Renting is a choice. Choosing a particular apartment at a given price point to rent is also a choice.
Where are the minimum-wage-affordable apartments in nyc?
“Choice”
If people could manage stepping off the boat at Ellis island with maybe a suitcase but not a scrap of English or a dollar to their name a hundred years ago, people can manage a trip out of the city or out of the state today. Hell, today there's probably a subreddit and series of Youtube tutorials that will lay the plan out for you step by step.
I'm not saying it would be easy, but it's obviously not impossible. Being able to move isn't a sign of privilege in modern society, stability is privilege. The poor are always at risk of losing what little they have and needing to move on or start over.
Otherwise you wouldn't have given that advice, since simply buying a bus ticket doesn't save them from barely even being able to afford food. Right?
You implied it was simply an issue of buying a bus ticket - magical hand wave. It’s not pedantic to ask the obvious follow-up question: then what?
It's not difficult. I moved thousands of kilometers and countries away on my own.