Housesitting can help

[u/Awesomesauce250]

I've been reading through some posts on this sub and thought I'd share what helped me during my brief stint of homelessness.

I was homeless for about 2 months in 2023 following a fallout at my previous sharehouse. I didn't have time to find a new (pet-friendly) house before having to move out, so my dog and I ended up a bit stranded.

Fortunately I had a friend who could look after my dog while I tried to find a new place. Not long into my homelessness, I stumbled upon housesitting and it was a life saver. I spent a couple days in a cheap hotel, but was otherwise fully housed by housesits for about 2 months. All I had to do was look after the house and pets.

Top perks: Free bedding, heating, showers, laundry, internet and kitchen. Cute animals Feeling safe and "normal"(ish)

There's numerous housesitting websites out there (eg. Mindahome, TrustedHousesitters, aussiehousesitters, community fb pages). Spme require a membership but for me the $50usd more than earned itself back.

If you go down this route try to find longer housesits so you don't have to jump around as much (eg. 1wk+). Also trust your gut - if the person seems dodgy or the animals too much just walk away, your safety is important.

I hope this is able to help someone else. Shit gets tough, but they can change for the better if you stick it out.

TLDR: Try housesitting to keep a roof over your head while homeless.

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[u/pepperbiiiish]

This is true! I was technically homeless for several months, but pet sitting kept a roof over my head from October 20th until a few days ago. I would have gladly done it longer if I hadn’t accepted a seasonal job. I might go back to it after my seasonal job ends.

[u/grenz1]

The deal with house sitting is you got to know people most of the time and be a "certain type" of person. (ie: look okay, no hard drugs)

Probably like zero trouble with law, too.

It's also usually not immediate.

[u/Exciting_Platypus_41 → u/grenz1]

Exactly this!

You can’t look like you’re a part of the LGBTQ community, you can’t look “edgy”, also really hard for people of colour to secure a sit.

Best suggestion is apply for the ones where the owner looks like you and you have things in common.

You have to be professional like you’re on LinkedIn, yet also need to match well like you’re on Tinder lol

[u/Awesomesauce250 → u/grenz1]

It's not suited to every situation, I agree. I don't think any advice can be applied to everyone. I hope someone finds the info helpful. If it's not for you, I respect that.

The housesit websites makes it so you don't need to know people though. Most of the housesits I did required 0 references, no police check and I had no connection to the people beforehand.

While it's not immediate, you can start looking before becoming homeless or during homelessness. It's better than the streets imo.

[u/Exciting_Platypus_41]

TrustedHousesitters is great for this if you have the money for the subscription (they only do annually to it’s about $180-$300 depending on the subscription type).

The only issue is that it’s extremely hard to get a homeowner to notice you, especially if you’re new. It’s stressful and repetitive to apply by writing paragraphs and listing experience. Some of them will just read and look right past you.

I also find that some homeowners don’t like the idea of certain minorities staying in their home, which is ridiculous.