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Last year I went from making $20K/mo to <$2K/mo, for quite a while. As my money was drying up, I didn’t have a lot of options. I had credit but I didn’t want to

Last year I went from making $20K/mo to <$2K/mo, for quite a while. As my money was drying up, I didn’t have a lot of options. I had credit but I didn’t want to use it. I had a kid, but I couldn’t promise him future school supplies. I was a “professional” type, so I could get house sitting gigs (via online) far and wide. I drove 10 hours for some of them and gigged online, still collected $1900/mo pre-tax from a client — I’d have to make good on the taxes eventually. Eventually I found a gig back in SF, starting salary was $200K. Then I landed a consulting gig at $250K. I finally took an FTE role at $200K with a 20% bonus and strong promotion probability. I made it. That part of the story took 18+ months and I struggled to make sub-rental deposits. I’m 50 years old. I had no one to draw from, I had no more debt I could create, aside for obscene %APR credit card options. Now imagine that I can’t draw 6 figures, I still pulled $2K in my worst months, I still had to move out of my home and live in my car and visit my partner who crashed on couches from friends who could only reasonably accommodate one of us… my ex- let me visit my kid as much as possible and sleep in his bedroom, but I couldn’t land a 6 figure job at the end of the narrative. The options aren’t awesome, nor sufficient, and the cruelty and neglect, even from other friends, is mortifying. It was really fucking hard for me, but I’m fine again. I don’t see how it’s humane for the likes of those who don’t have my arc as their probability. My European friends shake their heads and know the US is really broken.

mamurphy 5y ago
This comment, including the part about Europe, prompted me to research this issue a bit. I Googled 'European homelessness' and came across articles[0][1]that suggest that while there are a few cases of success in cities like Helsinki (or Salt Lake City[2]) with 'Housing First' policies, homeless is getting worse in Europe. Denmark and Finland seem to be doing well[1][3], and could serve as a model. I'd like to learn more about if Europe overall is doing better than the United States. I couldn't find comparative numbers with solid data. Thank you for sharing your story, I am glad you found a light at the end of the tunnel. [0]https://www.euronews.com/2019/03/22/homelessness-in-europe-a-hidden-figure https://www.euronews.com/2019/03/22/homelessness-in-europe-a... [1]https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-46891392 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-46891392 [2]https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-homelessness-housing/once-a-national-model-utah-struggles-with-homelessness-idUSKCN1P41EQ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-homelessness-housing/... [3]https://archive.thinkprogress.org/four-countries-the-united-states-can-look-to-when-fighting-homelessness-a2a43e2cc396/ https://archive.thinkprogress.org/four-countries-the-united-...
jokethrowaway 5y ago
Have you been to Europe recently? Homeless is getting worse and illegal immigration compounds the problem. The more advanced countries (like the UK) have center for homeless who are not drug addicts. That means the majority of homeless on the street are either ignorant or drug addicts. I always remind them there are tax funded centers. Other countries are not so lucky (especially in Southern Europe) and you see all sort of homeless, from drug addicts, to youngsters without a job, to illegal immigrants. A professional making 200/250k in Europe is also incredibly rare but you could live with 2k/m in a lot of places (which is true in some places of the USA as well - certainly not SF). Real estate is also more expensive in Europe, so getting your own house is generally easier in some places in the USA (certainly not SF).
- browningstreet 5y ago
  It’s been a few years now. I think a lot has changed in 5 years. I won’t name the places I was frequenting, as I’d like to stay anonymous under this username, but state support in those places, at least in terms of housing-you-had, was way more than we can expect here.
Kneecaps07 5y ago
When you were making $20k/mo did you not put some aside in an emergency fund? What were you doing with all of that money while you were making it?
- browningstreet 5y ago
  I had an emergency fund, but I’d also been underemployed for some time when I went out on my own. Took a while to get up to that MRR and when the clients went away, we drained it as slowly as possibly. I kept enough in the trough to not miss any of my car payments, for instance. My credit never faltered. But the inbound cash dried up hard, and applying to jobs became my full-time job.

mamurphy 5y ago

This comment, including the part about Europe, prompted me to research this issue a bit. I Googled 'European homelessness' and came across articles[0][1]that suggest that while there are a few cases of success in cities like Helsinki (or Salt Lake City[2]) with 'Housing First' policies, homeless is getting worse in Europe. Denmark and Finland seem to be doing well[1][3], and could serve as a model. I'd like to learn more about if Europe overall is doing better than the United States. I couldn't find comparative numbers with solid data. Thank you for sharing your story, I am glad you found a light at the end of the tunnel. [0]https://www.euronews.com/2019/03/22/homelessness-in-europe-a-hidden-figure https://www.euronews.com/2019/03/22/homelessness-in-europe-a... [1]https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-46891392 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-46891392 [2]https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-homelessness-housing/once-a-national-model-utah-struggles-with-homelessness-idUSKCN1P41EQ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-homelessness-housing/... [3]https://archive.thinkprogress.org/four-countries-the-united-states-can-look-to-when-fighting-homelessness-a2a43e2cc396/ https://archive.thinkprogress.org/four-countries-the-united-...

jokethrowaway 5y ago

Have you been to Europe recently? Homeless is getting worse and illegal immigration compounds the problem. The more advanced countries (like the UK) have center for homeless who are not drug addicts. That means the majority of homeless on the street are either ignorant or drug addicts. I always remind them there are tax funded centers. Other countries are not so lucky (especially in Southern Europe) and you see all sort of homeless, from drug addicts, to youngsters without a job, to illegal immigrants. A professional making 200/250k in Europe is also incredibly rare but you could live with 2k/m in a lot of places (which is true in some places of the USA as well - certainly not SF). Real estate is also more expensive in Europe, so getting your own house is generally easier in some places in the USA (certainly not SF).

browningstreet 5y ago
It’s been a few years now. I think a lot has changed in 5 years. I won’t name the places I was frequenting, as I’d like to stay anonymous under this username, but state support in those places, at least in terms of housing-you-had, was way more than we can expect here.

Kneecaps07 5y ago

When you were making $20k/mo did you not put some aside in an emergency fund? What were you doing with all of that money while you were making it?

browningstreet 5y ago
I had an emergency fund, but I’d also been underemployed for some time when I went out on my own. Took a while to get up to that MRR and when the clients went away, we drained it as slowly as possibly. I kept enough in the trough to not miss any of my car payments, for instance. My credit never faltered. But the inbound cash dried up hard, and applying to jobs became my full-time job.