Tenant Law

Tenant Rights are Human Rights

Tent Cities Sprouting Across America as Homelessness on the RiseFriday, September 19, 2008

The Associated Press, via CNN.com is reporting today on the sudden appearance of "tent cities" in cities across America including a camp in Reno holding 150 homeless. The Reno camp is in a space where new homeless shelters are slated to be built.

The phenomenon is also on the rise in places such as: Portland, Seattle, San Diego, Fresno, Santa Barbara, Athens Georgia, Chattanooga Tennessee, and Columbus Ohio.

Following is an excerpt from the story (you can read the whole article here):
From Seattle to Athens, Georgia, homeless advocacy groups and city agencies are reporting the most visible rise in homeless encampments in a generation.

Nearly 61 percent of local and state homeless coalitions say they've experienced a rise in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began in 2007, according to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The group says the problem has worsened since the report's release in April, with foreclosures mounting, gas and food prices rising and the job market tightening.

"It's clear that poverty and homelessness have increased," said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the coalition. "The economy is in chaos, we're in an unofficial recession and Americans are worried, from the homeless to the middle class, about their future."

The phenomenon of encampments has caught advocacy groups somewhat by surprise, largely because of how quickly they have sprung up.

"What you're seeing is encampments that I haven't seen since the 80s," said Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, an umbrella group for homeless advocacy organizations in the California cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland -- and in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington.