Homelessness here in Northern CA is out of control. At first it was incredibly disturbing, most places you look, you find people camped in either tents, lean-tos, or just in a sleeping bag. It's like, the craziest thing I've ever seen. We experienced a large homeless population in San Diego numerous times, but they were generally the kind of people you expect to see, older men (mostly) and a healthy dose of mental illness mixed in. Here though, it's a different ballgame. I've seen people I would expect to be typical mid-career professionals, families in some cases. And there are SO MANY!
Cost of living is a joke. You either earn well north of 6 figures or you drive an hour or more in to work each day, and even those people better be earning north of $50k. Locals have adjusted to the absurdity of it, but that doesn't make it any less ridiculous. And it's the reason so many people just choose to carve out a space for themselves wherever they can. It's dangerous but what else can they do?
And so panhandling is robust to say the least.
Because panhandling goes so hand-in-hand with homelessness, here more than anywhere else, you can't turn around without someone asking 'brother, can you spare a dime'? Sometimes it feels like zombie herds chasing me down. #sketchbook #artofmiggy #ccs1weekworkout #berkeley #comic #sketchbook
Panhandling continues strong here. After two months here, I feel like I am having less frequent interactions. I guess I’m becoming desensitized.
I think the most in important thing is to acknowledge them as people. Okay, I'm making a joke here about the people, but at least I acknowledge that they exist!
This always surprises me. I guess they get in and get out so restaurant owners don't mind?
Clearly a case of mental illness, she just hangs out at the bus stop all day, every day.
Just a normal guy with a bedroll. Walks up to a stranger who is smoking and asks for a hit.
This guy was kind of scary
This poor guy. Outside a market, I was going to buy him some bananas until he followed us into the store asking instead for a pizza.
The most common ask.
I only saw this guy once, who claimed to be 'volunteering' at the gas station for tips.
The Walking Poor