of us don’t imagine. We know about people living in cars, under boardwalks, in storage units, literally underground in infrastructure tunnels, etc. But I bet there are more people than we think living in all sorts of unexpected places like this sign. And as the pressure to hide the homeless mounts, they’ll get more creative about hiding themselves before authorities can decide where to hide them. This is Nomadland without the wheels.
In this case, I wonder why nobody noticed this woman coming and going for a year. I guess at least part of the sad truth is that the homeless are invisible to many unless they are in the way and unsavory. I wonder how she got all her stuff up there. I wonder if she had an electricity source within the sign so she could plug her computer and coffeemaker in or if she had to charge somewhere else. I wonder how she stayed warm there in the winter. It’s Michigan! I wonder if she felt safe in the sign because others couldn’t get to her easily there. I wonder why she ended up in this situation. I wonder where she lives now. And I wonder why this journalist didn’t ask or answer any of my questions.
ETA that I went looking for answers to some of my questions and People magazine says this woman is employed but not at the grocery store she was living on top of.