'Homeless' is NOT a Lie

Take it from a guy who has been there and back

In the New Testament, Jesus told his disciples "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Now, imagine that "person who is rich" is a billionaire, in fact, imagine he is the richest person on the entire planet, who believes that homelessness is a lie.

I kid you not.

For full context, Elon Musk's exact quote is "In most cases, the word “homeless” is a lie. It’s usually a propaganda word for violent drug addicts with severe mental illness." The full context doesn't make the quote any less absurd.

Imagine being wealthy enough to set a pile of $44 billion dollars on fire just to install yourself at the top of an idiotic bro stack, and STILL have enough money left over to end world hunger and end homelessness... but you think the word homeless is a lie.

Well, as a person who has himself been homeless, I can confirm that it is NOT a lie.

That's right: I myself was homeless. And I do mean shaking-a-cup-for-spare-change homeless.

I mean sleeping-on-the-subway-every-night homeless. I mean people-won't-sit-next-to-you-on-that-subway-because-you-stink homeless.

Yeah, more on that in a bit. But I just want to get into the audacity of someone who has more money than everyone, someone who could buy a few islands, a few sports teams, and still have more left over than half of the billionaires on Earth.

Musk probably hasn't had to do his own grocery shopping, cut his own grass, or clean his own toilets in forever because his extreme, insane wealth keeps him insulated from the humdrum tedium of worrying about things the average human does.

Ask him how much he thinks a banana costs, I bet he won't have a clue.

But, just a little over a month ago, he declared if trump won, he'd be appointed to a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE, eye-fucking-roll) that would “necessarily involve some temporary hardship.” Oh really? Temporary hardship?

What does he think that means? We'll be unable to use the private jet all seven days of the week, we'll have to cut back to four days? Will we have to postpone buying that FIFTH super yacht for a month?

I'll tell you who has PERMANENT hardship: the homeless.

The homeless exist in a reality in which people avert their eyes from them, in which many would rather pretend they don't even exist. And when they DO acknowledge their existence, they're busy trying to pin society's problems on THEM.

"...a propaganda word for violent drug addicts with severe mental illness."

So, Republicans got themselves in a tizzy because of that time Hillary Clinton called them "a basket of deplorables," but they're completely silent when an out-of-touch billionaire calls the nation's homeless "violent drug addicts with severe mental illness."

Is that how we're referring to some of our veterans, who served the country and came back to unemployment and hardship? How about those folks whose homes burned down, and they lost everything? Or victims of hurricanes or tornadoes? Victims of domestic abuse?

There are thousands of examples of people who didn't just wake up one day and decide "You know what? I think I'm going to join the ranks of the homeless chic, and I'm going to start using drugs and start being violent."

Many people who are homeless were just victims of cruel circumstance, where a perfect storm of the worst possible shit happening meets the worst possible time for it to happen, and suddenly you are shit out of luck. It happens.

As it turns out, when I was homeless, I DID have a drug problem that was all the way out of control, and it happened in the blink of an eye. One minute, I was riding the subway in a suit to my fancy computer job in midtown Manhattan; next thing I knew, I was shaking a cup, asking for change.

Prior to that, I tried to stop using -- I was a few weeks removed from a drug rehab, and was doing well. But I didn't have a support system, I lived in an area full of triggers, so relapse was only a matter of time. When my in-laws learned that I was using again, I voluntarily moved out of a residence I was renting above them to spare the family any embarrassment from my condition.

For those of you who don't know, being homeless does NOT feel normal. It was weird. At first, I didn't really care -- I stayed high enough for two or three days in a row so that it just felt like I'd been up all night.

But eventually, I started to stink, and my physical appearance quickly deteriorated as I lost weight, and exposure to severe weather took its toll. I borrowed money from friends before I completely fell off, but eventually I ran out of friends and I was sleeping in staircases, on rooftops, and a few shelters, collecting bottles and cans and humiliating myself shaking a cup for donations.

Eventually, I sought out a mission in The Bowery in Manhattan to end my stint of homelessness, and eventually my drug addiction (I recently celebrated 21 years of sobriety) as a result of 12 step groups AND therapy, for which I am eternally grateful.

Make no mistake, I only had MYSELF to blame for my addiction and homelessness, and I only spent months instead of YEARS out on the street, like many of our nation's homeless. For them, it isn't "temporary hardship," and it isn't because of drug addiction or mental illness.

Sometimes, awful circumstances in life beat people all the way down until all they can do is just survive.

Sometimes housing is just too damn expensive for folks with low incomes.

Other times, financial disaster strikes, whether it's loss of employment, or someone gets wiped out by medical costs.

Escaping domestic abuse sometimes leaves people with limited housing options.

And, before you buy the narrative that homelessness only exists in liberal cities like New York or San Francisco, STOP. It is everywhere, in every city whether they are in red states or blue states.

There are probably as many MAGA homeless as there are Liberal homeless, and they are represented by every religious belief, every race and ethnicity. They exist, and they are human beings.

My point is, it is harmful to dismiss our nation's homeless, as Elon Musk does, as "a lie...a propaganda word..." Those homeless out there are someone's mother, father, sister or brother. They are people down on their luck, forever relegated to being seen out of the corner of our eyes, just after we've averted our gaze.

But DON'T look away. Nobody is heroically coming to their aid, to permanently solve the problem by dropping a few disposable billions of dollars, even if they are able. It always has been up to us.

I can never, EVER, look down my nose at someone who is downtrodden, in that situation, because I was there myself. When they say "There, but for the grace of God go I," that is a very REAL statement. It can happen to anyone.

In the Bible, in Luke 9:58, Jesus Christ is described as "the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Even He was homeless, so I'm sure He wouldn't think very highly of that rich person who cast aspersions at the less fortunate.

This is the part of the article where normally I'd ask you to become a paid subscriber to my Substack, to support my efforts in producing content like this on a regular basis.

But this time, I'll ask you to please donate whatever you can to an agency dedicated to helping the homeless. Bring the guy on the corner a warm blanket and some food. Donate clothes you don't wear to the Salvation Army.

Every little bit helps.

Please and thank you.