The ‘Nearly Homeless’ Subreddit Is One View of Wealth Inequality

Dana, 46, and Calista, 43, are two Florida women who turned to the subreddit when they thought they might be fired for being unemployed for too long.

Calista told WIRED that she has applied for more than 1,000 jobs since she was fired in February 2024 but doesn’t seem to be getting any interviews. He says he has three months left on his rent. “I’ve never experienced homelessness like this,” he said. “It’s really helpful to see other people’s stories, to see what they’ve tried, that same connection.”

Dana, who has extensive experience in software development, says she has been laid off four times since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, most recently in November, in part because of the rise of AI. A single mother discussed the possibility of living in a tent with her son, who had just graduated from high school. “A lot of people are in similar situations,” Dana said of the stories she reads online. Honestly, it has helped me a lot in thinking that I am not alone. This is different, he says, from the stigma of poverty that he feels in his city.

Politicians and commentators who demonize the homeless as drug addicts — like former TV personality Spencer Pratt, who ran a failed mayoral campaign in Los Angeles that called them “zombies” on “super meth”—it’s distracting from what’s going on, says Margot Kushel, director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UC San Francisco.

“What we’re seeing in the homeless population is not just a sudden increase in people with mental illness or substance abuse,” he says. “What we have is that the rent is very high.”

The harsh ways homeless people are portrayed in the media is adding to the “already burden of homelessness,” says Kushel, with groups like r/mosthomeless challenging these issues and making people visible.

Keith, 35, of South Carolina, reportedly attempted suicide in 2023 after a long battle with alcoholism. He explains how he survived jumping off a bridge but broke his back. After he injured his back, it became difficult for him to work or do anything physical because of his injuries, and he ended up homeless. He started sleeping in the forest outside the hospital where he said he regularly received treatment. Keith said: “I was just sitting there, like trying to get into the medical department or something. “They would just reject you.”

After that, Keith says, he found a place at a Salvation Army shelter, got a job at a gas station, and in January moved into a studio apartment, sober and “creating something like a normal life,” he says. However, he has recently begun to worry that he “sees the years ahead slowly slipping away.” Regular restaurant jobs, including washing dishes and preparing dishes, have become impossible with her back problem, and she has avoided further medical treatment for fear of the cost. Now they are facing deportation, and fear returning to a life of homelessness.