Reddit Forum for Near-Homeless Users Grows to 85,000 Subscribers

The r/almosthomeless subreddit on Reddit has grown from 69,000 to 85,000 subscribers in the past year, according to third-party analytics tools. Wired reported that the forum receives 14,000 visitors and 700 posts per week, with users exchanging local resource information and accounts of financial hardship.

Shaun, 41, said he is sleeping outdoors in Payson, Arizona, after completing a detox program and being discharged from a sober living facility.

He visits the subreddit to compare his situation with others and express gratitude for available aid. Scotty, 39, lives in a decommissioned ambulance obtained from a formerly homeless acquaintance and travels through New England for seasonal farm work.

He fled an abusive relationship in 2024, spent weeks seeking a domestic violence shelter bed without success, and stated that homelessness appears more widespread than a year earlier.

Calista, 43, lost a remote job in February 2024 and has submitted more than 1,000 applications for full-time positions while falling three months behind on rent in Florida. Dana, 46, a software developer and single mother, was laid off in November partly due to the AI boom and has faced four layoffs since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keith, 35, survived a 2023 suicide attempt that left him with a spinal injury, stayed in woods outside a hospital, then secured a Salvation Army shelter bed and gas station job before moving into a studio apartment in January.

He now expects eviction and has warned that newly homeless younger users may encounter online scams. Margot Kushel, director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UC San Francisco, cited a 6 percent increase in older adults experiencing homelessness for the first time between 2023 and 2024. She linked service shortfalls to effects from H.R.