[timothyrb]

Hello and thank you. I know a homeless guy who has not filed taxes since 1970. He needs medical assistance but is afraid he will be arrested and will not go to the doctor. How can I get him back into the system? He has not made over $3,000 a year since 1970. He makes his income from washing windows and has lived in a small crawl space for the past 35+ years. Thanks
Timothyrb

[charlotte234s]

If you don't have an permanent residence or have a job that actually pays you, you are not required to pay taxes. However, they usually will not provide you with federal assistance for medical bills (medicare/medicaid) without a permanent residence because you need a mailing address.

Either way, he needs to at least visit a free clinic if he needs assistance.

[TiffanyT972]

I agree with Charlotte234s, he will need a permanent address. He may qualify for medicaid & food stamps. Also if he has any mental disability he could qualify for disability. By any chance is this homeless person a veteran of the armed forces? If so there will be medical help provided for him through the V.A. Hospital near him.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

All advice given is accurate. If the MOST he made is $3,000 per year, then he need not worry about Income Taxes on EITHER the federal or state level.

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes, at 3000 a year he did not have any requirements to pay tax.
Not sure what it was in 1970 but they don't go back near that far.

Homeless people can use addresses of shelters for their address, they do this in Atlanta, all the time, they use the address of the Shelter to receive their food stamnps, their welfare cards and more.
Also there are many church groups that allow their addresses to be used for the same reasons.

If he has been on the street for 30 years, he would know every system that is there to get any benefit. Now many homeless have other issues that often make them untrusting of authorities, My opinion, be careful, I work with homeless all the time, and I don't mean this wrong, but often you can't believe most they tell you. If they say their family is dead, they normally have kids that they have not called since they woon't give them money. If they tell you there is no room in the shelter, they are saying they refuse to stay sober in order to stay there.

I know homeless that will not stay in shelters because they have to bathe and shave.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

An informative posting, Fr Chuck.

[Wondergirl]

He can get medical treatment by going to an ER. They aren't supposed to refuse him and a social worker will help with the Medicaid he's eligible for to pay the ER/hospital bill.

Our library homeless guy (almost 69) does this every time he gets really sick, maybe once or twice a year. He has used the homeless shelter as his mailing address, and for the past several years has rented a PO box ($29/six months). He gets food stamps now and has used the local food pantries before that.

There's plenty of help out there for the homeless, but if they take advantage of it, they will probably be asked to attend a church or get a job or stop drinking or be responsible in some way. Many don't want that obligation.

FrChuck is correct in all he said.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Noted!

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes, I have worked with the homeless over 10 years, and 5 of them in Atlanta GA. And yes, the homeless can get medical care at a state funded hospital ( ER) but private hospitals can and do refuse them treatment. But the homeless have access to the interent at public libraries, they have web sites ( free ones)
I know one lady I have worked with and helped for over 10 years, she is a crack addict, she comes by every now and then for some food ( we give some ready to eat can foods)
We have heard every lie there is, but we feed the hungry when they are hungry.

The funniest one was a con lady, who actually worked at doing the con on police departments, she was about 400 plus pounds and in an electric wheel chair, she would come into the dept and ask to charge her chair and use the bath room ( don't want to say what the bathroom looked like after she left) But while there, at various dept she would give different stories, lost from her sister, looking for a place to live, kicked out of her sisters house and so on, so guess what the police officers would take up a collectoin and give mer money to help her get a start, and drive her to a shelter.
Well she would go fro dept to dept. The police were normally too ashamed to report it or write a report.

We noted at least 6 years ago, here in Atlanta, there was room for 80 percent of the homeless inside the shelters at any one time, and in winter they would over pack for all that wanted. But normally only about 1/2 go there.

And we can't always feel that sorry for those, there was a one arm man, who used to beg money at 10th street near I 75 off ramp, he average 300 dollars a day (tax free) but wasted it all on drugs and sex.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Noted again!

[Mobea]

I have a very dear friend that I helped several years ago and took him off the streets and gave him a room to live in my home. I helped him get sober, helped him get a good job, loaned him my car. Then one day (April 15th for all you accountants out there you can appreciate this date) he picked up a drink and within 2 weeks had almost burned down my house by passing out drunk with a lit cigarette, lost his job, etc,etc. He had to go. He's been living on the streets again for 5 years. He could get social security, he could get medical help,(he's bi-polar) but that would mean he would have to stop drinking and abide by "societies" rules. He would rather live this way. He says he has more "freedom". Of course it breaks my heart when I see him, and he has sores all over his body, but he chooses to live this way. His mental illness could be controlled if he would just take his meds. Mental illness is hard to understand but true.

[bushg]

Here in Ohio, I am guilty of giving food, coats, hats gloves even dog food for their pets. I give money for bus fares... yeah right.
My point to this post is that we have homeless shelters that will let them use their address for their checks and medicad/medicare cards if they are willing to let it come there. One of the shelters was offering free hair cuts and foot care... seems as though that is one of the major problems from living on the streets.
We have some wonderful centers that work with the hungry and homeless.

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes, it is the mental ill that I feel really sorry for.

About 10 years ago, many states closed a lot of their mental health facilities in cost savings, They basically dumped 1000's of mentally ill on the streets, they gave them a few days meds, a address of a state hospital they had to go to daily for one days dose of medication if they could not afford to pay for them. No where to live, no where to go. Well after a few days of sellig the pills for food or other drugs, they will not trust anyone to go back for their meds.

So they eventually get arrested, go to court, and back into the state hospital for a month or so, then they are declared well, and given medication and back on the street again and again.

And the bad thing is, many are really nice people who want to make something f thierself, but they end up with a long crminal record because of living on the street and are the most dangerious for the police officers, since some without their meds are extremely dangerous.

[bushg]

Yeah, and Cincinnati wants to build more jails to house them instead of building more mental facilities. We had the same thing happen here years ago. They closed down. Turned them loose. Sad state of affairs. Last year they evicted them from over passes and from various other places but I have noticed that they have moved back in on I 75.

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes, they are moving them further and further east. It is funny ( well not funny) but if they are on the street in some areas ( rich areas) they will get arrested in minutes, other places, they merely get bussed over to another part of town often.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Noted.