Update On The Container Housing For Tent City

Spoke with Mr. Jones yesterday - you'll recall that he is who had the fabulous idea - and the resources - to bring the containers down to Tent City.

Turns out that, according to him, they've been "raising the price" on the containers so he decided to scrap that idea and instead is using his factory to produce 12'x8' prefab wood units for the area.

The plan is to erect one at the site later this week, then have those stakeholders involved take a look at the finished product. So long as no one tells him "no" on additional units in the area, he'll then move forward with the construction of another 10-12 "storage units." 

The construction will be done both by some of Jone's own crew and some of the residents of Tent City.

Those who are displaced in the area of the construction will have first dibs on the initial units going up.  A local church will provide single beds and mattresses for the units, but they will not actually be set up as residences.

Instead, they are considered storage units for the folks' "valuables."  If the good peeps of the camp want to stay the night there to protect those valuables, well, that is their prerogative.  

The plan to bring shelters to the camp is a great one but questions out the wazoo remain about the whole effort, not the least of which is how to stop codes from throwing a supersized feces-fit about wooden buildings being erected within the inner freeway loop of the downtown area.

Once - if? - that particular  hurdle is cleared and the units actually go up, who will determine who gets them?

While we have a comprehensive list of the folks in the camp that were there at the time we did the initial count, there are people who have been off and on in the location for years and who may have just happened to have been gone at the time that count occurred.

One of those is my client and dear friend "Double-Cheeseburger," who's been living in Tent City for a lot longer than some slated for one of those units, but happened to be serving a few months due to a DUI he picked up back in the spring.  That he's been left out of the count should not preclude him from being eligible for a unit there and I have a feeling there'll be more than a few who will share similar circumstances - and will have similar demands.

Perhaps the biggest issue yet to be resolved is how to limit the number of folks at the site because that is really what set the wheels in motion for the initial closure order.

If 20-30 portable storage units are placed on the site and the folks currently living in homemade structures take over them, who will stop others from commandeering the residences and/or empty campsites left behind?  Who is going to tell newcomers to the site - as well as old residents who've gone and periodically return - that they cannot camp on the land that makes up Tent City? 

Many of the folks I know on the street don't pay much attention to some of the standard rules already; I highly doubt some will give two turds what someone else tries to tell them about not being able to camp at Tent City; they'll set up housekeeping there anyway and tell ya to kiss their asses as they chase you outta their camp.

And they'll have a point, since the state actually owns the property.  There will be no one with the authority to tell one homeless person they are allowed and other homeless folks they aren't, because anyone who takes on that role not only has no legal authority to enforce such a proclamation but also almost certainly sets themselves up for a Civil Rights violation that I suspect would end up being be a fairly easily proven discrimination lawsuit.

Furthermore, anyone who works for the homeless yet takes the position of telling homeless individuals where they can and cannot rest their coconut each night runs the risk of destroying their future ability to assist them - for anything or any reason.  These folks are grown adults and many of them are desperate, hopeless, tired and hungry.  The rules you and I follow, while applicable to them, aren't viewed by them in the same way they may be to me and you. 



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And lets not forget that throughout this whole effort, there never has been any doubt in the minds of those working to bring these units to the camp that this is merely a temporary measure designed to assist camp residents with making it through the winter.

When spring arrives, the whole ballgame changes, it's why these units are being constructed on sled runners.

When the time comes to relocate or move them, it will be a relatively easy task to do so.   Whether the people follow them out remains to be seen....

I'll have some pics of a finished unit here as soon as one is constructed......