Tent cities around the country are being systematically dismantled while the national homeless population continues to increase. I don't care who you are, if you find yourself homeless, you're going to very quickly begin to view "the rules" as something that don't always apply to you, because our society is not set up to live off the fat of the land anymore.
Taking away tent cities - especially those TCs that have a heavy advocate and social service presence and are actually being used as a staging point to deliver services to folks - simply forces people to go elsewhere and someone somewhere is going to feel that impact. You're simply moving the problem to places you don't yet know about and not correcting the problem in any way.
Second, seeing this issue unfold emboldens those who would shut the camps down because they are ignorant of the fact that for many, there is no other place to call home. This ignorance also encompasses the understanding of the services and ability to serve a portion of this population in a simple, efficient and inexpensive manner. Social services aren't cheap kids. Chasing folks across the city, or starting services and then losing contact with the individuals because they've been forced to move and now cannot get back to the agency worker costs us all a lot of money.
As a side note, Commander Huggins was down at Tent City here in Nashville recently, tacking up "no trespassing" signs. No real new news here, although I would add that he was tacking the signs up inside Tent City proper, as I've been told, and he previously stated to Pastor Doug Sanders that he would only be posting these signs on each side adjacent to the main portion of the camp.
This new posting is disconcerting, to say the least. Not sure whether it's indicative of coming action at the camp but one thing everyone can count on; Metro PD has from the git been advocating the closing of this camp.
That they haven't been able to close it is only because of the perseverance of advocates who've fought tooth and nail to keep the camp open, and for several of those advocates, the battle has forever damaged their credibility with many who work with the homeless population in some way, shape or from in this city.
It would be a real shame, not to mention a nightmarish hardship, for those who use the camp as a stepping stone back into "regular" society to now lose this one safe place to call home until something better can be obtained. I know of at least three people who have recently gone to the camp after being unable to find services or housing anyplace else.
One of those men is a 70+ year old man suffering from dementia and who's social security is barely enough to buy a food box.
It's a pretty sad testament to the failure of us all when an old and alone man finds the only open arms for him in our society to be at a homeless camp....
‘Tent City’ of Homeless Is Rejected in Florida
Skip O’Rourke/St. Petersburg Times
Mimi Paez, center, clapped after the Hillsborough County Commission voted to deny a request for a homeless encampment
That may be the lesson of a 4-to-3 vote Tuesday by the Hillsborough County Commission, which killed a plan from Catholic Charities to create an encampment for the homeless in Tampa.
It was the end, for now, of an emotional dispute between residents fearful of the homeless and advocates who had argued for immediate help in a county with the state’s largest homeless population and where the recession has been especially severe.
Frank Murphy, president of Catholic Charities for the St. Petersburg Diocese, said the commissioners sidestepped a problem that had been ignored for years. “They just don’t think it’s important, I guess,” he said.
The plan would have used a 12-acre church lot to serve 250 people for up to 90 days in tents and small “casitas” that look like wooden sheds with windows. The diocese opened a similar camp two years ago in nearby Pinellas County, and Mr. Murphy emphasized that the plan for Tampa would have included background checks for the people placed there, along with fences and a round-the-clock police presence.
“People call it a ‘tent city,’ ” Mr. Murphy said. “It’s more a social service model where people come in and do a lot of case work, where we ask, ‘How can we help this person?’ ”
The closest residential neighborhood, East Lake, is across a divided highway and behind a row of businesses — 1,200 feet away in all. That was not nearly enough for Randall Woosely, 46, an unemployed former cab driver living with his sister in East Lake, who came to pressure the commission to vote no.
“I’ve been in jail; I know this criminal element,” Mr. Woosely said, noting that he had just served 10 months on a charge related to stolen property. He added: “I’m not opposed to helping homeless people. It’s just this is no place for that.”
County leaders agreed. Three of those who voted no — Al Higginbotham, Kevin White and Ken Hagan — said there must be a better place for the homeless. They also cited crime as a concern, despite testimony from the police in Pinellas County, who called the camp there a success. Mr. Higginbotham initially seemed to favor the idea. “In these tough financial times, someone has stepped forward and has been willing to reach out a hand of generosity,” he said. “That’s what this country has been founded on.”
Then he introduced a motion to reject the plan. For explanation, he read accusations from police incident reports at the Pinellas County camp, including those for domestic violence, theft and an alleged rape. He offered little context: In the rape case the victim was a camp resident who had recently smoked crack cocaine and refused to prosecute.
The impression Mr. Higginbotham and opponents created was that of a lawless shantytown where the homeless would benefit from programs paid for with tax money — an idea many saw as unfair. As Mr. Woosely’s stepfather, William Aguiar, put it: “I’ve gotten by. If I can manage that, so can anybody else.”
Few opponents of the plan accepted advocates’ arguments that the recession had pushed otherwise hardworking families into the streets, or that the needs were greater than the current infrastructure could handle.
Linda Hinson, 61, a retiree in East Lake, said defeat of the camp plan meant “I don’t have to go out and get a gun.” She declared that there were already enough shelters.
“No there’s not,” interjected Tom Atchison, director of a social service agency with 120 long-term beds for the homeless.
Mr. Atchison told Ms. Hinson there was a six-month wait for a bed, but she ignored his comment. She kept talking about crime as she pushed an elderly neighbor in a wheelchair toward the parking lot.
