Quote from: K-Dog on Mar 05, 2024, 12:27 PMLack of good paying jobs is one of the reasons people become homeless.  As time goes by jobs become less good paying.  It seems to be a fact of life.

I lived this experience myself right after my divorce, almost.

When my ex-wife and I split, it was mutually agreeable and uncontested,  I did all the paperwork myself and filed the papers at the courthouse.  This meant no lawyers, no huge legal bills neither of us could afford.  In the late 1980s when even an uncontested divorce would run you a couple $1000s dollars in lawyer bills each, I did ours for $250 in filing fees.

Because we shared the condo and the van we had bought new (the only new car I ever bought with payments) we agreed she would keep the condo because it was close to her job and I would keep the van.  I agreed to pay my share of the condo for a year, or until she could get rid of it because on her salary she couldn't afford to keep it.  I was paying most of it because I made twice what she did, I worked 2 jobs she only had one.  So, I could not afford an apartment.   I also decided at that time I needed to change my life, I wasn't happy in my job as a clinical chemist either. It was one of the causes of the divorce.  So I enrolled to get my Masters in Education.  So I had 2 jobs and doing my masters full time.

My schedule was Midnight-8am at the hospital in Manhattan, drive out to SUNY Westbury on Long Island, 2 PM drive back to Queens where I took a job at a new gym coaching because I couldn't stand working with my ex-wife anymore 4pm-9pm, then back to the hospital at midnight to run blood tests, rinse and repeat.

I had no apartment, I slept in the van for an hour or 2 between jobs, slept through my classes and took catnaps between blood tests.  I was, needless to say, exhausted by the end of the 1st semester.

So, I backed off my school schedule 1 class,  and moved back in with my mom and was able to sleep in a bed for 3 straight hours before heading to the gym to coach after my morning classes.  That added enough real sleep to keep me going long enough to finish the program, get my certification to teach and change my life.  Sadly as it turned out I hated teaching in the public schools also, and quit teaching after 2 years.

Anyhow, the need to do this kind of thing to get ahead in life or change careers if you are poor is nothing new.  It's been the case since at least the 1980s, and I'm sure before that.  Withot my mom's house to fall back on, I would have been homeless living out of my van for 2 years.  I never would have made it.  Somewhere along the way, I would have died in a wreck falling asleep at the wheel.

RE