Homelessness can happen even to young people. (Photo for illustration purposes only. Photo provided by the Labour List.)

By Caitlin Alwine, Shavings Staff Writer

The United States is battling a serious epidemic: homelessness.

Whether it’s due to unemployment, an unsolvable conflict with family, or one of the other multitude of reasons homelessness occurs, millions of lives are destroyed each year by the hands of this tragic fate.

What does homelessness look like to you? Is it a certain age? Does it wear a similar hairstyle? The reality is, the opinions society has formed about homelessness are nothing more than stereotypical judgments.

Homelessness has no age limitations, no gender preferences, and it has no interest in a person’s occupation.

In some cases, homelessness occurs when an ongoing feud between two family members has no resolution in sight.

This was certainly the case for 20-year-old John of South Bend, Indiana. We are withholding his name to protect his identity.

John graduated high school in 2016 at 17 years old with no future plans in mind.

After months of drug abuse and failing to hold down a consistent job, John’s father decided he could no longer support John’s lifestyle habits.

John faced the toughest battle of his life beginning at just 17 years old. John, now 20, has been losing his fight to homelessness on and off over the course of the last three years. In the interview below, John opens up about what it has been like to struggle with homelessness.

How old were you when you were homeless?

17 was the first time I got kicked out about a month before my birthday and graduation. I’ve been homeless on and off since.

How long were you homeless for?

I live in my car on off for usually a couple weeks to a month or two

How much sleep did you get at night?

Very little sleep because you’re huddled in a ball and can’t fully stretch

Do you feel safe where you were at?

You never really feel safe. You’re constantly worried about somebody knocking on your window whether it be cops or somebody you know.

Volunteer fire fighters in White Pigeon, Michigan, near South Bend, open up their trunks in the snow for donations for their local food pantry. Food pantries often provided needed food for the homelessness. (Photo by Hannah Carr, CCSJ Shavings Editor-in-Chief)

Why do you think people become homeless?

I think a lot of it is just mindset. Like for me it’s the mindset of, ‘Damn, there’s gotta be more to life than just waking up every day going to work and repeating he same old routine.

How would you describe being homeless?

It’s just kinda hopeless.  Like you really feel like there ain’t nothing you can do to get out of it, like sure you can get a job but it’s not simple holding a job while homeless.

How did you deal with the cold weather?

Have a lot of blankets but when it’s really cold and snowy out breathing in the car all night will fog everything up and make you damp from the moisture.

What was the scariest part of being homeless?

Scariest part was at night during the summer because I couldn’t afford to have my car on all the time, so I’d have to sleep with the windows or doors open.

What was the hardest part of being homeless?

The hardest part was just being alone and everybody going on about there life’s it’s like you’re dead to everybody you just sit there in your car thinking about everything you’ve done to get there.

Did you have any support from anyone while you were homeless?

The only help you really get is if you drive somebody somewhere and they throw you five for gas or buy you food, but that’s about it. Occasionally you’ll have a friend who’ll let you stay with them, but I don’t like staying with my friends cause it makes me feel like I’m a burden on them.