Couch Surfing - Tumblr Posts
Some info about Point In Time counts and statistics around homelessness in the United States!
[ID: Slide 1 of 9, White text on a grey background reads: "Any statistics around homelessness are greatly under-represented, here's why" next to an arrow directing to the next slide, at the bottom, it reads "chronically couchbound"
Slide 2 of 9, in the same style, reads "The numbers that tell how many unhoused people are in the United States are done using something called Point In Time (PIT) counts." the bullet point below it reads: "PIT numbers are used to identify needs for services, and help shelters qualify for funding." The last bullet point reads: "PIT numbers only count people who are legally considered homeless (couch surfing isn’t considered homelessness, legally) This means PIT counts are only counting people in shelter beds, and those visibly sleeping outside."
Slide 3 of 9, in the same style, bullet points read: "Pit counts are the only required count of unhoused people in the US across the country." the next reads: "Every other year, official PIT counts include people not living in shelters, however, many communities try to count both sheltered and unsheltered people every year." The final bullet point reads: "These counts are the closest to an accurate representation of homelessness we have in the united states, and still is lacking."
Slide 4 of 9 reads: "Why?" at the top of the page, below reads bullet points: "PIT counts are done on a random night in January every year." the other bullet point reads: "On this random night in January, it’s often freezing. When I was unhoused in New England winters, I can tell you I wasn’t sleeping outside. I’d stay up and walk around if I couldn’t find a place to crash, and sleep in the daytime. I knew sleep meant death. Most people who do sleep outdoors are usually hidden well because that means warmth and safety."
Slide 5 of 9, in the same theme, bullet points read: "Most shelters simply do not have the funding to staff outreach workers to go out to do full PIT counts. Even if they have the funding, it’s hard to find unhoused people, so staying out the whole night as an outreach worker is difficult." the next bullet point says: "From unofficial counts done similarly to PIT counts in warmer months, it’s easy to see booming numbers of unhoused people. More people aren’t unhoused in the summer, it’s just less dangerous to sleep outdoors."
Slide 6 of 9, in the same style, bullet points read "PIT counts especially misrepresent unaccompanied youth, disabled people, and other marginalized people, because they’re often couch surfing or more hidden from the public while homeless. Couch surfing is not legally considered homelessness." The next bullet point reads "Many communities report zero unaccompanied unsheltered youth, which is often inaccurate in reality." The final bullet point reads: "Lack of youth shelters, and beds in youth shelters, play a huge part of this discrepancy."
Slide 7 of 9, in the same style, bullet points read: "The lack of knowledge, safety, and support in accessing services makes it harder for youth to be connected with service providers and less likely to be counted in PIT numbers." The next bullet point reads "Increasing awareness of PIT counts, and local service providers could help give more accurate counts, but we need more youth-based services that have active outreach teams in order to achieve better (and more accurate) counts of unhoused youth."
Slide 8 of 9 reads: "What can you do to help?" at the top of the page, below reads three bullet points: "Share this post & comment to spread awareness" The next bullet point reads: "Volunteer with a local homeless service provider, such as a shelter, nonprofit, or soup kitchen to help with PIT counts" The final bullet point reads: "Share, contribute to, or create local resource guides, or add or verify information for resources online (such as on Google or the shelter app) to ensure they're up to date."
Slide 9 of 9, the text reads : "Follow for more: Chronically Couchbound" Below the text is the logo, a white silhouette of a house, in front of it, a black silhouette of the disability symbol, and behind it, a light grey "prohibited" sign. The logo is on a black square background. End ID.]
Houseist; houseism
•Prejudice, stereotyping, antagonism or discrimination against unhoused/homeless people.
•The material or idealogical discrimination against unhoused/homeless people.
• I coined this term to describe my lived experiences of being discriminated as a homeless/unhoused person.
• Just as saneism is a subset of ableism, houseism is a subset of classism.
• Homeism/homeist was created by a PhD researcher— not by our community.
• I’ve spoken with many other unhoused/homeless/houseless people who said this term was helpful to them
How do you start couch surfing? My parents are homophobic and I'm a lesbian (still closeted to everyone but my therapist) and I'm disabled and burntout. It would take me 10+ years to graduate college and I don't know if I could get that far.
so tired of posting about housing shit lol i feel like if i rot into the earth it is what it is. but i don’t have a place to stay past thursday again. going to a youth resource center to do a screening but i feel like nothing’s gonna happen in time and that my option is just gonna be shelters for the night and wandering during the day.
still having a chronic illness flare up. meds i was on was causing horrible side effects so my doctor told me to stop taking it and i have to wait until my appointment with a derm next week to start treatment, long process.
i feel so hopeless and alone and tired. i just want housing and i hate that this is so hard. i literally just want to work and have a place to sleep. and i don’t have the money for anything, let alone a hotel again. i don’t even have money for my chronic pain meds when i see my doctor because i’ve been out of work for the week and will probably have to be out this week as well.
why does it have to be so hard? i didn’t ask for chronic illness. i just want to live a normal life. i don’t have the support team or anything to have stability if i started the process of applying for disability if i stopped working. but i like my job, a lot. my body just hates me and i hate it.
anyways. venmo chaseallxn paypal.me/chxseallen whatever whatever i don’t think i’m gonna make it out of this one alive folks
I live in a zoo...and am currently couch surfing cause the tourists have descended.
Today I piled everything I need day-to-day into my car to start couch surfing until I can find permanent housing. Is this what it feels like to be a stray animal that people feed and let sleep under shelter?
Hey, I am just wondering if anyone has some advice or resources for me and my friend.
A friend of mine has been kicked out by her guardians (she's 18). She's coming to stay with us for an unspecified amount of time. We aren't very close, but my family is willing to do what we can to help.
Are there any resources for her? What should I know living with a new person? How can we support her? How do we communicate with her? How do I cope as someone who gets overwhelmed by being around people too much and struggles with change?
Any help would be appreciated
Holy shit, I have a blog! I have a safe space in this hell scape of couch surfing!! IMMA USE IT!
So based on my recent misadventures, imma call this
“What I was prepared for, and what I wasn’t when moving in with a single father of three”
What I was prepared for!
Constant noise. Constant. Think of it like a mosquito that just won’t leave you alone but instead of a buzz its the sound of TikTok’s and YouTube videos on loop. Not even the good ones, the really obnoxious ones like “I try to stuff ten candles in my nose, and you won’t believe what happens next!!!”
Constant mess and always needing socks cause floor is bad texture tm
Dishes always being missing, because they are lost to the unknown abyss called “the kids’ room”
My younger dog falling absolutely in love with one of the kids because they will play with him for as long as he wants
Exclamations about how the kids eat everything
“Soooo, how’s the new house search going?”
Reminders of the deadline to do taxes
Dad jokes
Dad jokes hidden in dad jokes
Yelling of “GO TO BED!” At night when the buzz of YouTube and tiktok exceeds past curfew
Overhearing heated discussions about childrens movies
The dad constantly judging my own dad, and it leading to ‘Dad Rants’ tm (ex: “what do you mean you didn’t learn how to read a clock till 8th grade?! That is a failure on your dad. No I’m not apologizing.” “You’re 20 years old and you can’t do taxes? What is wrong with your father that he told you you didn’t have to do them??” “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WERE ALMOST GROUNDED FOR TRYING TO TALK TO HIM WHEN HE WAS ON THE PHONE AND YOU DIDN’T KNOW!?”)
What I wasn’t prepared for!
The dad falling head over heels for my older deaf dog (like incredibly head over heels, he would die for this 20lb dachshund)
The kids reaction to just how short I am (its very)
Having to walk my dogs every morning first thing before I even know I’m alive because they don’t have a yard to do business in
Being overly confused when the house is quiet for a change
Accommodations for my height????? Like what??? Thats never happened before!
The dad constantly being scared of scaring me because hes big and loud and shaped like my dad, when he knows that I have The Trauma
The kids looking at me like I’m a ghost walking through their house
“Seriously, I’ve seen your old house, all your dad could do was build shelves.” “I mean he built tables too and my loft bed-“ “THOSE ARE JUST BIG SHELVES, NO MAN NEEDS THAT MANY SHELVES, AZ!! THERE WASN’T A SINGLE WALL IN THAT HOUSE THAT DIDN’T HAVE AT LEAST 3 SHELVES ON IT!! HE HAS A SHELF OBSESSION AND IT IS NOT HEALTHY, MUCH LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE I’VE HEARD ABOUT YOUR FATHER!!” (He’s not wrong.)
Every living person in this house being a gamer and speaking languages I don’t know (i play Genshin impact and mobile games and thats it, idk about stats and buffs man)
‘Dad Rants’ tm about how he wants to help me grow a spine three times, like the grinch with his heart. (This was the actual analogy used)
The long winded yet cool ramblings about wood working and how the dad wants to make tables for a living
Long winded yet interesting ramblings about how chairs are really hard to make
“WHY ARE YOU SO SCARED OF ME I JUST WANT TO HELP YOU IT HURTS MY HEART TO SEE YOU SO FRIGHTENED!!”
Being beckoned to the kitchen thinking my dogs did something when really the dad just wanted to give me food cause he made too much (like he didn’t even say hi he just called my name fog horn style, told me to come closer in a gremlin voice then handed me a bowl of fried rice. It was good fried rice but boy was i confused)
Long winded yet cool ramblings about Christmas plans for his children
Overhearing heated discussions about methods of removing a loose tooth
And last, but certainly not least because I blue screened when I saw it
Finding a baby tooth, bloody side up, on the bathroom counter centimeters away from my toothbrush.
power’s been out since early yesterday morning and i have nothing but my work laptop, harrow the ninth and the long way to a small angry planet to keep me sane
I am couch surfing right now but already starting to overstay my welcome. Please I need help. Anything helps.
please help me get my own place and donate to my cash app $erinbbbb I seriously cannot live like this any more god bless