I get the impression you are talking from an abstract understanding of all these options. Have you ever tried moving to a new city and accessing public housing?

I get the impression you are talking from an abstract understanding of all these options. Have you ever tried moving to a new city and accessing public housing? In most cities there's a closed waiting list. Or even buying a $1 bus fare? (A while back, for my own curiosity, I ran a webscraping tool that collected the current fare data on boltbus to track how often the advertised $1 fares actually showed up - I think it turned out to be approximately one trip every couple months. I don't know if megabus offers them more frequently.) Aside from the dubious reality of the support you describe, for someone with no economic capital, it's a big risk to move away from whatever social capital you may have. Social capital gives you access to job referrals, loans, couch space, bartering favors, social recommendations as replacement for a nice reliable job as surety when looking for a roommate, a vastly improved safety net and, it is increasingly recognized, mental and emotional health benefits. tldr: people have been freezing to death for lack of resources for thousands of years too.