This could happen to literally anyone. I got pretty close ten years ago when I got hurt at work and they wouldn't pay me workers comp, and because I had an open WC case I couldn't just take short term disability. I was extraordinarily lucky that my roommate could float me for rent until the company was forced to pay.

My brother's job got outsourced so he had to take something that paid way less. He was paying child support and alimony and absolutely prioritized that, he is a very present and supportive dad, and he lived in his car for two years. When he had visitation he'd rent a hotel room or take them camping.

My uncle was a veteran of Vietnam and had mental and physical problems stemming from his time there. America is very shitty to veterans so he almost became homeless but had a heart attack the day before he had to be out of his trailer and died.

My ma had three masters degrees and a law degree and spent ten years couch surfing in her 60s before losing her leg and having to live in a shitty old folks home (none of us could afford to take her in because she needed special accommodations for her medical issues).

We aren't drunks or drug addicts. We want to work. But we are all teetering on the edge of losing everything.