While these type of homeless settlements, if you will, certainly existed before our recent economic downturn...the issue today is that there are beginning to be more of them as more and more people lose their homes and possessions. As the cold hard reality of the bad economy takes hold in larger numbers than we've seen in a long, long time, shelters are full up. So what do you do?
Back in the Great Depression of the 1930s, similar settlements sprung up too. They were dubbed "Hoover-villes" after the Republican president Herbert Hoover whose administration ushered in the depression.
Maybe we ought to call the influx of tent cities today, "W-villes." Or mabye "Decider-villes."
2 comments:
Tent cities seems to pose more questions than answer; I have followed a few stories in the news over the years and while I have never read of one person within the tent city being a problem; alas the problem lies with the community that it is placed.
There is no doubt the current economy bears some responsibility but there are so many other factors that necessitate these areas in the Seattle area.
I speak of this because poverty in this area seems to be regulated to these "tents" while I am a product of a nation wide system called housing projects.
These buildings were isolated in every way possible which did nothing to assist the citizenry.
Poverty is shame and a testament to the system we live in here in the USA. One group of people get millions of dollars in bonuses for running companies and whole industries into the ground - ruining lives and more - while far larger numbers of people scrape by just to find a roof and something to eat every day.
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