in part to move someplace with a lower cost of living, where my limited income would go further. If I can come up with enough money, my next relocation will be strongly influenced by where I can find affordable housing that works for me. But, when I was really in a bad way, even though San Diego was more expensive, it was the better answer because it allowed me to keep myself fed, sometimes even when I had no money at all for long stretches. Now that I have a little money, it makes more sense to live someplace where that money goes further.

So, as you problem solve and things change, your criteria for where to live may change. My goals have been to get myself healthy and develop a portable online income. I have made substantial progress towards both of those. I hope to get back into housing in the not too distant future.