What is it like to live in a homeless shelter

We all should be thankful for what is provided, what we have and I am. I don’t mean to criticize our staff on any way as they work hard to provide us a good facility. But there are more of us than there are of them.

We are all free to come and go as we please. We must be back into the facility by eight pm, and we have a bed check at eight-thirty pm. If you aren’t in your bed at that time you lose your bed. Most of us receive food stamps so we can go to the store and get drinks, snacks etc to have. I am usually pretty conservative with my stamps and I don’t sell them, as others do.

They do our laundry for us three days a week based on which dorm we are assigned to. I do my laundry usually once a week. We are provided a cage that we have to put a lock on so our personal property doesn’t get stolen. When I was in the hospital, my laptop was stolen. We are provided three meals a day. Most of the time I eat what they have, but I can’t stomach the food. It is usually way too spicy and I have acid reflux.

Showers are available twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. Like anything, there is a good time in which to take your shower and times that are bad. They have bathroom stalls which finally lock. But some of those toilets I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. There are times in which you go in and find feces smeared all over the wall, the toilet and the stall. Then you look and see that toilet paper is stuffed to the top of the toilet. Despite the rule of no alcohol, you will find…