"There is a message ringing loud and clear from Tent City. We should all look closer and listen."

Bob nails it - "unmet needs."  Like decent jobs with livable wages ($10+ an hour in Nashville, according to Dr. Melissa Snarr from Vanderbilt), quality education that is easily accessible, drug and alcohol treatment, expunging of criminal records filled with "quality of life" citations, and most importantly, AFFORDABLE HOUSING.  

I've been saying if for years here now; it's a matter of priorities and people are going to do what they need to do in order to survive.  Folks are going to meet their unmet needs, either by traditional means or, when pushed to the wall, by any means necessary, and complaints and/or threats by government officials, police officers, property owners or private citizens aren't going to make one whit of difference to those who are barely surviving in the first place.....

Tent City's 'unheard' message is being heard

Bob Jackson
Tennessee Voices

Tent City is viewed by different people in different ways.

In a recent article, Metro Police Commander Damian Huggins called Nashville's Tent City a threat, saying it represents "safety concerns and an increase in downtown crime."

Conversely, in the same article, a homeless advocate viewed it as an alternative to living on the streets and as a default means of getting needed help.

Looking at the crude structures of Tent City, it's easy to get caught up in the obvious visual problems and not realize there is an important underlying message that begs to be heard.

That message is "help me."

While Tent City is a community of homeless, each person has become homeless for their own specific reason. They need individual help, not a one-size-fits-all solution.

An article in The Tennessean Oct. 6, "Some find new home" mentioned a person who had an apartment but gave it up to move back into Tent City. Why? His apartment was lonely.

The message of Tent City has more to do with unmet needs. Many psychologists, like Abraham Maslow, will agree humans are driven by needs. People will do whatever it takes to meet those needs, even live in makeshift structures in places like Tent City; where their need for food, shelter, protection and possibly in some strange way, self-esteem, are being met.

In Maslow's hierarchy, what's possibly not met in Tent City is self-actualization. There is only so high you can go when living on the outskirts of society.

I have been working with the homeless since 1992, and during that time I have heard the stories of hundreds of homeless men and women. I understand the message of Tent City, and I hope you will begin to understand it, too.

I am the director of Matthew 25, a program providing emergency shelter, transitional housing and support services to homeless men since 1986. We have provided this aid by identifying and addressing their individual needs. When those needs are addressed, the "whys" are answered and the solutions become those of the homeless and not society's.

We've experienced this at Matthew 25 since we opened our doors in 1986 to help eight men. We now provide emergency shelter and transitional housing for 50 men. We also sublease permanent housing to program graduates at several apartments throughout the city.

There is a message ringing loud and clear from Tent City. We should all look closer and listen.