Monday, November 22, 2010

The Great depression had Hoovervilles! the great Recession is bringing tent cities


Homeless in America!



During the Great Depression, many families lost their homes because they could not pay their mortgages. These people had no choice but to seek alternative forms of shelter. Hoovervilles, named after President Hoover, who was blamed for the problems that led to the depression, sprung up throughout the United States. The following photos provide a glimpse of some Hoovervilles. In what ways do you think life changed for people who lost their jobs, life savings, and homes, and ended up living in Hoovervilles? Do you think most Hooverville residents had a choice about how they lived? Can you think of anything similar to Hoovervilles in the United States today? If so, how are they different or similar to the Hoovervilles of the Great Depression? click on the pictures, here we go again!

Two years ago I updated my rant about the homeless because as bad as things were getting all of a sudden how they count the homeless was changed and we were told the homeless situation in the country is improving.WTF! I am so sick of the lying the fact manipulation by these scum running the country! I have written so many stories about Homeless dumping by hospitals that is still going on. Stories of increasing homelessness of our veterans that is now around 25% of the total homeless.

I did a post on cities, San Diego in particular opening public lots and guarding them so those increasingly losing their homes can at least have a safe place to sleep in their cars that they increasingly can't afford gas for. I did a story on home foreclosures being up 121% nation wide from a year ago and 330% here in Massachusetts, there is no end in sight. Where are those people going? This is just the beginning as these people most often cannot afford health care and are increasingly faced with food kitchens closed because they have no food are there are too many to feed. THIS REALLY IRKS ME! Wait until the Republicans get their hands on things!

* Well now we hear the truth and it will get a lot worse! Back when I first wrote this and things were better A few tents cropped up hard by the railroad tracks, pitched by men left with nowhere to go once the emergency winter shelter closed for the summer. Then others appeared -- people who had lost their jobs to the ailing economy, or newcomers who had moved to Reno for work and discovered no one was hiring. Within weeks, more than 150 people were living in tents big and small, barely a foot apart in a patch of dirt slated to be a parking lot for a campus of shelters Reno is building for its homeless population. Like many other cities, Reno has found itself with a "tent city" -- an encampment of people who had nowhere else to go. 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. iReport.com: What are tough times forcing you to give up?

"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.

The relatively tiny city of Santa Barbara, California, has given over a parking lot to people who sleep in cars and vans. The city of Fresno, California, is trying to manage several proliferating tent cities, including an encampment where people have made shelters out of scrap wood. In Portland, and Seattle, homeless advocacy groups have paired with nonprofits or faith-based groups to manage tent cities as outdoor shelters.

Other cities where tent cities have either appeared or expanded include include Chattanooga, Tennessee; San Diego, California; and Columbus, Ohio. As we said, The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently reported a 12 percent drop in homelessness nationally in two years, from about 754,000 in January 2005 to 666,000 in January 2007. But the 2007 numbers omitted people who previously had been considered homeless -- such as those staying with relatives or friends or living in campgrounds or motel rooms for more than a week.

In Seattle, which is experiencing a building boom and an influx of affluent professionals in neighborhoods the working class once owned, homeless encampments have been springing up -- in remote places to avoid police sweeps. "What's happening in Seattle is what's happening everywhere else -- on steroids," said Tim Harris, executive director of Real Change, an advocacy organization that publishes a weekly newspaper sold by homeless people.

Homeless people and their advocates have organized three tent cities at City Hall in recent months to call attention to the homeless and protest the sweeps -- acts of militancy, said Harris, "that we really haven't seen around homeless activism since the early '90s." In Reno, officials decided to let the tent city be because shelters were already filled. Officials don't know how many homeless people are in Reno. "But we do know that the soup kitchens are serving hundreds more meals a day and that we have more people who are homeless than we can remember," said Jodi Royal-Goodwin, the city's redevelopment agency director. tent cty's cropping up all across the country Things are not getting better!

** Those have you that have followed me for a while know I keep saying this is just beginning and will dwarf the Great Depression call it what you want and it gets worse but I will shut up!We are already seeing the Hoovervilles of the 21st century thanks to Bush's success and this is just beginning okay I better shut up!  More than 3 years into this they say things are getting better but this too is still just beginning!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com

28 comments:

Unknown said...

Now we find ourselves living under the Bush.

jmsjoin said...

I was just listening to the ass hole on the radio saaying he didn't want to continue these cooperate bail outs but he had to do it to help average Americans. I am sick of this ass hole destroying us for our own good. WTF?

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

u are so right, and what also urks me is the number of homeless who have served in the 2 iraq wars - shameful - u need to weigh in on my last 3 post - all economics

have a great weekend and keep being a free thinker

jmsjoin said...

torrance
Thanks man I have to link to you and I'll do it after this reply. I keep thinking about it gut now I will then I will be by! Not just the Homeless Iraqi vets but the way they are treated in general once they are wounded, no longer serving, or are in need is down right disgusting. It will not improve under McAssHole but it would under Obama!

Middle Ditch said...

Here it's the Gurkha's who are treated very badly after leaving the army. Not quite homeless but very close to it.

lol

You are missing a very good episode of MD

jmsjoin said...

middle ditch!
That is a crying shame to hear about the Gurka's they are such good and dedicated warriors. I am on my way so thanks!

Dave Dubya said...

What progress. We are moving from Hoovervilles to Bushtowns (Bushburgs?) in our Republican Paradise of de-regulated prosperity.

jmsjoin said...

Dave
You want to be able to say the more things change the more they remain the same but as you know, the more things change the worse it gets!

no_slappz said...

I don't know where your information comes from, but the most likely place is someone's imagination.

The homeless problem in NY City is, well, not much of a problem.

Between shelters, free food delivered to various homeless hangouts, and the efforts of volunteers who drive around the city offering all forms of assistance, the homeless get reasonable care.

In New York City the vast majority of the homeless have drug and alcohol problems and/or are mentally ill.

The mentally ill homeless in NY City generally refuse space in shelters and choose to stay on the streets.

As for claims that US military veterans are homeless, well, the Veterans Administration does not agree. While there are undoubtedly some homeless vets, vets are less likely than non-vets to be homeless.

As for the impact of the current financial problems, well, you can count on a full recovery and increasing prosperity.

Your prediction of a catastrophe more damaging than the Great Depression is laughable. But if you really believe your own nonsense, then you should sell everything you have now. That way, when the deflation accelerates, you will have dollars that will gain value because prices will drop if your nightmare scenario were to occur.

But it won't.

jmsjoin said...

no slappz
The links shoot be there. You can google and as usual get totally conflicting information depending on what you want the truth to be in every case today. The homeless veterans figures are widely publicized and of course the VA would dispute them.

Unknown said...

That's it!!!!!!!!

Dammit, I'm changing my voter registration to Republican. No slappz, you've convinved me. Being an old hippie from the 60s, it's time I get in on the free hallucinogenics you guys are taking.

Wingturds rule!!!!!!!

no_slappz said...

average patriot,

There is no reason the Veterans Administration would dispute claims of veteran homelessness if it the claims of excessive homelessness among veterans were true. In fact, the VA would probably benefit from extra funding if the claims were factual. But they are not factual.

Your blog demonstrates a credulousness that is way too common.

no_slappz said...

brother tim,

If you want drugs, you can probably find a homeless guy in NY who has something you will like.

There are homeless crack addicts. I see them regularly.

One Fly said...

This is here and will get worse. It can not be any other way. The wall street traders are as happy as a pig in shit because it won't be them and now we're paying their salary's.

Stave it off for awhile you crooked bastards but the reality remains that the Empire is in rapid decline.

Unknown said...

Forget that......your Repug reasoning is the product of something a lot more stronger than crack can produce.;)

jmsjoin said...

no_slappz
I rely on the VA myself and have a couple friends who have PTSD and live at the VA.
There are some good institutions but I refuse to believe that anyone oculd defend the VA's abyssimal record keeping and care for our older and especcialy our Iraq veterans.
I have a few sons in this and one in particular that really concerns me,

jmsjoin said...

one fly
Yes they will stave it off until Bush is gone or the other scenario kicks in, I wish for the sake of my sons or grand kids that I was imagining things. However the lie we are living is laughingly obvious.
no Slappz don't worry I am prepared. You however are obviously not!

Jolly Roger said...

Remember to call them by their proper names: the SHRUBURBS.

gabrielle said...

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.” Mahatma Gandhi.
We are all one step away from this. And if they have their way, which they will, no matter who gets in, the dealer takes all with one sweep.
Elsewhere on the planet, it turns out, it was more obvious that the U.S. was in crisis. One small sign of the changing state of the globe's "sole superpower" is that, even before banking institutions started to tumble off walls like so many Humpty Dumpties, the International Monetary Fund, that dominatrix of global capital, was planning to pay Washington a working visit. This is the sort of thing you expect, with great trepidation, if you're Haiti, or Pakistan, or Malawi, or Argentina on the brink of financial meltdown -- but the United States? Nonetheless, according to NPR's David Kestenbaum, "The U.S. Treasury says America has now agreed to get a stability assessment from the IMF. The announcement didn't get much attention, but officials at the IMF expect to start examining U.S. finances in the next couple [of] months."
Welcome to the Third World, America

Monique said...

Wow, some discussions here and arguments.

Talking about poverty.

I grew up with parents who had been through the war and material and money meant everything to them (no shoes indoors, pets kept outside, no playing in your bedroom, that's for sleeping only, feet off chairs etc).

When I left home I lived for a while in a commune and material and money were taboos. I agreed totally as I was fed up with all that wealth.

Living was easy, plenty there. Food, heating, hot water and rent was cheap and I enjoyed poverty and sparsity very much. Washing and bathing was done in the kitchen. I had no washing machine or dish washer, those were for the bourgeois. I had a part-time job and that was enough to pay the bills and live in relative luxury.

Then I met my husband and fell in love. We traveled to England to meet his parents.

That first day I experienced (what I know now as real poverty) that they had no hot water, only one open fire (unheard of in Holland) and paid their electricity in a slot in a meter in their hallway! Overtime whilst working was very much (actually still is) wanted because of the extra, much needed, money. They grew their own vegetables and potatoes out of necessity, not as a hobby (as I did in Holland) and I had never ever seen so many charity shops and jumble sales!

I was flabbergasted.

This was not wanted poverty but real poverty. Even though I still recent wealth and material, this kind of poverty is not necessary. Not today, not anymore.

It did however open my (relatively spoiled) eyes.

lol

BTW, you really should check out Facebook

jmsjoin said...

Jolly Roger
Yhep we sure have him to thank for that and it seems every other problem in the country and around the world today. we have all been shruberized and it will not end with Bush if we are lucky enough to even get rid of him.

jmsjoin said...

Gabrielle
Welcome and thanks for that! There are those here that will never get it and think we are imagining it all and exaggerating as you may have noticed by one of the commenter's!
With us being $54 trillion in debt now. It is a lot worse than the vast majority realize and it will get much worse as the worst is yet to come.
I absolutely would not expect the IMF to have an open honest look at our finances. The truth will be hidden as usual in this lie we are living today until the damage is done. I am just stunned that most in the country do not care and there are those that still defend this Fascist mis agenda!

jmsjoin said...

Monique
I didn't know you were from Holland. I was stationed in Germany in the mid 70s and visited there. I loved it! Ingrid who Blogs in the circle and lives in Texas is from there too. Holland was pretty bad during WW!
They had it pretty bad so I can understand your parents. I have to laugh because what you describe is the way I grew up but a lot worse. We were not allowed to sit on the beds either and the furniture was for adults but enough of that!
I am absolutely 100% firmly convinced that we are headed for worse and not just here but around the world and it will not be long.
What is still just developing and it was set in motion by the shrub will dwarf WW2 and the Great Depression combined. As you saw by that commenter there are some who won't get it until it is too late!
I'll shut up! Tell me, what should I see on face book?

David Blomstrom said...

The sad thing is, Americans still aren't fighting back - even after two terms of George W. Dumbass.

Stupid liberals are rallying behind St. Obama when they should have started building a viable third party long ago. The other sad thing is that this crisis has existed for so long...virtually invisible in our public schools.

I worked in public education for sixteen years, from 1985-2002. It was about 1985 that local corporations began taking over public schools here in Seattle. I worked at schools with newly privatized kitchens that served the students pig slop. I'd watch little kids line up every day to dump their trays in the garbage.

Frankly, I think any nation that treats its own children like shit and murders a million people in Iraq deserves what it gets. I just hope the next generation has more brains and higher moral standards than this one.

David Blomstrom

jmsjoin said...

David
Welcome! I know, some will never wake up! I was just at Lydia's and someone was saying they are voting for McCain. It really bothers me that people can't see that war mongering liar for what he is. Here we go again. How are they going to steal this one that is tomorrows post!

jmsjoin said...

David
I was just going to check you out and you have so many Blogs! Is one up my ally? Which one is your flagship?

no_slappz said...

average patriot, you wrote:

"I rely on the VA myself and have a couple friends who have PTSD and live at the VA."

If they live at the VA they are, by definition, NOT homeless.

You wrote:

"There are some good institutions but I refuse to believe that anyone oculd defend the VA's abyssimal record keeping and care for our older and especcialy our Iraq veterans."

You say you "refuse to believe", which means your position is based on emotion, not facts.

Meanwhile, you are running ideas over one another. Providing medical care and related services is one thing. There are obviously cases where the VA has fallen short. However, the VA does assist vets who need shelter.

But no organization can help people who do not seek help, which is a common case in NY City.

I encounter people every day who beg on the streets rather than seeking help from the large number of organizations offering it.

Why do they beg? For money to buy drugs and alcohol. It's not a secret. Food is free for the homeless in NYC. But drugs and liquor are not.

jmsjoin said...

No one said those that live at the VA are homeless. If you want to play, play with yourself. If you are capable of an unbiased truth seeking conversation I will be glad to talk but have not heard anything yet. Anything I say I back with links and you can check the source!