“Newbie” got his nickname after joining an encampment in the woods off Highway 18 in southwest Jackson. Originally from the Midwest, he moved to Jackson after Googling “what is the cheapest place to live in the United States?”
He started panhandling for money, sometimes getting $50 a day. Eventually, he built a makeshift home out of campaign signs for President Donald Trump and Jackson Mayor John Horhn.
But as Jackson rethinks its approach to homelessness, Newbie could soon be forced to trade this unstable dwelling for a real home — one with first and last month’s rent covered under a public-private partnership that Horhn’s administration is working to bring to the city…