Homelessness doesn’t just mean looking like a bum on the streets. Shocked a European wouldn’t be aware that all homelessness is not having a steady place to live, that includes people in hostels that are addicts or victims of various abuse. That includes 18 year olds told to leave the nest and stand on their own two feet when they’ve nothing actually lined up. That includes people who are couch surfing because they have an unsafe family home.
Homelessness is incredibly easy to fall into when situations spiral out of control. I’m long term unemployed (looking for employment though) with no savings but I live with my dad and if my dad kicked the bucket today then I would lose the home I grew up in and would have to get in touch with relevant authorities to be put on a waiting list that lasts years for somewhere to live.
Thank you for your explanation. It is legal to tell 18 year olds to leave home without providing for them? Wow. We have to provide for our relatives for life (parents for kids, but kids for parents as well. Well, at least legally – does not work in all cases.)
I’m aware that homelessness is not restricted to people like the man in the first panel. I’m working in a psychiatric hospital, and finding a place to live for our patients who are no longer capable of looking after themselves is not easy, but usually possible. I wasn’t aware people are forced to live in hostels.
I wish you good luck finding a job, long lasting health for your father and a way to keep your home on your own.
How does the “kids support parents” thing work? As someone who doesn’t make a lot of money, and who has a shitty relationship with my dad, that sounds like a nightmare. It’s not my fault those bastards made me.
AFAIK this only applies for the cost for nursing homes, not alimony. It is possible to reject paying for nursing homes if you can proove that the parents did not fulfill their obligations in raising you, like mistreated you or told you to leave when you were 18. I’m no expert on this matter. Of course, the income of people is taken into regard, so nobody has to pay more than they are able to. In theory at least.
If you enjoy podcasts, check out a limited-run show by 99% Invisible, called According to Need. It’s investigation takes place in my backyard (Bay Area, California) and interviews a number of people who are unhoused and attempting to scrape by as the system fails them.
People who are unhoused / homeless show up to work or school and then go sleep in cars or in shelters (if they can get a bed). You might know someone who is in a similar situation but hides it well.
A telling moment: my brother said he’d never give money to a panhandler because they can get a job at McDonalds. I put to him that McD’s wouldn’t hire someone who was so dirty. That the first check wouldn’t come for at least two weeks. That at the end of the day, he’d be absent the change that allowed him to buy a meal. I pretty much said, how would that help him right now? My brother seemed to understand because he just thought about it and didn’t respond.
One more! I tried to found a website with a friend, it failed. I fucked around learning new technologies while living off of savings. I was unemployed for several years. When I tried to rejoin the market, no one would talk to me. I had too much of a gap. I struggled to get a job. I was picking fruit from trees to augment my survival. I was spending a dollar a day on food. I tried dumpster diving at grocery stores and restaurants to no avail. I applied to work at grocery stores and veterinary clinics and the like for any job they’d give me. My background is in tech and they knew I’d drop them the minute I had an offer, so they wouldn’t hire me. Getting a temp job in my field opened the door to other jobs and I cracked the nut. I’m gainfully employed today, but I was nearly out on my ass. Loans from family members helped me avoid eviction. I’m lucky that I had no dependents.
There is no social safety net in the USA. There should be one. There should be multiple nets in the most prosperous nation in history.
Paying alimony till the first vocational qualification/college degree and contribute to the cost of nursing.
Contribute to the cost of nursing.
Kids – or Youth Welfare on their behalve may sue the parents. Nursing insurance will sue the kids.
Law suits and seizure? attachement? (Pfändung – I’m lost in translation) of the money owned. Kids can be released from their obligation to support their parents if they proove that their parents did not fulfill their parental obligations, e.g if they were abused or the parents did not pay due alimony.
Income is taken into account, so technically nobody should be unable to fulfill these financial obligations. In practice you might get into trouble, especially when the nursing insurance surprises you with a notification of your financial contribution to your parents nursing home.
Homelessness looks different depending on your country. In Japan for instance it’s not hostels but internet cafes that host the majority of the homeless population. Basically those cafes were designed to give young people places to play games, surf the web and so on outside of the family home but because a lot of them had complimentary drinks, showers and whatnot they basically became nightly accommodation where a single night cost about the same as a decent meal you ended up with a place for a transient population of casual under employed workers to stay.
A lot of people in that situation face massive precarity. They live day to day keeping with very few personal possessions and tend to work jobs that are exploitative or dangerous because employers basically know they are in trouble and use that as leverage. An injury or illness can quickly cause you to fall into sleeping rough and become quickly life threatening because safety nets are few and far in between and if you can’t look clean your ability to self support becomes less likely.
That particular death spiral exists all over just in different forms. In the US it’s more likely to involve living out of a car. In Europe hostels intended on paper for backpackers but the basics are that once you start legitimately looking shabby and unclean to other people the empathy dries up so you need to do whatever you can to keep your head above that water because recovery past that point gets very very hard.
That includes 18 year olds told to leave the nest and stand on their own
I’m sorry to inform you that’s a very American thing. Especially for South Europeans and their ex-colonies, it’s not uncommon to stay with your parents to your late 20s or even early 30s.
Homelessness doesn’t just mean looking like a bum on the streets. Shocked a European wouldn’t be aware that all homelessness is not having a steady place to live, that includes people in hostels that are addicts or victims of various abuse. That includes 18 year olds told to leave the nest and stand on their own two feet when they’ve nothing actually lined up. That includes people who are couch surfing because they have an unsafe family home.
Homelessness is incredibly easy to fall into when situations spiral out of control. I’m long term unemployed (looking for employment though) with no savings but I live with my dad and if my dad kicked the bucket today then I would lose the home I grew up in and would have to get in touch with relevant authorities to be put on a waiting list that lasts years for somewhere to live.
Thank you for your explanation. It is legal to tell 18 year olds to leave home without providing for them? Wow. We have to provide for our relatives for life (parents for kids, but kids for parents as well. Well, at least legally – does not work in all cases.)
I’m aware that homelessness is not restricted to people like the man in the first panel. I’m working in a psychiatric hospital, and finding a place to live for our patients who are no longer capable of looking after themselves is not easy, but usually possible. I wasn’t aware people are forced to live in hostels.
I wish you good luck finding a job, long lasting health for your father and a way to keep your home on your own.
How does the “kids support parents” thing work? As someone who doesn’t make a lot of money, and who has a shitty relationship with my dad, that sounds like a nightmare. It’s not my fault those bastards made me.
AFAIK this only applies for the cost for nursing homes, not alimony. It is possible to reject paying for nursing homes if you can proove that the parents did not fulfill their obligations in raising you, like mistreated you or told you to leave when you were 18. I’m no expert on this matter. Of course, the income of people is taken into regard, so nobody has to pay more than they are able to. In theory at least.
If you enjoy podcasts, check out a limited-run show by 99% Invisible, called According to Need. It’s investigation takes place in my backyard (Bay Area, California) and interviews a number of people who are unhoused and attempting to scrape by as the system fails them.
People who are unhoused / homeless show up to work or school and then go sleep in cars or in shelters (if they can get a bed). You might know someone who is in a similar situation but hides it well.
A telling moment: my brother said he’d never give money to a panhandler because they can get a job at McDonalds. I put to him that McD’s wouldn’t hire someone who was so dirty. That the first check wouldn’t come for at least two weeks. That at the end of the day, he’d be absent the change that allowed him to buy a meal. I pretty much said, how would that help him right now? My brother seemed to understand because he just thought about it and didn’t respond.
One more! I tried to found a website with a friend, it failed. I fucked around learning new technologies while living off of savings. I was unemployed for several years. When I tried to rejoin the market, no one would talk to me. I had too much of a gap. I struggled to get a job. I was picking fruit from trees to augment my survival. I was spending a dollar a day on food. I tried dumpster diving at grocery stores and restaurants to no avail. I applied to work at grocery stores and veterinary clinics and the like for any job they’d give me. My background is in tech and they knew I’d drop them the minute I had an offer, so they wouldn’t hire me. Getting a temp job in my field opened the door to other jobs and I cracked the nut. I’m gainfully employed today, but I was nearly out on my ass. Loans from family members helped me avoid eviction. I’m lucky that I had no dependents.
There is no social safety net in the USA. There should be one. There should be multiple nets in the most prosperous nation in history.
This sounds terrible! I’m glad you survived.
I’m curious about a bunch of things here.
Homelessness looks different depending on your country. In Japan for instance it’s not hostels but internet cafes that host the majority of the homeless population. Basically those cafes were designed to give young people places to play games, surf the web and so on outside of the family home but because a lot of them had complimentary drinks, showers and whatnot they basically became nightly accommodation where a single night cost about the same as a decent meal you ended up with a place for a transient population of casual under employed workers to stay.
A lot of people in that situation face massive precarity. They live day to day keeping with very few personal possessions and tend to work jobs that are exploitative or dangerous because employers basically know they are in trouble and use that as leverage. An injury or illness can quickly cause you to fall into sleeping rough and become quickly life threatening because safety nets are few and far in between and if you can’t look clean your ability to self support becomes less likely.
That particular death spiral exists all over just in different forms. In the US it’s more likely to involve living out of a car. In Europe hostels intended on paper for backpackers but the basics are that once you start legitimately looking shabby and unclean to other people the empathy dries up so you need to do whatever you can to keep your head above that water because recovery past that point gets very very hard.
I’m sorry to inform you that’s a very American thing. Especially for South Europeans and their ex-colonies, it’s not uncommon to stay with your parents to your late 20s or even early 30s.
This is my current situation. He passed a month ago and I am scrambling.