Posted on 09/12/2016 11:05:04 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
Just like during the last economic crisis, homeless encampments are popping up all over the nation as poverty grows at a very alarming rate.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half a million people are homeless in America right now, but that figure is increasing by the day. And it isn’t just adults that we are talking about. It has been reported that that the number of homeless children in this country has risen by 60 percent since the last recession, and Poverty USA says that a total of 1.6 million children slept either in a homeless shelter or in some other form of emergency housing at some point last year. Yes, the stock market may have been experiencing a temporary boom for the last couple of years, but for those on the low end of the economic scale things have just continued to deteriorate.
Tonight, countless numbers of homeless people will try to make it through another chilly night in large tent cities that have been established in the heart of major cities such as Seattle, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis. Homelessness has gotten so bad in California that the L.A. City Council has formally asked Governor Jerry Brown to officially declare a state of emergency. And in Portland the city has extended their “homeless emergency” for yet another year, and city officials are really struggling with how to deal with the booming tent cities that have sprung up…
There have always been homeless people in Portland, but last summer Michelle Cardinal noticed a change outside her office doors.
Almost overnight, it seemed, tents popped up in the park that runs like a green carpet past the offices of her national advertising business. She saw assaults, drug deals and prostitution. Every morning, she said, she cleaned human feces off the doorstep and picked up used needles.
“It started in June and by July it was full-blown. The park was mobbed,” she said. “We’ve got a problem here and the question is how we’re going to deal with it.”
But of course it isn’t just Portland that is experiencing this. The following list of major tent cities that have become so well-known and established that they have been given names comes from Wikipedia…
Camp Hope, Las Cruces, New Mexico [1] Camp Quixote, Olympia, Washington State[2] Camp Take Notice, Ann Arbor, Michigan[3] Dignity Village, Portland, Oregon Opportunity Village, Eugene, Oregon Maricopa County Sheriff’s Tent City, Phoenix, Arizona New Jack City and Little Tijuana, Fresno, California[2] Nickelsville, located in Seattle[2][4] Right 2 Dream Too, Portland, Oregon[5] River Haven,[6] Ventura County, California[7][8] Safe Ground, Sacramento, California[2] The Jungle, San Jose, California[2] Temporary Homeless Service Area (THSA), Ontario, California[2] Tent City (100+ residents) of Lakewood, New Jersey[9][10] Tent City, Avenue A and 13th Street, Lubbock, Texas[11] Tent City, New Jersey forest[12] Tent City, Bernalillo County, New Mexico[13] Tent City, banks of the American River, Sacramento, California[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Tent City 3, Seattle Tent City, Chicago, Illinois [1] Tent City 4, eastern King County outside of Seattle The Point, where the Gunnison River and Colorado River meet[23] The Village of Hope and Community of Hope, Fresno, California[2] Transition Park, Camden, New Jersey Tent City, Fayette County, Tennessee, [2] Camp Unity Eastside, Woodinville, WA [3] China Hat Road, Bend, Oregon
Most of the time, those that establish tent cities do not want to be discovered because local authorities have a nasty habit of shutting them down and forcing homeless people out of the area. For example, check out what just happened in Elkhart, Indiana…
A group of homeless people in Elkhart has been asked to leave the place they call home. For the last time, residents of ‘Tent City’ packed up camp.
City officials gave residents just over a month to vacate the wooded area; Wednesday being the last day to do so.
The property has been on Mayor Tim Neese’s radar since he took office in January, calling it both a safety and health hazard to its residents and nearby pedestrian traffic.
“This has been their home but you can’t live on public property,” said Mayor Tim Neese, Elkhart.
If they can’t live on “public property”, where are they supposed to go?
They certainly can’t live on somebody’s “private property”.
This is the problem – people don’t want to deal with the human feces, the needles, the crime and the other problems that homeless people often bring with them. So the instinct is often to kick them out and send them away.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t fix the problem. It just passes it on to someone else.
As this new economic downturn continues to accelerate, our homelessness boom is going to spiral out of control. Pretty soon, there will be tent cities in virtually every community in America.
In fact, there are people that are living comfortable middle class lifestyles right at this moment that will end up in tents. We saw this during the last economic crisis, and it will be even worse as this next one unfolds.
Just like last time around, the signs that the middle class is really struggling can be subtle at first, but when you learn to take note of them you will notice that they are all around you. The following comes from an excellent article in the New York Post…
Do you see grocery stores closing? Do you see other retailers, like clothing stores and department stores, going out of business?
Are there shuttered storefronts along your Main Street shopping district, where you bought a tool from the hardware store or dropped off your dry cleaning or bought fruits and vegetables?
Are you making as much money annually as you did 10 years ago?
Do you see homes in neighborhoods becoming run down as the residents either were foreclosed upon, or the owner lost his or her job so he or she can’t afford to cut the grass or paint the house?
Did that same house where the Joneses once lived now become a rental property, where new people come to live every few months?
Do you know one or two people who are looking for work? Maybe professionals, who you thought were safe in their jobs?
Don’t look down on those that are living in tents, because the truth is that many “middle class Americans” will ultimately end up joining them.
The correct response to those that are hurting is love and compassion. We all need help at some point in our lives, and I know that I am certainly grateful to those that have given me a helping hand at various points along my journey.
Sadly, hearts are growing cold all over the nation, and the weather is only going to get colder over the months ahead. Let us pray for health and safety for the hundreds of thousands of Americans that will be sleeping in tents and on the streets this winter.
It’s one of the few honest ones where you don’t buy leads or pay ‘expenses’ per month or do a ‘project 100’ where you are supposed to hand over names/numbers/addresses for the place to have for free. And a lot of people were just sacked from there for not working at all - nice opportunity for someone with a work ethic.
I have tried min-wage job applications, believe me. Dozens of them. I have recieved no response partially because applicants are hitting the mid-high HUNDREDS for each position. You’re literally down to cheap lottery ticket chances of even an interview let alone an offer.
The hardest part is my parents and relatives keep refusing my offer to come sort through momentos and possessions for anything that has happy memories or could be useful, insisting things will someday, somehow be better and they JUST saw a “now hiring” (which should have the w replaced with a t) at XYZ business. Guess they’ll have to sort through the pile at the curb...
Until you die from heroin, which then makes you a victim. And is happening more frequently.
How ironic. We just lost a “destination” restaurant because they couldn’t find workers.
In what city? (I’m in omaha, NE) Family run or chain? If they have an HR department their trouble may have been there...american HR departments somehow can’t find anyone to hire in the worst economy since the 1930s.
Where are you located? I’m in North Carolina, and not in an area that has recovered to some extent like Raleigh or Charlotte. I’m near Greensboro. But, even here, there are jobs. The manager of the local Pizza Hut, storefront takeout and delivery only, no dining room, told me he had a number of jobs that he hasn’t been able to fill, including assistant night manager. Said all positions were eligible for pretty decent healthcare insurance. What applicants he got failed the drug screening.
Omaha, Nebraska. On the fringes of the Papillion/Omaha area.
I inherited the house from my parents. Part of the deal I made with them in the mid-90s was I would take care of them until their deaths. They would assure that I would not have to work after they were gone. In the end, they were not truthful.
Because I would be the heir, they did nothing to correct the problems requiring extensive building repairs. The house’s electrical system needs to be replaced due to age; there have been two fires due to shorts in wiring insulation and the home insurance was cancelled. Basement repairs to stop water leakage during winter were never done, so now there is a massive toxic black mold problem. Real estate agents will not talk to me.
I could probably sell but only if the buyer promised to tear down the structure and rebuild. The land, or parcel, along with improvements, is worth a great deal. I am considering marketing the property as a ‘tear down’.
I can’t be much help with Nebraska, I’m sorry you’re in this circumstance. Have you applied for assistance of any kind? Don’t be shy, you’ve paid through the nose for it all these years.
It was a single owner deal. But they were famous in the local college community. It was always crowded.
The guy just shut it down one day saying he couldn’t get workers.
I’m in SW Virginia.
Vey sorry to hear it SatinDoll.
Are not The Vast Majority of the Economic Problems that cause this a direct Result of Government Meddling??
Don’t we pay our Public Employees and Public Servants large Salaries and Benefits Package far in excess of the Median Salary??
Now Since They make A lot of what I call Undeserved Money to SCREW THINGS UP for the masses while making sweetheart deals for their friends, maybe we need a LAW, Mandating that ALL PUBLIC EMPLOYEES Sponsor at least Homeless Person or Family ANNUALLY, By Bringing them in to their homes to LIVE FOR FREE and helping them get on their feet.
Maybe the Public Masters will do things different if they have to suffer the consequences personally.
Talk to a lawyer. In many cases you can keep your home if you file for bankruptcy. Start here:
Will I Lose My Home If I File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?
In many cases you can keep your home in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/lose-home-file-chapter-7-bankruptcy.html
In Chapter 13 your back property taxes would be repaid like your other debt obligations over the course of your mandated repayment program.
Oh Lordy!
I keep hearing commercials on the radio for “Tax Defenders”. Can they help?
http://www.thetaxdefenders.com/
I have no debts. All I have is the house, my Jeep, and my monthly social security.
people are killed in these camps, women raped, and a guy just this morning was mowed down and killed by a driver and this happened right off I-90..
Seattle has its "jungle"....
but none of this will be brought up until Trump is prez, and then we'll have night after night of crisis building reporting...
just like there is no hunger, no disease right now...
are there any fires in your area?....
In planting some rhododendrons I came across evidence that there was a burn on the housing site, but that would have been long ago when the property was a farm. Today it is part of a home owners association. The house across the street is worth about $750,000.
It is located in Longview, Washington. Democrats control the city and county governments.
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