Submissions     Contact     Advertise     Donate     BlogRoll     Subscribe                         

Friday, February 6, 2009

Could You Survive If You Were Homeless?

With the increasing the numbers of people who are losing their homes, their jobs and their savings due to a poor economy, becoming homeless is a very real possibility. It is well known that even our current infrastructure can’t provide sufficiently for the large number of homeless people that already exist in our society.

Dragon mentioned in one of his posts the other day about a friend of his who had suddenly found himself homeless and how he had helped them as much as he possibly could. But as Dragon mentioned even he is struggling and could only do so much. This makes a person wonder if becoming homeless is going to be the next real challenge for all of us.

Even in a best case scenario of having a home without a mortgage, would that be enough. There would still be maintenance and upkeep, property taxes, utilities, etc. All of which would require money. Let’s not forget about healthcare! There would probably be no insurance to help pay for needed medications, treatment or a doctor’s care if needed. How far would your first aid kit get you? Food will be a problem also, even if you have a garden and the weather is nice to you which allow you to have a good harvest. Even your savings may not be enough to see you through some really bad times. This is especially true when you consider the fact that many people’s savings have lost more than half their value in a relatively short period of time.

Emergency rooms, food banks, and other service providers are all struggling to meet the current demands on their resources without even considering the potential for even larger and more widespread numbers of homeless people that could be just around the corner. Most support groups are already overwhelmed by these ever increasing demands. Placing even more demands on their services could force them into a guaranteed position where they would fail due to a critical overload.

While being an advocate of group and community survival, I don’t wish to appear biased when considering some of these very real possibilities. Present support groups already have inadequate resources to meet present demands. It will take your ability to form a strong network and support group of family and friends to allow you the best chance for survival.

Frugal lifestyles and working to build a strong support group of family and friends will be the new priority for survival. Prudent choices and a determination to pull together will be essential.

Most of us can survive any threat or danger thrown at us by nature, but even the most frugal lifestyle is far beyond the life that an average homeless person endures. But can we survive being homeless?

There is a new monster on our doorsteps! That monster is homelessness. It is stalking our families, our friends and our neighbors. It is a very real threat to our survival.

Staying above the water line?

Riverwalker

Original:

No comments:

Post a Comment