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Robert_Sock
Guest
I have a deep fear becoming homeless and I was wondering if it’s a reasonable possibility? Do devote Catholics ever become homeless?
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PaulfromIowa
Guest
I work with the homeless. There are many reasons for it, mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, estrangement from family and society. Usually a combination of these factors.
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CopticChristian
Guest
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OxygenMan
Guest
I’m a young man (22) and most of the people around my age I know who are homeless had bad parents. Either drug addicts, alcoholics, or people who just didn’t care about their children. If you don’t get a good start in life, it’s tough to make it.
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Robert_Sock
Guest
My psychiatrist says my fears are irrational.
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OxygenMan
Guest
Are you in immediate danger of losing your living place? It’s okay to be worried about your livelihood, but unless it’s imminent, I wouldn’t dwell on it.
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april32010
Guest
:tiphat:Yes,
Jesus was born in a manger and his parents had to wander.
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cheezey
Guest
Long term unemployment and not being able to make rent would do it, too. That unpleasantly simple…
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Boy_Wonder
Guest
95% of the things we worry about never happen. Keep praying “Jesus, I trust in you.”
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ManOnFire
Guest
All anyone needs to do is beg for a job, then ask the boss 5 times every day “What can I do better? What can I do better?” Then go and do it exactly as the boss wishes. Bosses love people like this. It’s so refreshing. Bosses can’t find enough people like this. Fortunately, we live in princessy individualistic, selfish, egomaniacal times where more and more people are not willing to humble themselves to make a buck, so it is easier than ever if you follow this advice.
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OxygenMan
Guest
That can be tough to do in certain areas. I live in a small town right now, attending college, and most jobs want older people who have years of experience on record.
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cheezey
Guest
Well, that’s been my work ethic since day one. Work Work Work and Work some more!!!
Now I have lots of experience, and a previous pay to match it. Which, in turn means, that the type of job that one would beg for, is the type of job that the prospective employer has said each and every single time,
YOU ARE OVER QUALIFIED.
Hence, the homelessness.
And if it is easier than ever, why are there so many unemployed?
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Anastasia13
Guest
That can be a problem even if you have a college degree already. Get those internships, volunteer experiences, and part-time jobs in your field while you can.
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mab23
Guest
Join a monastery… jk
if you are in danger of becoming homeless I would let your pastor know and maybe someone at the parish could help you out till you get on your feet…??
if not, stay positive and let God handle it
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CopticChristian
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Christy_Beth
Guest
I’m sure that there are a lot of people out there who are homeless who don’t “deserve” it. Years ago I was working full time but was unable to pay all the bills. I was a single parent and rent and child care basically took all I earned. I had looked for better jobs, but had to take whatever I could get. My ex stopped sending child support, and there was no other income, no other option. My parents took in my daughter and I ended up in the hospital due to severe depression. Well, not directly. I did find temporary housing that would take me, but not my daughter. I wouldn’t have moved back in with my parents for anything. I felt enough like a loser, so I didn’t need their (name removed by moderator)ut on the matter. That was back in 1994. My life is still affected by all that mess.
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Elizabeth502
Guest
Perhaps the OP could even reframe the question, “Why are so many people homeless now, compared to many decades ago?” (Forgive me, I’d obviously like to reframe it that way.)
It’s because a few decades ago, the cost of housing became artificially inflated due to a combination of speculative buying and irrational market forces. While undoubtedly housing has usually been, in the U.S., the single highest cost per month for any individual, it had not, until then, been so disproportionately expensive, relative to every other indispensable need. While the market has somewhat “corrected” for less demand and more supply, and less artificial (over)valuation, there is still a base value, especially in the locales perceived to be most “valuable” in which to live (regadless of how concretely “valuable” a particular abode is or is not, as an abode). So if a person has the bad luck to live in such a high-“value” location, and to be simultaneously out of work, the risk for homelessness is extremely high, especially in areas without also a lot of shared, safe housing options. (Rooms in houses, or rooming houses themselves.)
#2 is Employer Attitude, which means zero loyalty, zero notice for being laid off, and “at-will” employment. It’s brutal and inhumane, i.m.o. and in need of corrective regulation. It flies in the face of Catholic social justice.
#3 Extremely competitive job markets: Thiscan come into play in a Perfect Storm with #1 and #2 if you have the bad luck to be in a job market location which is saturated with overqualified people doing precisely (or nearly) your job. There are 2 or 3 such locations in the country: Washington D.C., the SF Bay Area, and I believe Seattle is third, but someone can correct me on that. It is not NY, by the way.
#4 Employer outsourcing
#5 Employer guerilla tactics, which means under-employment, often (no benefits), falsifying job interviews with promises of bonuses, benefits, raises, permanent status, etc. and then not following through when your cherised Bottom Line is not met.
#7 Under-regulation of Employment, and zero social aid for those who cannot afford a lawyer but have been wronged by broken promises, lack of supervisory oversight, etc.
The above help to account for a burgeoning homeless population since around 1985, changing the “face” of homelessness to include all kinds of non-mentally-ill and very skilled people. I personally have met plenty of these.
Got to run, but that’s it for starters.
It’s because a few decades ago, the cost of housing became artificially inflated due to a combination of speculative buying and irrational market forces. While undoubtedly housing has usually been, in the U.S., the single highest cost per month for any individual, it had not, until then, been so disproportionately expensive, relative to every other indispensable need. While the market has somewhat “corrected” for less demand and more supply, and less artificial (over)valuation, there is still a base value, especially in the locales perceived to be most “valuable” in which to live (regadless of how concretely “valuable” a particular abode is or is not, as an abode). So if a person has the bad luck to live in such a high-“value” location, and to be simultaneously out of work, the risk for homelessness is extremely high, especially in areas without also a lot of shared, safe housing options. (Rooms in houses, or rooming houses themselves.)
#2 is Employer Attitude, which means zero loyalty, zero notice for being laid off, and “at-will” employment. It’s brutal and inhumane, i.m.o. and in need of corrective regulation. It flies in the face of Catholic social justice.
#3 Extremely competitive job markets: Thiscan come into play in a Perfect Storm with #1 and #2 if you have the bad luck to be in a job market location which is saturated with overqualified people doing precisely (or nearly) your job. There are 2 or 3 such locations in the country: Washington D.C., the SF Bay Area, and I believe Seattle is third, but someone can correct me on that. It is not NY, by the way.
#4 Employer outsourcing
#5 Employer guerilla tactics, which means under-employment, often (no benefits), falsifying job interviews with promises of bonuses, benefits, raises, permanent status, etc. and then not following through when your cherised Bottom Line is not met.
#7 Under-regulation of Employment, and zero social aid for those who cannot afford a lawyer but have been wronged by broken promises, lack of supervisory oversight, etc.
The above help to account for a burgeoning homeless population since around 1985, changing the “face” of homelessness to include all kinds of non-mentally-ill and very skilled people. I personally have met plenty of these.
Got to run, but that’s it for starters.
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JamesCaruso
Guest
Two scriptures come to mind:
25 Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment? 26 Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? 27 And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature by one cubit? 28 And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin. 29 But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. 30 And if the grass of the field, which is to day, and to morrow is cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of little faith? 31 Be not solicitous therefore, saying, What shall we eat: or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? 32 For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. 33 Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.
Matthew 6:25-34
And Jesus saith to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests: but the son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Matthew 8:20
In other words, do God’s will and trust that He will provide. Then, if you do find yourself homeless at some point, consider that if it was good enough for God’s own Son, it’s good enough for us. Don’t fear. Trust. God will see you through the worst of times imaginable. He always has: He always will. It’s His Nature. What is incomprehensible, is how much He loves us. Believe it.
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cheezey
Guest
Thank you for the comment that not all deserve this. A great many do not. Maybe the better way to word this is that no one deserves to be without a roof over their head, NO ONE, but some work diligently to fight the issue and win. Some work as diligently and lose the battle. Still others just don’t care for whatever reason, others have, as another poster stated, drug, alcohol or psychological issues that affect having a roof over their head. Some just lose strength to fight the battle, unfortunately, also.
No matter the cause, no one deserves to be homeless. NO ONE.
I would like to pray for you. I understand the emotional effects of this can be lengthy.
Many blessings
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cheezey
Guest
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