<prompt> Human: Not sure if this is the right place to ask this. If its not, please direct me to the right subbreddit.Ive been jobless for almost 2 years and homeless for the last 2 months. During the jobless period, I was living off my savings to pay rent and groceries while looking for a job. Ive completely exhausted all my savings, mutual funds, and stocks trying to survive and get new opportunities, and in final desperation, used my credit card to escape the place I was living in order to get to a new area with job prospects. But now I have a major delima: Im now homeless, jobless, and 4000 in credit card debt and growing, since I need that to eat with with no means to make any payments. Currently, I have flawless rental history and excellent credit at least until the end of this month and I dont wish to mess up my credit by not being able to make payments. I really would like to get a rental apartment so I can have a base for my job search instead of living out of my car and I could actually look presentable, showered, and rested, and I dont want to destroy my great credit.I have one last resource: my 401k which has about 28k in it. I am now in a better location with much better job prospects Pacific Northwest, so it shouldnt be much longer without a job -- my fingers are crossed, although its been 2 months of looking and many interviews with no luck. However, getting a rental or being a room mate in a place while having no money isnt an option, hence the 401k withdraw.My questions are: can I cash out my 401k can I cash it out with minimal penalties since Im jobless, homeless, and by every definition, poor is there any other advice you can give me.About me: 34 with an MS degree in engineering the market is saturated with people who have lots of experience and education in my particular speciality who has kissed his financial security goodbyeEDIT 1: Thanks for all the advice. Ill look into SNAP and other state assistance and try not to take out my 401k. As for the credit card payment, Ill have no choice but to miss a couple of payments. I may have some side jobs coming in shortly, so that may change. Things are certainly going better now that Ive moved -- 4 interviews in 2 months compared to no interviews before I moved away from where I started. My speciality of engineering is over saturated, so its difficult.EDIT 2: Before I moved to the Northwest, I applied everywhere for every job. I did get a single offer to be a busboy. Thats when I had had enough, packed my bags, and got on the plane out of that place.  <response>: Desperate times call for desperate means. While i would normally advocate against raiding someones retirement accounts, in your case I think you are out of options. Whats important right now is your basic life sustaining needs like food and shelter. Once you get back on your feet, your priority will be to replenish your retirement accounts. 