The real question is how are they finding housing for less than $500 a month?
E.g: If you have $500/month, you can afford to pay your buddy $200/month to crash on his couch. Now you have reliable access to a shower, an address to put on your resumes, a bit of cash to thrift a suit/dress clothes and a beater laptop, and it's way easier to get a job.
Most of the jobs in the world don't rely on Zoom interviews and email. You'll get a phone call and have to physically go interview with someone. Really hard to hide looking and smelling like a mess in that scenario.
* lockers. most places claim "24 hours only" but aren't so great about that, and many will let you rent lockers for 24/7 storage for trivial money.
* decent toilets, sinks, mirrors. it's hard to shower, shave, and shit in a gas station bathroom.
* you can wash clothes. gyms with a pool often have drying equipment (like the little centrifuges for bathing suits). also saunas and blowdryers. like if you only have 3 pairs of undies, you can give 2 of em a good wash and spin them mostly dry, then hang em in a locker.
* 24/7 access. hang out or workout at night, and then quietly grab a nap somewhere (mostly) secure. clean your gear, take a shower, get right, without a ton of people around. hit a couple of reps for arms and shoulders while you're at it.
* most gyms I've been to often have powerbars or other cheap meal replacements / proteins in vending machines as well, which may be your only option if you're down to < $5 a day for food
Hardly ideal, but it fit his goals.