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Comment by gloves | Hacker News Reader

In this particular case, having read the article, it didn't seem as if the man in question really minded the lifestyle of homelessness.

There is a perception that to be without a static home is a terrible, terrible thing, but really, I can imagine for someone who appears to have his life together in many other ways (and free from other issues that plight the homeless community such as addictions) - then it could possibly be quite a liberating lifestyle.

I can of course see the other side of the equation where it would also be a prison - having to lie about his home for embarrassment etc. But in this very specific example, he seems to have got on with it and made the most of the situation

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I've significant amounts of time living without a static home. In 2014, the longest time I spent in one place was 2-3 months at one particular low end hotel, not really by choice (prepping and recovering from spine surgery). Significant chunks of my time were spent living in shared housing - 8-12 bunk beds to a room, no real privacy, shared baths. In the west, if such a living space were filled with crazy drug addicts, it would be called a homeless shelter.

When a westerner has this experience in Asia it's called "backpacking" rather than "homelessness", and most folks will object strongly if I were to describe myself as homeless. Perhaps we should come up with a similar term to describe it when folks do it in the west and similarly compartmentalize their experiences.

When people say "homeless" they generally refer to something akin to "not having a place with a roof to sleep in and don't have a choice to have one". If you are staying at a hotel or if you have a home you can go back to abroad you're not considered homeless in that sense.

Who said I had a home abroad? And the hotel was just my longest stay, mostly for medical reasons. My primary accommodation was youth hostels and PGs, which are (materially) more or less homeless shelters.

(Of course they are much higher status. Is this discussion really just about status?)

The premise of gloves' comment (which I'm accepting for the purpose of my comment) is that the person described in the article is also homeless by choice. He certainly seems functional enough to get and hold a job at Chipotle and rent a flat in distant Brooklyn if he wants.

The suggestion is that - much like me - his lifestyle is a choice. Just like you want to compartmentalize my experience with a different label, maybe we should do the same with him and similarly situated folks.

It's at least partly about status. But in the UK one of the possible outcomes of the housing system is a family being accomodated by the council in B&B or hotel accomodation on a "temporary" basis. This is for the very sensible reason that having children sleep on the streets or in homeless shelters is especially bad for their safety and future development. But it can still produce some very weird outcomes, especially when extended for weeks or months.

Agreed - how was your experience? Maybe it's just not a thing yet!

I'm currently in this situation myself, but living slightly up north in Canada (expensive city). I live at friend's mostly empty office, luckily for me it's inside an empty room.

I've also gotten a gym membership for a 24 hour place so I can go shower every day.

I highly doubt he's 'ok' with the lifestyle, it's simply what's available right now to him. not having your own space really sucks.

sadly the building is being sold in a few weeks so I hope I'll have enough by then to get myself a place.

Good luck!

I have the same opinion and said the same thing in discussions with some friends. Being powerless is the element that needs to dealt with, by being homeless against your will for example.

I could imagine myself being homeless just because I choose to do so. I could also imagine that I'd live in a home and feel imprisoned by obligation. Between those two cases, I'd prefer self-chosen homelessness.

Exactly.

I feel, and again only speaking for myself, but the thing I strive most for in life is choice, or options.

Having the option to choose whether to live in a home or not. If I was to choose homelessness, I wouldn't see this as a bad thing, but a lifestyle choice. Thinking about it, it's quite a strange concept to return to the same place each day when there is such a big wide world out there full of experiences.

I don't mean to say those who are homeless without choice have it easy by the way, or that people choose homelessness. I appreciate there are a world of reasons why people find themself homeless, most of which are bad.

Simply making the point that living in a home is an interesting quirk of society.

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