Well, I was immigrating to USA from Iceland to live with my girlfriend who was studying at SF-State. She had only a room that she was renting, and her landlord didn't want an extra person staying there. We decided to by a VW van simply to avoid paying rent. It was a really good decision. We didn't have much money, but had enough to live comfortably. In fact it is really easy to live in San Francisco without spending any money. I cooked for food not bombs, we dumpster-dove at Rainbows, got more fruit and veggies at The free farmstand, and went out to dinner every Tuesday at Curry without Worry (I recommend it for everybody). I even acquired my tech skills at Noisebridge.

We had a kitchen in our bus, so we cooked most of our food. We even made homemade jam and tried to make granola in our van. We had a french press, on sometimes invited friends and our neighbours over for coffee. We even had internet most of the time (donated by friendly neighbours at the pipe organ factory).

We had planned for me to successfully immigrate (that is legally, we got married and all) but the bureaucracy and the money and uncertainty it would have taken was overwhelming (marriage is not enough if you don't have money). So we just decided for me to stay there illegally while she finished her school.

We moved to Reykjavík before I had overstayed for too long (6 months have no severe consequences for a white boy like me), where I work at a small startup as a web-developer and designer. It was really wonderful times. In fact the freedom of owning your own place (that is our car) was awesome. Of course there were difficult moments, not being able to shower frequently was one of them. But all in all the experience was good.

As for whom to help if you care about the homeless. In my view just general good manners are always the first thing that I thing of. Not to call the police on people would be a good start. Oh yes, and if you have a business that throws away food don't lock the dumpstes. Organizations like Food not Bombs, and Homes not Jails are really helpful. Of course my experience is radically different from people that become homeless out of desperation, and in fact their experience is radically different from people that become homeless out of drug addiction or mental health problems (which is also a really varied group).