Retired homeless man lives in a storage unit

I would do what my heart tells me too. If you do not feel threatened, or uncomfortable, do it. I do give to some when I see them, not alot but a little. No one ever knows how this has happened to someone, but I am sure it wasn't by choice. If you don't want to give him money, maybe you could get him some bottled water or juice. Just a thought.

After reading your story I wanted to share one of my won with you. My mom use to work with this older lady a number of years ago. I once offered to give the older lady a ride home after work one day because I was early to pick up my mom. As she gave me directions to where she lived it dawned on me that she was giving me directions to the local storage place. I asked her how long she lived there and she told me that she stays in the storage unit during the warmer months so that she can rent out her home. I thought that was so sad. So when I went back to pick up my mom I told her about it. Thats when my mom told me that the older lady owns three houses besides the one she lives in. The reason that she lives in a storage unit during the warmer months and rents out her house is so that she can leave a large inheritence for her family. I had to share this with you because I thought that it was a sweet story to share with you.

You know looking at people like that we realize that how lucky we are! makes us realize that how much we have whilst someone out there is struggling to get a meal for oneself. I think your husband ought to talk to the guy to gain a bit more of an insight and a gift card would be a wonderfull idea as I am definitely sure he could use that and not to mention that would be a good deed to make anyone proud.

As a prior social worker - I understand the urge to want to help. But what would your few dollars do for this man? It would make you feel good for a short while - but I will not change his situation. If you really want to help him - find out about the social services in your area that could be helpful to him and share this information with the man. He may be entitled to low income (Section Eight) government housing and other benefits that he isn't utilizing. A professional social worker could really help him out with this.

There are several possibilities. It could be that this man has no family and needs a friend. He could just be cheap and doesn't want to spend the money it would take to live in an apartment. He could have some type of mental illness. However, something is very wrong about this. Does your husband know if he has any friend who could talk to him? That might help.

Talking to my girlfriends uncle this past weekend I don't believe that military retirement pay is that little. He recieves a tidy sum from the military after serving for thirty years. I guess it depends on how long you serve by how much you recieve. I probrally wouldn't offer him money but I would offer him a home cooked meal. Cook something at home and bring to him. Since he lives in a storage unit he probrally hasn't had a home cooked meal in a while.

I think it is more common than we think. It is very sad that we have so many homeless people in the US and we continue to waste our money helping other countries. We need to help those in need here first. My husband gives money to homeless people quite often. I sometimes feel that it may be a test for me, kind of like that song, "what if Jesus comes back like that?" If not, then at least I may have helped make someone's day a little better.

That is incredibly sad! I would hope that retired military would make enough money to be able to afford things to live- Living in a storage unit is not acceptable- How sad! The thought of these men and women serving our country and protecting our freedom- and then loosing medical benefits, making little money and living in storage units makes me sick! It’s times like these that I am less proud to live in the USA. Sure there might be circumstances that we don’t know about with this case- but I hear more and more horror stories of retired military—the VA hospitals—shrinking medical benefits—shrinking retirement benefits. But let’s send them to war to fight for us- Sickens me! As for giving him money- I’m not sure about that one. It might make him uncomfortable-

Well, why don't you offer him food instead? Like maybe you could make a meal for him or if you have left overs you can give that to him too. I'm sure that he will appreciate it if he's really in need.

I feel sad for that man. It must get terribly cold in there on a night too I'd imagine. I too would be a little wary about giving him money, and if your husband says he has money, then he probably does. I think a gift card to some place like Mcdonalds would be good though. He could use it for a few meals, so at least he has some food in his belly. Groceries probably wouldn't be such a good idea, because as someone said, you don't know what, if any, cooking facilities he has.

I feel so sorry ofr the man. I mean I really thhank god for what I have. I would give him some food, n clothes, but not money, cause u never know if he drinks or dopes!

I do agree with you. However he must know how to do things that could make his life better. I mean he is a retired military and I do believed that he gets a lot of benifits as a military right. He must know how to claim the benifits that he is entitled with in order to improved his life.

What I try to do is to have baggies in my car filled with sample size products, such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste and things I was able to get free and almost free by using coupons. Then when I would see someone standing with a sign that said will work for food or something like that. I was able to give them one. There's several companies on the internet that offer free samples of their products. I know it isn't food, but I figure if they need food they probably needed the other items too.

I would say be cautious in your approach because looks aren't always what they seem. There are a lot of homeless people out there that are homeless on purpose. What I mean by that is they have plenty of money and a means to do things they just don't want to be locked into paying rent or taking care of things. I knew a guy who lived in one of those units before, he said it was almost as big as living in a real apartment. He paid $75 a month for the storage rent compared to the $700 a month he would have had to pay for an apartment. Hell I know people who live in hotels because they are cheaper to rent by the month than an apartment or house. I would say find out his whole story before giving him money, he might not be as bad off as you think.

First of all it is very illegal to live in a storage unit. So becareful you aren't crossing any legality lines. But from what I gather from your story, the man has chosen to do this. If your husband says he has plenty of money then he probably does. He has no car insurance to pay, no taxes, no gasoline and very little rent. Doesn't sound homeless to me. He's not living on the street in a card board box. What I mean is, at least take some comfort knowing he has a roof over his head. If you are comfortable enough, I would try being his friend first. Strike up a conversation. Get to know him. And then if you find he is really in trouble, you'll then know the best way to help him out. I know many people who have lived just fine off of retired military pay and their social security. Of course I don't know his personel circumstances, but I know it can be done.