Tent City in Sacramento, CA

**warramra** · 03-06-2009, 01:24 PM

This is a slide show of a tent city that has formed along the American River in Sacramento, CA...the same place one existed during the 1930's Depression. The slide show includes images from then and now.

I just found it very interesting to see the images virtually side-by-side. I know that the homeless population here is getting larger and less 'invisible'. One man donated a field for them to set-up on and have some semblance of safety.

**onencgirl** · 03-06-2009, 01:38 PM

That is so devestating to see times have come back to this.

**cab54** · 03-06-2009, 02:14 PM

OMG. A regular 'Grapes of Wrath' scenario. Sad.

**Cookiemom** · 03-06-2009, 02:26 PM

We have four tent cities in the Seattle area! Our church hosted one of them for 3 months. A lot of these people are NOT drunks or drug addicts just people who are down on their luck.

**eanddmom** · 03-06-2009, 02:32 PM

Oprah had a bit about this the other day on her show. The sad thing is most are older people that have grown children that don't know they are living like this. They say they don't want to worry or burden their kids. My parents are both dead but I would be furious to find out they had turned to living like this instead of coming to stay with me. The interviewed several of them and they all said they got up every day and looked for jobs most seemed to be construction workers.

**madhen** · 03-06-2009, 02:39 PM

One note, however, on the tent cities. They are NOT a product of the economy, at least not of recent changes to the economy. I have been working/living in the Sacramento area for 20+ years, and the tents have always been there and have always been a problem for law enforcement. Many of the inhabitants *are* drug users or are suffering from mental issues that require them to be on medication, which they don't take. Few are people who would be considered as contributing members of society, and by that I mean people who at any time in their life did anything that was a benefit to the community. It sounds a bit harsh, but it is the unfortunate reality of the situation.

**frugalfriend** · 03-06-2009, 03:11 PM

That is heartbreaking.

**jamie79** · 03-06-2009, 03:59 PM

Madhen that may be true but thanks to Reagen when he had alot of the mental hospitals closed that is when our homeless population really exploded. Some of these people need mental health in an incare setting and it is not available to them. It is a shame that our country does not take care of its mentally infirmed in a proper manner. Also alot of the homeless are vets who did become drug addicts during or after the war in Vietnam and I can not even begin to tell you the awful care that our vets receive if they get any at all. With this war in Iraq and Afghanistan that population is going to explode. This will get alot worse

**madhen** · 03-06-2009, 04:04 PM

Jamie79, I totally agree. My point is that they aren't there because of the current economy, which is how the story plays it out.

**Spikey1341** · 03-06-2009, 04:26 PM

Originally Posted by madhen

Jamie79, I totally agree. My point is that they aren't there because of the current economy, which is how the story plays it out.

If you compare the pictures you can see the difference in the people. When looking at the ones during the depression they looked like normal folks who were forced out of their homes due to the depression.

The ones from today, well they look like the homeless pictures we have been seeing for the past 20 years. Not they are any less unfortunate, but I agree not due to the current economy.

**Momof3girls** · 03-06-2009, 04:28 PM

This is the first I had heard of tent cities making a comeback. It was quite a shock to me!

**GFNancy** · 03-06-2009, 06:35 PM

I'm in the Sacramento area too. Like Madhen said, the tent cities have been there for as long as I've been around too. For the surrounding areas, Sacramento is a good place to spend the winter. It snows here only very rarely, like once every 10 years. And we don't get much rain until Feb or March. Some of the homeless come here from the mountain communities where it would be much harder to get through the winter.

Just like any group of homeless people, there are those who have chosen to live that way and others who haven't. But as far as the tent city, as far as I know it's been there for a very, very long time. Oprah was misled. She could have come here when the Dow was at 14,000 and everybody was cashing out their equity to buy sports cars and vacations and that tent city still would have been there.

**GFNancy** · 03-06-2009, 07:24 PM

Oops.. I meant not much rain until January or Feb.

**Denvergirlie** · 03-06-2009, 08:10 PM

We have a lot of homeless in Denver as well, but the police routinely take down informal tent cities. Heck, my future BIL is one of these guys... he has burned every bridge he's ever had and lives in a tent or some shed when he's not in jail or prison.

However, on the flip side, yes the economy has added to this, more and more people living in cars or what not, but all in all, most of these folks in tent cities have been living this lifestyle for some time.

**VanVivCam** · 03-06-2009, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by jamie79

Madhen that may be true but thanks to Reagen when he had alot of the mental hospitals closed that is when our homeless population really exploded. Some of these people need mental health in an incare setting and it is not available to them. It is a shame that our country does not take care of its mentally infirmed in a proper manner. Also alot of the homeless are vets who did become drug addicts during or after the war in Vietnam and I can not even begin to tell you the awful care that our vets receive if they get any at all. With this war in Iraq and Afghanistan that population is going to explode. This will get alot worse

It is not completely totally true...Regan DID NOT put these people out on the streets...CONGRESS DID. I am soooo tired of the blame being on republicians....you need to look and see who controlled the congress. Democrats dediced that it was inhumane to keep these people LOCKED UP.