Homeless shelters exist for this purpose.
There’s also HUD or similar entities if you’re not in the US. There are also private nonprofits like churches that help with homelessness
There’s also HUD or similar entities if you’re not in the US. There are also private nonprofits like churches that help with homelessness
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/...
I’m also a bit concerned about the safety and conditions in the shelters, being that close to unpredictable strangers. But I’d prefer that over doing anything illegal.
It's honestly shocking that the US has absurdly wealthy churches and we have greater than zero homeless people on the streets. Helping the poor is the core tenet of the christian faith. If they practiced what they preach, it should be impossible to lay down on the street for more than five minutes and not be swarmed with offers for help.
* Housing is dangerous/scary (robbery, rape, physical violence, etc...)
* Housing is a conspiracy (to control people or other irrational ideas)
* The rules of housing are too restricting. (can't have a pet, visitors, noise rules, cleanliness rules, curfew rules, behavior rules, etc...)
There are others as well, but can't recall immediately.
A church can't fix these problems, no matter how rich.
While some churches do physical charity, that’s not the nominal function of a church in the general sense (it may implicitly be part of why churches are legally treated as charities in the US, getting not merely tax exemption but deductibility of donations for donors, but that is more an indictment of that policy than anything else.)
People in shelters use lots of hard hard drug and fight or sexually assault each other, shelters are full of tons of illness (physical and mental), rampant theft, you'll end up with awful pests like bedbugs, body lice, scabies, fleas... and you aren't even guaranteed to be let in, after hours of waiting in line, due to lack of availability.
They aren't well funded enough, aren't taken care of, don't have enough staff to keep you safe, and have too many troubled people in too close quarters. The ones sponsored by religious organizations are usually just as bad and add an extra layer of judgement and religious propaganda on top of it all, rudely implying that all your problems are because you don't follow their faith.
I'm not saying I have a good alternative in mind; being outside can also (obviously) suck for different reasons, but there are tons of legitimate reasons to avoid shelters even when you're homeless.