Homeless: Can you build a life from $25? — CS Monitor
Adam Shepard left his comfortable life, and became homeless, intentionally to test if anyone really could make it in America. His goal was to have a car, a furnished apartment, and $2,500 in one year.
To make his quest even more challenging, he decided not to use any of his previous contacts or mention his education.
During his first 70 days in Charleston, Shepard lived in a shelter and received food stamps. He also made new friends, finding work as a day laborer, which led to a steady job with a moving company.
Ten months into the experiment, he decided to quit after learning of an illness in his family. But by then he had moved into an apartment, bought a pickup truck, and had saved close to $5,000.
He tells the full story, aside from a bit more in the article, in his book Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream.