11mo ago

Where do the rural homeless near you live?

This seems to be something people don't always give second thought to. When people talk about the homeless, the first things thought about are images of people on busy city streets in rusty clothes waiting around near allies. In there, the answer is quite static, because it can be I guess. But if that's the case, change the setting and that changes too. In the places where I've lived, people often needed that mapped out. Where are they known in your rural locales?

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Mostly in cars. The people that are marginally better-off have old RVs. The people who can't afford wheels will hide a tent in the bushes. Vehicle or not, everyone seeks out similar places where they are unlikely to be noticed or hassled: lightly-used dirt roads on public land, parking areas at trailheads, closed campgrounds, behind abandoned businesses on the edge of town, etc.

Their cars. There were also a few staying in an abandoned building, but it burned down.

They don't. Winter takes care of that.
On a serious note, there aren't really any in my area. There are some romas during the warmer months, and they live temporarily wherever they can. Usually a small camp in a forest.
If you're a homeless citizen without the means to find housing, you will have housing provided by the local government.
- I was about to type this exact thing. We have some homeless of course, people always fall through the cracks - but for the most part, the local government provides for basic needs, shelter, food, money and (in due time) housing. Winter is harsh, you don't really survive living "in the nature" in rural areas.
  Summer months often see homeless in the form of "Roma traveling beggars" or the "Irish asphalt/garden workers" who live out of caravans, tents or just back of their cars, but they migrate to southern Europe when winter comes.
  But yeah, we pay a fuckton of taxes to have a social security network that catches people who are down on their luck. It's not perfect, but it's something. People don't have to live without food or roof over their heads.
- There are homeless shelters here too, but it's not as easy as just making it clear you're homeless. For us, there are so many hoops to jump through that many will feign mental illness to get a "free" stay at the psych ward because it's actually easier.

I live in Finland, so uh. There are none
- How does that work in Finland, like you can just ask and boom they give you a roof?
  
  There are many social programs, but the biggest one is "Expense assistance", where the state will make sure you have minimum amount of money required for living after income. In practice it's around 600-1000€,just enough for the cheapest rent and cheap food. However that's all you need to get back on your feet.

When I lived rural adjacent they would either live in barns or in the bushes by the railroad tracks, they'd make like a fort in the brush and drink in there all day, when I worked in ER one of them came in with the bones sticking out of his toes because he had let his diabetic foot wounds progress so far. In my city some of them live on the land next to the highway on ramp in tents, and they walk quite a ways away to the nearest intersection to panhandle.
- TIL foot degradation is a survivable thing. I hope he's alright.
  
  Hope so. The smell was unreal

In a van down by the river.
- I should've seen that coming.
  
  Yeah, glibness aside though I really don't know of any particular spaces. There's a couple farmlands I've seen around that welcome 'vanners' but I get the impression those are more by choice folks that essentially camp here and there. Kind of the commune thing where they travel the country and live anywhere they want for a month or two.

I have no idea where he slept, but there was one former millionaire homeless dude who setup shop on the side of the highway for over a decade. He sold honey, pine seeds and some other stuff like that that he managed to forage around the area (probably getting into people's property too).
- Nobody offered a former millionaire a roof to stay under for ten years?

There really aren't any rural homeless. Most homeless people hang out in cities because resources are abundant in cities. They can be anonymous and live in the shadows among millions of people coming and going, they can dig in dumpsters, and beg strangers for money. Those are things you cannot do out in the countryside because there are no dumpsters and no millions of random people to mooch off of.
- The periphery of small towns covered in makeshift tents and shanty style campers would disagree with your statement.
  These encampments used to be for seasonal workers passing through. But more and more become year-round all the time.
  You are certainly correct about the bulk of homeless making their way towards the cities, but there are a growing number of those who don't.
- You don't know what you are talking about. There are absolutely homeless people in rural areas. While you might not see people begging on the street downtown, there are absolutely people living in their car, camping, or sleeping under a bridge.
  I grew up in a very small rural town of 2500 nowhere near a city. There were absolutely homeless people. You seem to have a view of homeless people that only exists in the movies.
- You say that like rural areas don't have crop fields.
  In all seriousness, I know enough about it to know it's not too different. Dumpsters and trash cans can be found anywhere for example, though they're not great sources of food in either place. I was once an anonymous rural example, but it's for that reason one could look at me and say they don't think we exist in rural areas. I was lucky enough though to couch hop. Others found solace under a local landmark, but not all rural areas have those, though they might have other things. I felt bad for one who asked me for a ride since I don't drive.

We don't have many, mainly because winter simply isn't survivable here in the Appalachians fully outside.
There is a spot near a stretch of woods at the edge of town that sometimes has a camp going, but it's usually itinerant homeless folks rather than locals. It's not far from the highway, and a railway, so it makes sense.
The town is still small enough that locals don't stay homeless for long. There's always a trailer or garage room or attic room that can be used for the friend of a friend, or inlaw or whatever, to get someone through a winter, and that's usually enough for someone to find work or to get onto one of the various programs for people in need.
The last truly homeless, as in not even temporary shelter, she died maybe five years ago? Before covid I know. She was not well mentally, and wouldn't take medication, or much of anything. She stayed clear of any lawbreaking that the sheriff would have to take action over, and didn't bother anybody. She'd mostly pick up odd jobs and stay in one of a few abandoned houses. That's where she died. Had a stroke and that was that. One of the deputies found her while checking the property out on regular patrol.
As much as I have issues with organized religion, the churches also do a good job here, making sure that folks have basic clothes and some food, and the Methodist church has been known to open their basement for short term use. Doesn't sound great, but it's pretty well set up for "lock ins" or whatever they call them when you don't actually lock the door. But basically overnight sleepovers for church members and their families. So it's clean, dry, and there's basic facilities.
But, yeah, compared to the city I lived in for a while, there's a lot less long term homelessness for sure.

There's not many where I live because homeless people usually need to beg and there's no point begging in the countryside where you'll see three people a day.
- I've never been to a rural area where there weren't at least a few places with a higher passerby frequency than that.

There are small hunting cottages out here that people squat in. Owners were constantly contacted in the past about it but nothing ever got done.
- The owners sound like they were being covertly generous.

In tents on the riverbanks in my friends town

Video taken in my county showcasing a little of how the homeless live around here: https://youtu.be/9YEyLb4iVHQ?si=5S6uCpv5WTQzjBMa
- That looks a lot like how it works where I live.

There's a shelter a town over, and you rarely but occasionally see makeshift shelters by the power lines up the mountain a few minutes

There are homeless encampments near railyards, usually.
Beyond that, woodland trails that are near infrastructure, like highways.

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