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wow... that's sad. Cmon timmy were are going on a permanent camping trip.
A tad ominous.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...t-America.html
Pictured: The credit crunch tent city which has returned to haunt America
A century and a half ago it was at the centre of the Californian gold rush, with hopeful prospectors pitching their tents along the banks of the American River.Today, tents are once again springing up in the city of Sacramento. But this time it is for people with no hope and no prospects.With America's economy in freefall and its housing market in crisis, California's state capital has become home to a tented city for the dispossessed.
Rich and poor: The tents and other makeshift homes have sprung up in the shadow of Sacramento's skyscrapers
Shanty town: The tent city is already home to dozens of people, many left without jobs because of the credit crunch
Those who have lost their jobs and homes and have nowhere else to go are constructing makeshift shelters on the site, which covers several acres.As many as 50 people a week are turning up and the authorities estimate that the tent city is now home to more than 1,200 people
In a state more known for its fantastic wealth and the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, the images have shocked many Americans.Conditions are primitive, with no water supply or proper sanitation.Many residents have to walk up to three miles to buy bottled water from petrol stations or convenience stores.
Ben Cardwell, carries supplies to his tent at a homeless settlement
Tammy Day, a homeless woman, cooks potatoes on a campfire at the site
At other times, charity workers arrive to hand out free food and other supplies. Joan Burke, who campaigns on behalf of the homeless, said the images of Americans living in tents would shock many. 'It should be an eye- opener for everybody,' she said. 'But we shouldn't just be shocked, we should take action to change things, because it's unacceptable. 'It is unacceptable that in this day and age we have gone back to a situation like we had during the Great Depression.'
Homeless: Keith and Tammy Day cook dinner
Authorities in Sacramento, where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has his office,
admit the sight of families living in such poverty is not pretty.
But faced with their own budget crisis and a £30billion deficit, they have had little choice but to consider making the tent city a permanent fixture.
The city's mayor Kevin Johnson said: 'I can't say tent cities are the answer to the homeless population in Sacramento.'
Shanty towns sprung up during the Great Depression as people lost their jobs and homes
As America's most powerful state California had the same gross domestic output as Italy and Spain, but it has been among the hardest hit by the recession and housing crisis.Foreclosure rates last year rocketed by 327 per cent, with up to 500 people a day losing their home. Coupled with massive job cuts that have seen one in ten workers laid off, many people who once enjoyed a middle class existence are now forced into third world conditions. Former car salesman Corvin and his wife Tena are among the newest residents of the tent city.
Tent city residents queue up to receive supplies handed out by a local charity
The couple, who are in their fifties, lost their home and jobs around the same time. With homeless shelters full in Sacramento, they had little choice but to use what savings they had left to buy a tent. The couple admit they have yet to tell their grown-up children about their hand-to-mouth existence. Tena said: 'I have a 35-year-old son, and he doesn't know. I call him, about once a month and on holidays, to let him know that I'm well and healthy. 'He would love me anyway, but I don't want to worry him.' The shame of Sacramento's tent city was given a much wider airing after it was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show which is watched by more than 40million people a week. Many of those who have found themselves homeless worked in the building trade. But with no new home builds and as many as 80,000 people losing their job every month, there is little chance of employment. Governor Schwarzenegger last month approved a budget to address the state's deficit, ending a three-month stalemate among lawmakers. As well as increasing taxes, he has imposed drastic cuts in education, healthcare and services that will affect everyone living in the state. Many of those living in the tent city are pinning their hopes on President Obama's $787billion stimulus package which is aimed at rescuing the economy and creating jobs. The President has also announced plans to save the homes of nine million people from foreclosure by restructuring their mortgage debt
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FWIW.
I have taken to giving small amount to our local utility assistance fund. Our family's budget is pretty tight, but I figure there are those who probably need it worse than we do.--RG
Last edited by RandomGuy; 03-09-2009 at 02:31 PM. Reason: modified format slightly
wow... that's sad. Cmon timmy were are going on a permanent camping trip.
as long as they aint finding their way over here.
I saw this on the Today show this morning. It was shocking. It just makes me so thankful for the things I have, and also thankful that San Antonio hasn't been as badly hit by this economy.
Seems like a bunch of whiners to me. If you're so down on your luck and things are so bad that you've relegated yourself to living out of a tent then why not simply move. Take every last cent and get yourself in a city that at least can employ you at the local McDonalds or Janitorial business. I refuse to believe that they are left without anything equitable in the blink of an eye. At some point they had stuff to sell....a tv, stereo, bed or some basic furniture that could have equated to at least a few hundred bucks to buy a train ticket to a better town. At least pick up the phone and call around the country and land yourself a job that could get you buy. Buy your bus ticket and sleep in a shelter until you can get enough going to get an efficiency apartment.
This entire thing seems like either an exercise in stupidity or glorified homeless people pretending to be down on their luck.
There are income controlled housing all over this country. The internet is free at the library and they could fill out fast food applications all day long. I'm not buying this bull .
Depends on how sudden it is for starters.
It also depends on how much those jobs pay.
If you are banking $6.60/hr after taxes (soc sec and medicare) that translates roughly into $1300 per month, full time (40 hrs/week)
Apartment, $700 month, utilities $150/month, food $200 month, health care, clothes etc... If you had ANY debt at all, the job would still not pay enough to keep a roof over your head, especially if you have kids.
I dunno, don't you think it might be better to ask somebody to spend a little bit of time figuring out why they are there, rather than jump to conclusions, and make policy decisions based on bad guesses?
It's hard for me to feel for these people.
I was born into poverty and I live paycheck to paycheck now. None of this economy bull is new to me. I've been in a bad economy for over 30 years now.
I don't get why people like this so much. There are jobs out there. You may not want to do them, but they are there.
I've been pretty much working non-stop since I was 7 years old. I started out working with my family in the fields. I gaurantee you that if these people made the effort to look somewhere other than their city, they'd be able to find jobs.
I don't see the problem here. It's nothing a few bulldozers can't take care of.
I bet you these are the same people that made fun of kids and family members who bothered to educate themselves.
, some of my family members called me a "nerd" for going to college. They now live in the projects ing about being poor.
them, all of them.
If you are that down on your luck you'd qualify for food stamps. An efficiency apartment could run as little 200 a month. When I met my wife her brother lived in an income controlled rent complex and had a two bedroom two bathroom for 425 a month. It wasn't the ghetto either. When your income dips below poverty your children qualify for health care. All of this is temporary. A means to an end.
A car salesman living out of a tent is a compilation of laziness and pure stupidity. There are many many many avenues available at no cost to assist the unemployed.
I'd rather help someone crawl their way out of poverty then to just simply give them handouts.
as for you people that are saying they are a bunch of whiners n stuff, I hope you guy's never get in that situation. Sure they could do this or do that, but nobody knows what they're going through unless ur in their situation. As far as moving to other cities to find work ? they're living in tent, how the they move to another city ? walk ? everything cost money.
We've all been there. Some of us are willing to dig our way out and others prefer to wallow in a tent.
No way they went from living like a normal person in an apartment with clothes and a TV and some furniture to having nothing and living in a tent. That rarely happens overnight. At some point there was something...anything that could have been pawned or sold.
Worst case they can collect cans and work the web out of the library until they land a minimum wage job and buy the 150 dollar bus ticket. I could beg my way to a bus ticket in a weeks time. Pack it up and move. Until then apply for emergency food stamps to feed yourself and find a shelter with a shower.
There is no excuse for this kind of living. There are so many programs and handouts available to prevent this kind of lifestyle.
Sympathizing with these degenerates only fuels their desire to continue their "woe as me" at ude.
I believe I saw the same segment on the Today Show a few days ago.
One of the things I heard mentioned a few times were parents that did not want to ask their children for help.
SWALLOW YOUR ING PRIDE!
They said they didn't want to give their children an additional burden.
IF YOU RAISED YOUR KIDS RIGHT THEY WOULD BEND OVER BACKWARDS TO KEEP THEIR PARENTS OUT OF A TENT!
Too bad none of these people are on the public library internet reading this.....
survival > pride
sounds like fun for a few months
then it would just get old
I will lose some of my "liberal" cred and say I would tend to agree for the most part.
If you are really highly motivated, you can find SOME job somewhere, and there is always SOME help.
BUT
I would still want to get some sense of what the real reasons are for the problem, and not want to fully jump to conclusions before that.
AND
A lot of that help tends to be harder to get than most realize from what I understand. A lot of people simply give up on waiting and filling out forms, then waiting some more.
Dude, if I could convince my wife to let the family live in a tent for just a year, we could pay off the majority of our debt.
I was in the army and would be fairly comfortable for a year doing that, but she would hate it. The kids (two boys 5 and 2) would probably love it, aside from having to give up most of their toys.
I have half seriously asked her about it. She... declined, to put it mildly
Unemployment and job placement take a little work but emergency food stamps can be had the very same day. That would at least get them by temporarily until some additional funds can be located. Shelters are free and rarely turn people away. Day labor is always an option.
i would try it if hard times became serial hard times
Pack it up and move where? Buy a bus ticket to what destination? You think showing up in a random city with no money and no possessions is going to get you into a better situation than a tent in Sacramento?
Believe me, I think that it is extremely important to consider personal responsibility. If any of these people could have made sacrifices to avoid homelessness and chose not to because of pride, that's their bad. After working in property management for ten years, I am certainly familiar with the fact that some people just make foolish decisions and act irresponsibly.
That being said, it's foolish to assume that people in this situation are inherently lazy. Are there tons of programs out there to help people deal with hardships? Sure. But not everyone is aware of those programs, not everyone qualifies for those programs, and there is still a lengthy application process to go through. A process that becomes even more lengthy and more difficult if you're trying to deal with childcare or maintain employment or prepare to move at the same time. A job in this market, no matter how crappy, isn't a guarantee either. I've been trying for months to find a brainless, minimum wage, retail job in which I can pick up a few hours and stretch the money I'm living on, but I haven't been hired yet.
property management ranks with IRS collection, tow-truck driver and narc as lowdown heartless a-hole job
no offense
None taken. I hated doing it, but worked for family and got stuck.
Meh.
Maybe it's just me, but I never expect for anyone to give me hand out and for the government pay for my way of life.
I'm not lazy. I make my own way in life.
But, hey, if you're happy having others do for you what you can do for yourself . . . more power to you.
I agree.
You don't go from a normal life to homeless overnight.
Dude, there was this guy on the cleaning staff working at UTSA who was killed by some stupid s while he was working on his taco stand. When they printed his story on the paper, it turned out that the guy had three jobs.
He had three ing jobs. Three ing jobs!!
Meanwhile, these people can't find one??
I know, I know . . . they're in Sacramento, not San Antonio. But, you're going to tell me that you can't find anything, not a damn thing, in the city??
No one needs a dish washer? No one needs someone to wash their car? No one needs their lawn mowed? No one needs to have their garbage picked up? No one needs to hire someone to flip burgers, fry chicken, bake pizza, or any of that stuff?
Come on!
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