Homeless Experience FAQ
Things that are good to know.
Why were you homeless?
Mixture of different reasons. See intro. I did have enough 💵 for an apartment, so poverty is not a reason. The homelessness that accompanies poverty is a different ordeal, that was not my ordeal, and it's an important distinction.
When were you homeless?
- 2015 Spring-Summer, after dropping out of UCLA (mostly couch-surfing)
- 2017 Summer for 10 days, after moving from NorCal to LA without an apartment
- May 11th, 2018 —> ~June 5th, 2018 which this work chronicles.
- September 1st, 2018 — October 29th, 2019
Where did you sleep?
- Easton Softball Field
- Covel Commons, various locations inside
- De Neve, various locations inside
- SAC Couches
- Geology, Law School, and English Graduate Lounge Couches
- Various stairwells
- Franz Hall Office
If I'm ever homeless again, I'm going to just try sleeping outside. There's more space, less people —I really underestimated how hard it would be to find a location inside without having people bother me and the worst part was it was actually gets cold inside at night! Defeats the purpose of being inside...
Why not couch surf?
I didn't want to bother asking people for help, but if I was offered help, I would take it.
Why not sleep in a car?
Having a car restrains freedom because you have to find parking spots for it and take care of it.
When did you take pictures and videos?
Some pictures and videos are taken "moment-of" the occurrence, while other photos and videos are taken after the fact for clarity and UX. If I'm in "an action scene", I likely did not take out my phone to take pictures / videos 😅