Tent Cities / Is this the American safety net? (Full Version)

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Marini -> Tent Cities / Is this the American safety net? (4/5/2012 9:00:46 PM)

I just watched Tent City USA, on the OWN channel.
This documentary follows a group of homeless people in Nashville, TN for about a year.
It starts off showing a growing group of 83 people living under a bridge, that have formed a community.
They protect each other, help each other, and build temporary shelters.
They have rules and regulations, and put new members on probation for 3 days.

I appreciate the honesty of many in this documentary, they ADMIT that drugs, alcohol, and often bad choices and decisions, contributed to their current conditions.

Here is a link to the show, it is certainly captivating.
It shows that many of the homeless, are not stumbling alcoholics or drug addicts, and many just need a helping hand.

OWN documentary-Tent City USA

Stories like this always fascinate me, because many of us are only a few paychecks or a lost job, from this predicament.

There is a great informative and supportive website for the homeless, that those that are interested might want to look at.

homeless forums

Thanks to the internet, many of the homeless are able to connect, share information, resources, news, and provide support for each other.

It is not a secret that many of the Occupy Wall Street protesters are homeless.

This is indeed a social problem, that is near and dear to me, and I plan to become more active in helping the homeless.

Question, are tent cities the new safety net for the homeless?
Should they continue to grow and multiply, and become woven into the fabric of modern society?

Should the government be doing more to help those that are homeless, and want to work, and to contribute to society?
Are we our brother's keeper?
If so, what should we be doing to help the homeless?



Owner59 -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/5/2012 9:18:04 PM)

Republicans are going to be against that too........read: Occupy Wall Street.........





To answer the OP......I sure hope not.



http://www.habitat.org/housing_finance/default.aspx



My late aunt helped build over fifty homes and met Jimmy Carter many times on many builds.



She explained that HFH finances the mortgages at a very low rate making them much more affordable and the opposite of a "sub-prime" or predatory leaning.



Then the profit of those mortgages goes back into lending more money to low income folks.And it`s sustainable and growing.



Marini -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/5/2012 9:26:32 PM)

The problem is Owner, if you don't have a job, or any source of income, is putting you in a home the answer?

Those that get social security benefits, VA benefits, or disability, still might not qualify for a mortgage.


I assume, most of these people lost their homes, or they would not be living in tent city.

Is there anything in the proposed budget to help these people?
What about all the homeless vets that served our country?

Question remains: Is this the new American safety net?



Owner59 -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/5/2012 9:33:37 PM)

Well it`s part of the answer.

IMHO,we must not allow people to live outdoors if we can help it.

We can`t help everyone every time but we should try.

And for goodness sakes.....we shouldn`t let anyone shame us or condemn us for trying and claim we`re wasting "their" money.

What would Jesus do?




Marini -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/5/2012 9:41:03 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Owner59

Well it`s part of the answer.

IMHO,we must not allow people to live outdoors if we can help it.

We can`t help everyone every time but we should try.

And for goodness sakes.....we shouldn`t let anyone shame us or condemn us for trying and claim we`re wasting "their" money.

What would Jesus do?



Are we our brother's keeper? As more and more of us are falling out of the middle class, and the divide between the have's and the have not's continues to widen?

From Middle Class to Poverty-cnn.money

Many, many, many people/families are waving bye bye, to the middle class.



Owner59 -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/5/2012 9:45:52 PM)

We Take Care Of Our Own



Marini -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/5/2012 9:53:40 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Owner59

We Take Care Of Our Own


Got to love the boss, damn now I need to dance in the dark.

"We take care of our own", we shall see with the rising number of vets that are homeless, many suffering from PTS, mental illness, alcohol and substance abuse issues.

Can you image the amount of vets we will have in the next 5 years?
Can't wait to see how well the USA, takes care of their own.

PEACE



SoftBonds -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/5/2012 10:57:24 PM)

Heard somewhere that the rate of PTSD for our troops was 30% per deployment. Some guys have gone over there 4 times, if you do the math, the odds that they don't have PTSD are (1-.3)^4, or about 25%.
This is before TBI, or the cases of folks whose body armor saved their lives, but not their limbs.
Personally, I expect the republican party to back away from taking care of the troops, cause the troops have stopped being a reliable republican voting block. I just hope to Dog that the Liberals take up the slack.



erieangel -> RE: Tent Cities / Is this the American safety net? (4/6/2012 2:48:48 AM)

Atlernet has a great article this morning on the unbelievable things cities do to the homeless.  Homelessness has been criminalized in many cities.  Cities pass ordinances that make it illegal to sit on the sidewalk; to feed the homeless, panhandle; some cities have even removed park and bus stop  benches.

http://www.alternet.org/story/154830/10_unbelievably_sh**ty_things_america_does_to_homeless_people?akid=8536.286161.M_VngL&rd=1&t=8







GotSteel -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/6/2012 9:19:22 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Owner59
IMHO,we must not allow people to live outdoors if we can help it.


[sm=river.gif]   Awwww I like living outdoors.



GotSteel -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/6/2012 9:31:17 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Owner59
What would Jesus do?


Umm....Commit a hate crime against the Pope?




[image]local://upfiles/566126/134F3CC085434A9C8BE0F6AE5CE4A21E.jpg[/image]



servantforuse -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/6/2012 9:52:18 PM)

Oprah Winfrey owns OWN and is worth well over 1 billion. Maybe she should be helping these people ?



erieangel -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/6/2012 10:27:00 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: servantforuse

Oprah Winfrey owns OWN and is worth well over 1 billion. Maybe she should be helping these people ?



Oprah has worked hard for her money. Why should she be responsible for helping everybody?? Isn't it the responsibility of all of us to help our fellow man?



servantforuse -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/7/2012 8:46:09 AM)

Billionare 1 percenter liberals like Oprah should get to keep their money while wealthy conservatives are greedy and should give theirs away ?



SoftBonds -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/7/2012 8:56:51 AM)

LOL, two folks complain that Oprah is not generous.
"Thanks for coming to my show, here is a new car." An uncommon but provable occurrence on her show. But she isn't generous.
Now I grant you, her largess is going to her customers, but I think that is understandable. If Bill Gates creates a foundation to give computers to inner city high schools, getting apples would probably be an insult. Also, I grant that her generosity is not aimed at the poorest, but at the folks who come to her show.
Wonder how many cars the Koch Brothers or Murdoch have given to their customers?



Marini -> RE: Tent Cities / Is this the American safety net? (4/7/2012 11:52:52 AM)

angel, if they Republicans have their way, tent city would be a great safety net. They could include that in their proposed budgets.

A Cruel Budget

I mean we all have to love Paul Ryan, especially grandma.
Instead of pushing grandma off the cliff, he could at least have taken her to tent city.

Paul Ryan and Grandma



erieangel -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/7/2012 12:18:40 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: servantforuse

Billionare 1 percenter liberals like Oprah should get to keep their money while wealthy conservatives are greedy and should give theirs away ?



Is that what I said? No, it is not. I said it is the responsibility of ALL of us to care for those less fortunate. Oprah has given a lot of money to charities, granted, she supports schools all across the African continent instead here at home, but she does give more money away than most 1%ers.




Lucifyre -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/7/2012 12:37:08 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Marini


What about all the homeless vets that served our country?




My business partner and I are actually doing research and trying to start a 501.C3 nonprofit organization to help homeless and disables vets and/or deceased vets families that haev been displaced due to death or disability in the military.

We are looking for properties to place these folks who so selflessly served our country and deserve everything we can do for them.

Sadly it is a long difficult road to travel for us, lots of hoops to jump through and around a 2 year long process to get our nonprofit application approved, but it will be well worth it to us when we can actually hand the keys of a home to a veteran whom otherwise wouldn't have a roof over his or her head.

I also realize that my partner and I are only 2 people in this country of millions, but we are willing to do our part to the best of our abilities.



erieangel -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/7/2012 1:22:56 PM)

That's great Lucifyre. I wish I had the money to do something like that. As it is, I'm thinking of taking my civil service exam to counsel at the VA. It is all I'd be able to do unless I won the lottery.




dcnovice -> RE: Tent Cities / Are these the new American safety net? (4/7/2012 1:24:17 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: servantforuse

Oprah Winfrey owns OWN and is worth well over 1 billion. Maybe she should be helping these people ?


Perhaps she does.

http://www.casefoundation.org/blog/oprahs-favorite-thing-charitable-donations



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