I'm having a very tough time with the transition from having lived in a homeless shelter for the past 2 years and 3 months. I know that people who don't have experience with being part of a stigmatized population probably don't understand that. No matter what people's issues are, they are still people, and when they are your peers and you're all in the same situation, to suddenly leave that situation is jarring.
I am definitely less agitated in some ways, because I'm sleeping enough, don't have to rummage around in a locker every day to take things out and put them away, don't have to carry a heavy backpack around for hours, have places to put things such as my toothbrush without having to pick them up and put them in a bag and take them out again later, don't have shelter staff telling everyone when it's time to get up, time for dinner, time to move from one section of the shelter to other sections, and everything else that people who have never been homeless take for granted.
I am more agitated in some ways, because I had tons of people to talk to from the time that I woke up to the time that I went to sleep. That also includes some of the people who worked at the shelter. When I criticize the social services, it's because the system is lacking in fundamental ways that have to be addressed if the system is going to be functional. It doesn't mean that everyone who works at homeless shelters is a bad person.
I am fortunate not to have a drug problem. I understand why people who have drug problems and who move from homelessness to apartments can't suddenly develop healthy coping skills. The shelters ought to have programs to help people develop those skills while people are in the shelters. Instead, the entire homeless population is being characterized as a population that can't progress past the ability to live in "supportive housing," for which the Pine Street Inn is, conveniently for the Pine Street Inn, a landlord.