Politics America's Tent Cities

The number of homeless in the US has seen a modest decline in the last few years, primarily as a result of a new federal strategy that was launched in 2010 through a new U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH). The USICH coordinates the homeless prevention efforts of 19 federal agencies and partner with state and local governments to help maximize the effectiveness of homeless prevention programs.

The plan does not call for additional funding for homeless prevention (currently at $2+ billion). Instead, it details five overarching strategies to serve as a better road map for using existing funds. The strategies include helping local governments and others build greater capacity to intervene and prevent homelessness, providing better support for affordable and permanent supportive housing, expanding sustainable employment opportunities and access to eligible federal support, linking health care with homeless assistance programs and retooling the homeless response system.

The key, in the short term, is the getting folks into stable (and subsidized) rental housing rather than shelters ASAP and combining that with social service case workers, employment training, health services, etc. It has been particularly successful in assisting homeless veterans, where the VA plays a much greater role than in the past.

Here is a story on Salt Lake City's success.

The long term solution, in part, is a continued federal investment in education/retraining, health services, affordable housing, and a strong social safety net to prevent more folks from failing through the cracks rather than cutting these programs in the short-sighted goal of debt reduction, continued collaboration between public and private (non profit) partners and a community focus on solutions that work rather than stigmatizing the victims.

 

I could have been homeless 10 years ago, if I wasn't being supported/loaned money by my parents to pay for my cheap apartment.

The biggest thing back then was getting over the "being a failure" thing. And it isn't the "you tried, and it just didn't work" type of failure.

Now, I have watched movies like "Into The Wild", "Hold Fast", and survivor TV shows. I also have enough money saved up that I wouldn't have anxiety attacks about not having money to buy food.

I have also realized that there are many people who choose this type of nomadic lifestyle. RV'ers, sailboat cruisers, and bike tourists. I've even met a backpacker who was on her third year and a bike tourist on his second in my travels. I did not know much about this at all when I was poor. Not, that you can be poor and do any of those things, you do need some money up front to get started living the low-cost, low-tax, low-fee lifestyle.

I do wonder, does it ever get boring having to be on the move all the time? Is the grass really greener...but sitting in my cold house that I own 45% of, instead of my bike/tent or a boat in Florida right now, seems like an easy sell.

But, I'm not sure how well you can re-integrate into the house owning, steady job type of lifestyle after you go and do something like that for a few years if you need to. What quality of job could you get? Would you have enough money to pay for some type of medical expense? What about all the healthcare premiums and food costs over the years? Qualifying for medicaid, food stamps and food banks isn't a lifestyle strategy that should be promoted... I could see it if you were going to come back and live with your aging parents to take care of them in 20-30 years, or if you were going to find a commune an live off the land. It's just that these alternatives are never promoted or brought up. You can only "be successful" and have nice things if you have a steady job...the quality of your life doesn't matter, just how big your paycheck is and how much power you have at your job. Then again, what has "success" gotten me. I can go back to my high school reunion, and I have more money saved up than almost anyone else there. I don't show it off, but have had a steady job. A lot of them have a few kids and never were able to leave my hometown. But, having a low paying job for your working years makes more money than getting burnt out at a high paying one in a few years.

 

We had a tent city in Toronto and I visited it. Home Depot bought the land and the city cleared it of the tents.

As far as I know, the land is still vacant.

While we have homeless in the streets that you can see on a daily basis and shelters for them to sleep in, many choose to live in our many ravines and valleys.

 

The question is, what is the step up from living in the woods*? Cheap housing in crime filled neighborhoods? Run-down apartments? Homeless shelters? Shipping container homes? Eco-friendly rammed earth homes (like all new construction should be)? Boats in the bay?

The main issue is dealing with an unstable income. Do you lose your home if you can't pay utilities, mortgage, and property taxes for a year or two if you don't have any income?


*Unless you choose to camp in a tent in the woods like I have many times.

 

We have at leat two communities of homeless people living very near us. I can say with certainty a fair number of them have mental issues and/or addiction problems.

 

Sounds like my family