3 ms·

Interesting. Why? What changed in the last 15 years to make this so?

• burkaman 10y ago
  It's very difficult to find a job and a home if you have no way for people to consistently contact you.
• jacquesm 10y ago
  The fact that lots of day-to-day life has moved online. Try finding a job through a news-paper ad, try making a doctors appointment by phone, try reaching the authorities without having to go through email. Try buying a regular map of any city and try staying in touch with your family without facebook or email. Without a home-address email/phone is suddenly the only way authorities can reach you or vv. (Smart)Phones are safety devices. And I'm saying that as a 'dumb' phone user, but I can only afford that because I also have a laptop and a desktop machine and don't care one bit about facebook.
• josephorjoe 10y ago
  You can easily get a job without a mailing address nowadays, but it is really really hard to get one without a phone and/or email.
• ceejayoz 10y ago
  For starters, there used to be a phone booth on every corner.
• peterwwillis 10y ago
  Well... 15 years ago we didn't have smartphones. If 15 years ago you could tell a homeless person that they could carry a post office, a phone box, a map, a list of social services, a research tool, and a way to communicate with friends, family and allies in their pocket, they would have gotten one, too. Of course you're not going to pay for an iPhone if you're short on cash, but smartphones have cost less than 100 dollars for five years, and used phones sell for less. Combine this with wifi, and maybe a pay-as-you-go or super cheap unlimited SMS plan with limited talk, and the low price you pay for the kind of resources you get access to is a no-brainer. And let's not forget you have a lot of down time when you're homeless. Candy Crush Saga might just keep you from going crazy.