Back in the real world:
“The day after her funeral he was told to leave his apartment.” A landlord can tell you to leave but it takes months to actually accomplish an eviction. No one pays medical bills rather than rent.
“If he worked a job on the books the creditors would take so much of his earnings he’d still be living in a tent.” How much would they be taking?
A lot of these “stories” tend to be “incomplete”.
That occurred to me too in reading that story.
If this guy was that much in debt with medical bills, he really should have seen an attorney to see what his legal rights were.. Bankruptcy may well have been a possibility. Perhaps too late for him now. It’s true if you don’t take action, you can have wages garnished.