Hacker News Reader

Comment by kjkjadksj | Hacker News Reader

Maybe something like the food stamp program. I haven’t personally used it but it seems to work, considering I’ve never seen an emaciated homeless person in the US.

View on HN

Most homeless people don't get food stamps. Programs like food stamps usually require someone to have a mailing address, which can be difficult to establish if you are homeless. Some people think you can just go get a PO Box or third party mailbox, but you can't. The USPS requires you to have a physical address to get a PO Box, and third party mailboxes that want to accept USPS mail delivery have to apply the same standard.

A lot of homeless people in the US are basically dependent on their "Obamaphone" highly subsidized cell phones just to maintain access to basic resources like shelters and state provided aid. So of course, in all those "homeless camp sweeps" (read: homeless harassment campaigns) their phones and anything else they own tend to get thrown in a dumpster. They lose access to their support network, their state advocate, their resources etc.

But too bad apparently, how dare people who aren't legally allowed to be anywhere, be somewhere.

At least in california people are given notice before a cleanup and given plenty of opportunity to get important things together. They are offered shelter space or supportive housing before the encampment is cleaned out too. If there are items that seem to be important personal property after the notice period, some cities actually will hold these items off site for a time for eventual collection by the property owner.

A quick google search seems to suggest you don't need a mailing address for food stamps or a lot of other social welfare programs. That would kind of defeat the point if it did.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com