I figure that in the worst economic basket cases like California, these tent cities/shantytowns will become a permanent fixture. California is effectively bankrupt and simply cannot provide assistance to any new homeless. The beds are full.
As the years pass, those people will find scrap materials to build up their shanties. At some point, they even stumble upon some masonry! Then the shanties grow two or three stories high. They develop rudimentary streets and drainage ditches. At that point, California can be proud to have achieved the level of civilization of a Mexico or a Brazil.
We should expect to see similar developments in other California cities, as well as in places like Nevada, Oregon, and South Carolina. In Michigan and Rhode Island people would die from the cold if they tried to live that way, so they'll have to move somewhere warm that has a shantytown.
It's all just part of our descent into the Third World, which ultimately will end in the insolvency, implosion, and fragmentation of the United States, and resultant wars over resources between the successor states.
Texas won't have it as bad for a while, at least until it becomes ground zero for a huge oil war between the Latino southwestern state and a neo-Confederacy that in all likelihood will be keen on the ethnic cleansing of non-whites.
So, in summary, your future probably involves misery, destruction, war, and horrific death. The days when people had the luxury of living in tent cities will seem like a happy memory when most of us are huddling in ruins or migrating to far-flung refugee camps. Enjoy your day!
