The View From Tent City, U.S.A.

by Steven Samra

Published February 27, 2009 @ 07:33AM PT

Readers: I am thrilled to introduce Change.org's newest guest blogger: Steven Samra. Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, Steven is a homeless outreach worker and active in his community's efforts to combat homelessness through outreach, advocacy, and public awareness. He also blogs over at Stone Soup Station. His contributions to Change.org will focus largely on the view from the ground, that is, community-based efforts and challenges in the fight to end homelessness. Welcome, Steven! -Shannon Moriarty

"Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest"
-Robert Montgomery

Having worked the streets of Nashville, Tennessee as a homeless outreach specialist for the past two years, I've had ample opportunity to spend time in a number of homeless encampments, or "tent cities," that dot Davidson County's urban and rural areas. But my first experience with a "tent city" arose not as an outreach worker, but rather as a guest-resident of one.

More than a dozen years ago, in the Central Valley of California, I was a strung out addict, spending every dime I possessed chasing black tar heroin. I cannot count the times I lost everything I owned - and loved, as well - as a result of my 30-year addiction to drugs, especially opiates, but to elaborate now would take more time and space than I'm sure you have.

As a result of that addiction, I often found myself wandering penniless and jonesing around the streets of cities in Central California, in the ugly position of trying desperately to kick my habit while praying for a fix in the very near future. This was always accompanied by a frantic sub-agendum; searching for a place to lay my head for another night.

On one particularly lousy afternoon, I sat shivering, nauseated and dopesick on the curb near a local carwash, wishing for quick death but resigning myself to suffering through yet another episode of opiate withdrawals. A couple of friends passed by and quickly recognized that I was in very bad shape and about to get much worse. They both lived in a camp along the Oroville River and took me home with them. I was in no condition to argue.

After I "recovered" from my self-induced stupidity, I spent considerable time at the camp, enjoying the camaraderie, abundant food and numerous friendships that formed among the people in this neighborhood. And yes, I called it a neighborhood, because regardless of what you might think, larger homeless encampments can most certainly be considered neighborhoods.

Tent Cities are not a new phenomenon in the U.S. "Hoovervilles," a name given to encampments that formed during the Great Depression as a direct result of the disastrous policies of President Herbert Hoover, were a familiar sight in many cities and towns across the country. Unfortunately today, as the country endures eerily similar economic hardships for millions of Americans, the need for tent cities has again arisen and we are witnessing a veritable explosion of homeless encampments around the country.

And frankly, not much has changed regarding the composition of homeless encampments from the time I was a part-time resident of one myself, and I doubt they've changed much from the time of Hoovervilles, either. The people I meet in camps as an outreach worker today are typically no different than the collection of people that lived in that Oroville River Camp, or for that matter who are living conventionally on Anystreet, in Anytown USA at this moment. Except for the fact that they aren't residing in traditional dwellings.

Prior to the foreclosure fiasco, this was usually because of a few bad personal choices, and who hasn't made one or two of them over the course of a lifetime? Unfortunately, when combined with barriers to housing and a lack of resources that most of the rest of us have either been able to overcome or have never had to address in the first place, many of the individuals in these camps find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and homelessness. Today however, I (along with every other outreach worker in the country) have been witnessing an increase in "first-time" homeless; people who, through essentially no fault of their own, saw their job end or head overseas, watched as their overpriced home foreclosed, wore out their welcome at Aunt Sally's or Uncle Joe's, and finally landed in the street.

These people are a different breed of homeless. They are almost always stunned when they discover that the safety net they thought existed thanks to their tax dollars has holes big enough to drive a battleship through... and they're on the battleship. Now these folks are establishing their own camps. And they, unlike many of their brethren on the streets for years, are not going quietly into that dark alley. Instead, they are forming camps and they are demanding services be provided to the camps, to boot.

There is no doubt that there are some interesting and... colorful characters in camp neighborhoods, as well as the occasional individual or two you probably wouldn't want to take home to meet mom. But there are also people in camps who go to work every day, people who take care of the needs of the "neighborhood" by cutting firewood and procuring supplies, and people who help with the upkeep of the camp's common areas.

In many camps there are "old-timers" (original or long-term residents) who act as "civil servants," keeping order and ensuring camp rules are complied with. Often these particular individuals authorize new "campers" into the area as well, and they are typically the individuals who dispense "justice" for problems arising among members within the camp, (and this usually entails a rapid removal of the offender(s) from the camp). If police intervention is needed, it is often because something has been perpetrated upon a member of the camp by an outsider, rather than the other way around, or resident-on-resident crime.

One of the most common misconceptions I've found among outsiders is that homeless camps are fraught with danger and one's safety is always at risk while living in or visiting a camp. The truth is that in many camps, this is often a perception perpetuated by savvy members of the camp to keep uninvited nosepickers from coming into the area to rubberneck. Also, because most folks' belongings are typically easily accessible, keeping intruders who have no business in the camp from entering helps minimize property theft. Violence and serious crime within the camp is typically kept to a minimum and the average person is usually far safer walking through a homeless encampment than they are traversing most city streets on foot, but this is a well kept secret.

To be fair and honest, many homeless camps do have their fair share of troubles, drugs and crime, and bad things occasionally occur in them. Some are in better condition and better run than others, just as it is with various neighborhoods around any city or town. I've been in camps that have been so nice and tidy you didn't want to leave. I've also encountered sites that were overrun with vermin and trash; in Nashville's Tent City, I've found both examples, sometimes side by side. But cities don't typically dismantle an entire neighborhood simply because someone was robbed at the bus bench, beaten up in front of the corner store, or suffered from a rat infestation.

Unfortunately for many homeless encampments, complete demolition, with very little or no warning beforehand, is usually the norm when incidents in the neighborhood escape the privacy of the camp and make it into the public purview.

Of course, traditional neighborhoods aren't usually built on land that doesn't belong to the developer, either, nor are they constructed without any consideration for building codes, so it's an understandable, albeit often coldhearted approach by exasperated city officials charged with ensuring codes and community standards are enforced.

Individual local responses to homeless encampments vary based on several points; how well-informed the local citizenry are on issues related to homelessness, the population size and condition of the camp, public perception of the camp, and whether law enforcement and/or public health can make a case that the encampment either poses a health and / or safety threat to local property owners and businesses or, in the case of Nashville's most famous camp, whether the camp creates a homeland security risk (more on this in a moment). Another important factor in deciding actions against the camp revolve around just how much publicity - and whether that publicity shows the camp in a favorable light- will be generated by actions against the camp.

Some cities are more progressive than others in their responses and approaches to the presence of encampments within their boundaries. Kings County Washington's "Tent City 4" has been established by formal ordinance and several other cities around the country are considering similar ordinances, including Nashville, Tennessee.

Although Nashville has escaped, at least at the moment, the more dramatic impact of our global economic downturn, many other problems and issues have coalesced over the previous several years to create tremendous barriers for those seeking traditional housing. Lack of employment opportunities, a dearth of affordable housing and little hope of newly created units in the foreseeable future has helped generate the conditions necessary for widespread homelessness within the city. Draconian local and federal restrictions on public housing tenancy, a Section 8 program with a waiting list of 2 years,, and a hodgepodge collection of scattered, uncoordinated and woefully under-funded services needed by those on the brink of homelessness adds to the mix. Factor in a lack of readily available treatment facilities that keep folks from entering rehab in a timely fashion, add zealous police enforcement of "quality of life" offenses, which then stigmatizes the recipient with a criminal record, and it's not hard to understand why more and more people are "hitting the bricks" every day.

To its credit, Nashville recognizes that there is a problem with the "system" and, as the community slowly works towards correcting these problems, understands that there is at least a temporary need for the existence of homeless encampments.

To its discredit, Nashville is currently engaged in dismantling Tent City, the largest (the population fluctuates wildly at times, but is consistently around 50) and oldest (in existence since the mid 1980s) homeless camp in the area, which is slated to close June 1, 2009; sooner if outreach workers are able to find housing for the remaining residents.

The rub here is that, when one examines what several members of the local Homelessness Commission believe would make an ideal setup for an official homeless encampment, Tent City fits the bill almost perfectly. Except for one small but important aspect.

Tent City lies on State land, which is under the control of the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). It also happens to be almost directly under a pair of major freeway overpasses and it is here that homeland security issues arise, according to local police, who worry that an attack on the bridge could more easily be accomplished under cover of "camping" in the area. It's a stretch, to be sure, but where there is a straw, some will grab.

TDOT has a strict no-trespassing policy, as well as a policy of not allowing any structures to be placed on land adjacent to roadways. I know this well, since I am often called to help transport individuals and their belongings after they have been identified by TDOT as "campers" near freeways and ramps. TDOT has been sympathetic to the "compassionate removal" of the inhabitants of Tent City, but they have emphasized "removal" as the desired outcome.

Fortunately for Nashville's homeless, public support for their plight has been increasing as awareness campaigns have generated a deeper understanding of the conditions that create homelessness and the difficulties individuals face once they become homeless.

As the economic tsunami engulfing the world continues to rage, the population of people experiencing homelessness continues to increase, while resources to assist them continue to decrease. This is happening everywhere, and regardless of your perception on the causes of homelessness, one thing is certain, every single one of these people will need a place to lay their heads tonight. If we as a society cannot ensure we provide plentiful and affordable standard housing, then we had better be able to provide safe locations for people to "make do" on their own, because they will, and have for centuries.

Homeless encampments, if they are set up correctly and run properly, offer far more benefits to individuals experiencing homelessness than any city street or alley can ever provide. With that said, it is important for planners to keep in mind that the single most important element in establishing a quality encampment is to include members of the homeless community in the planning stages.

From the safety and security of numbers to the dissemination of critical information to the efficient delivery of services, goods and resources, having a homeless encampment that acts essentially as a transitional housing complex makes perfect sense in a time of desperate need, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the time of desperate need is now upon us.

Let us all hope that those in every city who can make it a reality are listening....

[Photos by Steven Samra]