Well it doesn't sound like a choice. What makes you think so? The about text from a site that preceded the homelessness by some years?

I don't know where cheap rentals are in the US (Detroit?), but presumably $600 a month isn't going to get there, pay rent, deposit and keep her alive.

People do live off of ~600$/month in the south west. No need for heating and you can get away without cooling. An acre of land is as low as ~1,000$ or so to buy. Add some minimal shelter, water, and minimal electricity plus some very minimal taxes..

It's not what I would call pleasant, their are few jobs, and transportation is an issue. However, basic food and shelter can be really cheap.

That's surprisingly cheap. Would your $1k acre have permission to put up a dwelling (there are some land restrictions here in the UK)?

Not sure what I'd do near retirement age in that situation. I'd be torn between staying near work I might not get for age discrimination reasons, and building a retirement cabin to see out my days looking at trees and surfing the net. If I had health issues I might want reasonable distance to doc and hospital.

Not all land let's you build there, and water is often a larger issue in the south west. But, the point is when land is cheap renting it is also cheap. Budget shelter at say 120$/month, food at 60$/month and living off of 600$ / month becomes far more reasonable. Transportation, and entertainment can be hard. At 55 walking a few miles to town and back with say 20lb of supplies might not seem so bad at 70 it's a much larger risk. Eventually most people flat out can't drive or walk so there are also end of life issues.

PS: Medicine is also a huge issue, but such is life.

Young healthy people can get away without cooling in the southwest, but can an elderly person who has been hospitalized thirteen times in the past year?

For the most part they don't need active cooling. At near ambient temperatures and low humidity it's generally easy to keep cool assuming your in the shade and not actively moving. With a well designed house it's often stays in the upper 70's to low 80's even during extreme heat because the nights are often cold.

The real issue is many structures are designed to be actively cooled so they get much hotter than ambient temperatures which is an issue. The urban heat island effect also tends to make thing far worse for homeless populations.

People will also do things like fill a cheap kiddie pool with water under a tarp which will take the edge off. In extreme days you can even add some ice cubes to that, but just as heating a kotatsu is much cheaper than heating a room this is fairly cheap. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu

PS: I recommend using a comforter to make a low cost Kotatsu out of a computer desk in you use your PC near the window in the winter. You stay comfortable at a much lower room temperature.

Not having active cooling in the arid southwest US does not necessarily mean dangerously hot during the day. When night-time temps can hit the 50s and 40s in higher elevations, a house with decent mass can remain comfortably cool throughout the day if you ventilate properly at night.

A shack she could afford would not have decent mass or decent walls.

Where is this 1000$ an acre of which you speak?

Near Arizona/Texas. Just as an example http://www.landwatch.com/Apache-County-Arizona-Land-for-sale... 37.5 Acres, for $25,500

That specific case may have all kinds of issues, like any purchase buyer beware. You generally want someplace close to people that let's you live there. Further, transaction costs are not free. However, the point is land is cheap, making renting it cheap, not that someone would necessarily want to buy any specific part of it.

I think that her blog and personal site are making the best of a bad situation. If she was focused there on homelessness it might have a major impact on her ability to get temporary, freelance or permanent work as well as on her readership and any income she can get from that.

The fact that she's currently without a permanent residence doesn't change any of the other things you quoted, any more than someone taking a lower-skilled job during a downturn would mean that "working retail is a lifestyle choice."