4 ms·

How do you cash a paycheck if you are without an address or a bank account? How do you establish that you are a citizen and are legally able to take a job if y

by cduzz 5y ago

How do you cash a paycheck if you are without an address or a bank account? How do you establish that you are a citizen and are legally able to take a job if you are unable to safely store your documents? How do you get health care, inclusive of mental health care, if you are unable to pay for it? If you are without a secure residence, how do you know when to wake up, how do you clean up, put on fresh clothing, and get to work? If you rely on public transit, how do you reliably get to work? How do you establish residence if you have no reasonable credit or references? How do you save your deposit, first month's rent, and last month's rent, if you are unable to even get a bank account? For any complex problem there is an obvious, simple, and totally incorrect answer. "The homeless should just get a job and get a place to live"

tdfx 5y ago
You're right, their situation does prevent them from jumping into a white collar, professional life with a good credit score and personal references. But I don't think that's what anyone is suggesting. Most of the problems you stated are not problems for the type of labor that is offered to homeless people. Jobs for construction, landscaping, moving etc. with a truck that picks you up and drops you off. Usually done by illegal immigrants so cash pay is not a problem. From the business owners I know who have tried to hire homeless people to do daily labor, none of them are interested.
- cduzz 5y ago
  I would ask you to think through the logistics of managing any of your proposed solutions when you don't have a safe place to sleep or store your stuff. Instructions like 1) leave your stuff some place out of your control 2) somehow get to a parking lot where people pick up day workers 3) hang out with day laborers hoping to get a job 4) get in a random truck on the promise that someone will pay you 5) get driven some place to do a job 6) do the job 7) assume they'll take you back where they got you 8) assume they'll pay you what they promised in cash 9) get back to my stuff, hope it is still there 10) hope that I can store my cash some place safe 11) of course, don't forget you're doing this with basically no sleep, unhealthy food, no good place to poop, no reliable place to wash, etc. For months at a time. And of course do that for a couple months or years without having anything terrible happen to you until you save up enough to rent a place? That doesn't seem like a realistic plan.
  - tdfx 5y ago
    I can only speak to the situations I've encountered, but: (1) There's churches nearby that offer lockers for the homeless (2) They don't need to go anywhere, these jobs drive around looking for them (3) See #2 (4) Illegal immigrants do this every day, and they often don't even speak the same language (5) Seems OK. (6) Seems OK. (7) Seems reasonable the business operator will want to continue the arrangement if they did a good job, so this seems very likely. (8) See #7 (9) See #1 (10) This is probably the most difficult part (11) Shelters in my city are underutilized almost all of the year except during inclement weather. They offer showers, cot beds, and basic food. I'm not saying that it's easy being homeless, or that making the transition into suburban homeowner is easy or even practical for them. But the problem is not a lack of available jobs (the jobs are there) or shelter (homeless shelters are underutilized). I'm fine with spending money on a compassionate solution, but only if we're solving the right problem.
    - pas 5y ago
      Illegal immigrants have the mental resilience required to power through. They usually have a support network (family, relatives, maybe in the worst case some criminal organization that made a deal with them to exploit their labor). Homeless folks on the other hand don't have this (and that's why they homeless, and usually they burned all their bridges before they ended up on the street because the aforementioned mental health problems).
spfzero 5y ago
You can cash a paycheck at the bank listed on the paycheck, without any account. You can save up the cash without a bank account. Lots of people do that. There are plenty of people who will hire you without asking for proof of citizenship. In CA, you get Medi-Cal. And food stamps. Waking up, I guess you're on your own. Not trying to say it's easy, but those obstacles you mentioned are of the convenience variety.
sokoloff 5y ago
You can cash paychecks at the issuing bank. Plenty of people use public transit to get to work. (If public transit can’t reliably move people, that’s much more than a homeless problem.)
User23 5y ago
The answer is you address each of those issues in order of dependencies. Pragmatically speaking, since these persons have a demonstrated incapacity for participating in our society in the usual way, that will have to happen in some kind of institutional setting or it won’t happen at all.
parineum 5y ago
>How do you cash a paycheck if you are without an address or a bank account? You simply sign the back and take it to the bank and they will give you cash. >How do you establish that you are a citizen and are legally able to take a job if you are unable to safely store your documents? I honestly have no idea. >How do you get health care, inclusive of mental health care, if you are unable to pay for it? The answer is to get a job which is an obvious catch 22. >If you are without a secure residence, how do you know when to wake up, how do you clean up, put on fresh clothing, and get to work? I think there are a variety of viable answers here ranging from family, church, charity, shelters and gyms that this is a challenge but not insurmountable for a motivated individual. > If you rely on public transit, how do you reliably get to work? By using public transit? I don't understand the question. > How do you establish residence if you have no reasonable credit or references? This is a huge issue, imo. The only real option is paying in advance but that is obviously much more difficult. > How do you save your deposit, first month's rent, and last month's rent, if you are unable to even get a bank account? The answer is cash but the next question is how does a homeless person keep thousands of dollars in cash safe. I think you've gone out of your way to add solvable problems to your list to make the issue seem insurmountable but you've definitely included two issues which I think are massive and one that's less difficult but also easily solved. Starting with the solvable problem, banking, add basic banking services to post offices. It makes a lot of sense, imo. The healthcare problem is a big one and I think the most popular answer to that question would be socialized medicine, which I support, but I'd also be open to hearing other solutions. The biggest problem, I think, is housing. Not just because of cost but, as you mentioned, credit and rental history are going to be a major problem. Perhaps some sort of temporary (but long term enough to allow a history of payments to be shown, like 12 months or so) housing that could be offered to those in need to get back on their feet. Possibly even a requirement that apartment buildings make a unit available for this kind of renter.
- OldTimeCoffee 5y ago
  I agree with most of what you wrote, but there are a couple of things you may not have considered. > You simply sign the back and take it to the bank and they will give you cash. If you do not have an account there, they will charge you a fee to cash a check. The amount of the fee is typically ~$8, but it varies by bank. Some checks are issued by banks that don't have local branches, this is more common with larger companies. Government checks are also a tricky situation. It's really not as easy as 'go to the bank and they will give you cash'. >...Documents... >I honestly have no idea. You don't need to. You don't need to present a social security card to an employer, as long as they know their SSN. The SSA will help them verify for free: https://www.ssa.gov/employer/SSNcard.htm https://www.ssa.gov/employer/SSNcard.htm Otherwise, it's storing a plastic card for ID. It's likely they have one, as state ID cards are permanent. If they don't that is a problem that can be solved. >...Health care... >The answer is to get a job which is an obvious catch 22. In the US, they qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid includes mental health services. >...public transit... >By using public transit? I don't understand the question. Public transit costs money. Where I live, 1/2 off or ~ $31/month for a Medicaid recipient. >The biggest problem, I think, is housing. The biggest problem is getting people into the system so they can get assistance. Once they get a case worker and start getting aid, they can more easily get back on their feet. People are homeless for different reasons, some are more easily solved than others.

by cduzz 5y ago

tdfx 5y ago

You're right, their situation does prevent them from jumping into a white collar, professional life with a good credit score and personal references. But I don't think that's what anyone is suggesting. Most of the problems you stated are not problems for the type of labor that is offered to homeless people. Jobs for construction, landscaping, moving etc. with a truck that picks you up and drops you off. Usually done by illegal immigrants so cash pay is not a problem. From the business owners I know who have tried to hire homeless people to do daily labor, none of them are interested.

cduzz 5y ago
I would ask you to think through the logistics of managing any of your proposed solutions when you don't have a safe place to sleep or store your stuff. Instructions like 1) leave your stuff some place out of your control 2) somehow get to a parking lot where people pick up day workers 3) hang out with day laborers hoping to get a job 4) get in a random truck on the promise that someone will pay you 5) get driven some place to do a job 6) do the job 7) assume they'll take you back where they got you 8) assume they'll pay you what they promised in cash 9) get back to my stuff, hope it is still there 10) hope that I can store my cash some place safe 11) of course, don't forget you're doing this with basically no sleep, unhealthy food, no good place to poop, no reliable place to wash, etc. For months at a time. And of course do that for a couple months or years without having anything terrible happen to you until you save up enough to rent a place? That doesn't seem like a realistic plan.
- tdfx 5y ago
  I can only speak to the situations I've encountered, but: (1) There's churches nearby that offer lockers for the homeless (2) They don't need to go anywhere, these jobs drive around looking for them (3) See #2 (4) Illegal immigrants do this every day, and they often don't even speak the same language (5) Seems OK. (6) Seems OK. (7) Seems reasonable the business operator will want to continue the arrangement if they did a good job, so this seems very likely. (8) See #7 (9) See #1 (10) This is probably the most difficult part (11) Shelters in my city are underutilized almost all of the year except during inclement weather. They offer showers, cot beds, and basic food. I'm not saying that it's easy being homeless, or that making the transition into suburban homeowner is easy or even practical for them. But the problem is not a lack of available jobs (the jobs are there) or shelter (homeless shelters are underutilized). I'm fine with spending money on a compassionate solution, but only if we're solving the right problem.
  - pas 5y ago
    Illegal immigrants have the mental resilience required to power through. They usually have a support network (family, relatives, maybe in the worst case some criminal organization that made a deal with them to exploit their labor). Homeless folks on the other hand don't have this (and that's why they homeless, and usually they burned all their bridges before they ended up on the street because the aforementioned mental health problems).

spfzero 5y ago

You can cash a paycheck at the bank listed on the paycheck, without any account. You can save up the cash without a bank account. Lots of people do that. There are plenty of people who will hire you without asking for proof of citizenship. In CA, you get Medi-Cal. And food stamps. Waking up, I guess you're on your own. Not trying to say it's easy, but those obstacles you mentioned are of the convenience variety.

sokoloff 5y ago

You can cash paychecks at the issuing bank. Plenty of people use public transit to get to work. (If public transit can’t reliably move people, that’s much more than a homeless problem.)

User23 5y ago

The answer is you address each of those issues in order of dependencies. Pragmatically speaking, since these persons have a demonstrated incapacity for participating in our society in the usual way, that will have to happen in some kind of institutional setting or it won’t happen at all.

parineum 5y ago

>How do you cash a paycheck if you are without an address or a bank account? You simply sign the back and take it to the bank and they will give you cash. >How do you establish that you are a citizen and are legally able to take a job if you are unable to safely store your documents? I honestly have no idea. >How do you get health care, inclusive of mental health care, if you are unable to pay for it? The answer is to get a job which is an obvious catch 22. >If you are without a secure residence, how do you know when to wake up, how do you clean up, put on fresh clothing, and get to work? I think there are a variety of viable answers here ranging from family, church, charity, shelters and gyms that this is a challenge but not insurmountable for a motivated individual. > If you rely on public transit, how do you reliably get to work? By using public transit? I don't understand the question. > How do you establish residence if you have no reasonable credit or references? This is a huge issue, imo. The only real option is paying in advance but that is obviously much more difficult. > How do you save your deposit, first month's rent, and last month's rent, if you are unable to even get a bank account? The answer is cash but the next question is how does a homeless person keep thousands of dollars in cash safe. I think you've gone out of your way to add solvable problems to your list to make the issue seem insurmountable but you've definitely included two issues which I think are massive and one that's less difficult but also easily solved. Starting with the solvable problem, banking, add basic banking services to post offices. It makes a lot of sense, imo. The healthcare problem is a big one and I think the most popular answer to that question would be socialized medicine, which I support, but I'd also be open to hearing other solutions. The biggest problem, I think, is housing. Not just because of cost but, as you mentioned, credit and rental history are going to be a major problem. Perhaps some sort of temporary (but long term enough to allow a history of payments to be shown, like 12 months or so) housing that could be offered to those in need to get back on their feet. Possibly even a requirement that apartment buildings make a unit available for this kind of renter.

OldTimeCoffee 5y ago
I agree with most of what you wrote, but there are a couple of things you may not have considered. > You simply sign the back and take it to the bank and they will give you cash. If you do not have an account there, they will charge you a fee to cash a check. The amount of the fee is typically ~$8, but it varies by bank. Some checks are issued by banks that don't have local branches, this is more common with larger companies. Government checks are also a tricky situation. It's really not as easy as 'go to the bank and they will give you cash'. >...Documents... >I honestly have no idea. You don't need to. You don't need to present a social security card to an employer, as long as they know their SSN. The SSA will help them verify for free: https://www.ssa.gov/employer/SSNcard.htm https://www.ssa.gov/employer/SSNcard.htm Otherwise, it's storing a plastic card for ID. It's likely they have one, as state ID cards are permanent. If they don't that is a problem that can be solved. >...Health care... >The answer is to get a job which is an obvious catch 22. In the US, they qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid includes mental health services. >...public transit... >By using public transit? I don't understand the question. Public transit costs money. Where I live, 1/2 off or ~ $31/month for a Medicaid recipient. >The biggest problem, I think, is housing. The biggest problem is getting people into the system so they can get assistance. Once they get a case worker and start getting aid, they can more easily get back on their feet. People are homeless for different reasons, some are more easily solved than others.