viability of homelessness

Hello Brendan,

Both those statements, sleeping on beaches being illegal and meeting some folks who did this - are things I have written - yes. I met one young man on a flight who sat accross from me and told me that he had moved to St. Thomas with the intention of staying with an old family friend. However after several weeks the living arrangement did not work - and the family friend kicked him out. WIth no where to go, he slept on a beach adjacent to a resort. He explained that he figured it would be safer, as the resort had guards and lights.... He said he did this for several weeks, and then 'couch surfed' for other weeks with people he had befriended. Another young man on St. John said that he moved there and decided living on the beach would be fun, he said he moved with nothing really - so had no stuff to be concerned about and found it fun and exciting.

Although I have known of these two incidences -I can not comment on how normal, regular a situation this is. Obviously these two people passed under the level of detection and were able to do this as if camping out for a time with the intention of getting a residence once job situation allowed. Also they did this without coming into the way of guards or police or into trouble in general.

You doing it, well I suppose its a chance you either are willing to take or not. Of course I would recommend renting a b&b for the time, rather then camping on the beach where you don't know the safety levels or legality. Not likely the cops would arrest you, unless you got in the way or in trouble. If its a resort beach, and the people there notice a tent popping up right in the middle of the beach every night I am sure there might be some questioning in line.

Get a cell phone - if you want to have a contact number, while not having a permenent residence. When applying for a job I would not necessarily recommend saying you are homeless. Perhaps between residences would be a better term.

No places in Charlotte Amalie where i would recommend you stash your bag, Chances are they would not be there when you returned. No bus station lockers, or trains. There are rental spaces for storage. (usually for furniture and such).

Good Luck.

--Islander

Brendan,
You are absolutely out of your mind. We have a murder rate here that is higher than New York City. The cost of a half decent apartment is at least $1000 per month. You will need an address to qualify for public aid, and most people receive less than $200 per month from aid, so do not expect that to float you. The public housing lists are years long, so do not count on that. If you think you are just going to come down here and eat coconuts and lay on the beach you are severely confused. Please, stay in the states. Move to Florida if you want to lay on the beach.

Brendan,

I take my hat off to you. You have the cohones the size of...... does it matter? You sound like you have the determination to make it. I hope you do. A lot of people want to live their dream but are afraid to do so and discourage others along the way. You on the other hand are taking the first step to doing it. I hope and pray that it all works out. Good luck!

Of course, tell us of your adventures. STT is chock full of internet access places. A lot of people could learn from your experience.

NO hats off here. Stay home, make some money, then when you have a small bankroll, move here to look for a place to live and work. trust me, you won't be welcomed coming with only the shirt on your back. Too many varaibles to make it work for you. The place is too small!
Ronnie

Wow, I never imagined my innocent query would inspire such dismissive vitriol from some. I suppose people with money will always harbor strong resentment for those without it. As for the murder rate on the Virgin Islands being higher than that of NYC, don't make me laugh! The highest murder rate in the country belongs to my hometown of New Orleans, LA, where it's nearly 4 times higher than in New York! Detroit is about the only city that even approaches the dangerousness of N.O, and it's still a distant second. Check out the statistics here: http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:GBr-IzYDLYgC:www.andsoforth.com/Murder_in_U_S_Cities.html+murder+rate+cities&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Incidentally, I AM surprised that there is even that much violent crime on such a sparsely populated group of islands. All my sources indicated that crime was fairly low and that it was generally quiet and laid-back.

My point is, living on the streets and being harassed by authorities and the landed gentry for my poverty and homelessness would not be a first, so I could probably stomach it during a transition period. I spent several months living out of my car in New Orleans and sleeping on the beaches in California after I lost everything in a fire last year. I was just trying to get some of the particulars before I make the commitment of buying a one-way ticket.

Thank you for the encouraging words, Patrick, and the sound advice, Islander and others. However, the responses on the whole confirmed my suspicions that the only people who can afford to move to the Virgin Islands are retirees and plain old rich folks. After all, when the annual cost of living is in excess of 30 grand and the jobs pay closer to 20 grand, something's gotta give. That's how it is in most of the U.S., anyway, but at least there's sunshine and cheap booze down there, so maybe I'll give it a shot eventually.

-Brendan

P.S.: Anonymous person: feel free to e-mail me directly. No hard feelings, and no premature judgment, I promise! Just don't spam me or anything, please!

Brendan,

Do not be discouraged by the statistics on murder and crime. A lot of it is drug related and can be localized to certain areas. I used to work in a trauma center ER in Brooklyn, NY (area where Mike Tyson grew up) and I would say that 90% of our trauma patients were there due to drug related circumstances. Yep.... that crack cocaine goes a long , long way.

I beg to differ when you say (and I quote) " only people who can afford to move to the Virgin Islands are retirees and plain old rich folks". If that's the case, then how do the locals suvive? After all, it is said that close to or slightly more than half of the local population of STT is below the poverty level. But then again this is based on income tax filed. So there are a lot of discrepancies.

Also, annual cost of living is not in excess of 30 grand. Were you thinking about New Jersey? I would say it is closer to a bit over 20. A lot of income is not declared in the USVI as cash goes a long way. If you were reading other topics on this forum, it was mentioned that a lot of people build houses with one or two apartments tucked away for supplemental income to take care of the mortgage. Now are these sources of income declared? I don't think so! See what I mean?

I am not discouraging you because I think of my father-in-law who grew up there(STT). One of nine kids (he is now in his sixties) living in what is now considered nowadays as a shack. Goes on to make it and sending two kids through college is quite a feat.

I guess what I am saying is that if you have the heart and determination, you will make it.

As for me? I am one of those plain old rich folks you were referring to....... just kidding!!!
Oh how I wish! 😉

Hey, Patrick,

I arrived at that 30 grand estimate from that previous poster's comment that, "The cost of a half decent apartment is at least $1000 per month." If apartments are indeed that expensive, that's $12,000 a year in rent, and we haven't even talked about a deposit, food, transportation and other expenses yet. And as Islander pointed out, food and all products have to be shipped in, so are naturally more expensive. So it seems it would have to be much higher than $20,000 a year, more in the 30 to 35 grand a year range. But I lived off of less than $8,000 my first year out of college, and my resourcefulness and tenacity has been honed by pretty hard times. I just think it would be really tough to pull it off without a car to stretch out and go to sleep in. I don't have the money to ship it.

A friend from New Orleans now lives in Brooklyn and he has been astounded by how safe New York feels in comparison. Just as you said, he claims the dangerous neighborhoods are pretty isolated and bound up with drug trafficking. New Orleans is utterly terrifying in comparison. I assume the Virgin Islands would be more like N.O. since tourism is the only real industry in both places and there are deep-seated racial tensions historically rooted in the slave trade, apartheid, etc. But I'm sure there's nothing like the random violence we face here.

I would be all too happy to work here and save up money, if there were work to be had on the mainland. Heck, I probably wouldn't be trying to move anywhere if I could even find a job bussing tables. But it sounds like the natives, like your father-in-law, are the ones who can make it there because of their connections and stuff on the side. But how quickly could a random dude like me hope to be integrated into that little galaxy of backroom deals? Probably not very. "If you have the heart and determination, you will make it," you say, but I'm not sure I have either, and it would be hard to nurture it if The Man comes down on me for sleeping on the beach.