This 4 minute video gives the History of Ontario Tent City, actually many residents were encouraged to go there by authorities when Other Shelters were Full....then click the article- it updates that Forced Evictions have started there. ( just like Sacramento).
It is sad that we actually need to really examine these Camps and the situations that are involved, people that have been evicted now face forced eviction from the Ontario Tent City, when this has been their home and their community when they already lost their homes....Wouldn't it be better to accept these "campgrounds "and provide structure for those that are there ( ie plumbing and water) , then to evict them ? Where are they to go ? they ended up there due to an overloaded Shelter System.
4 comments:
I've seen this city; we go by it when we visit our son who lives in Palm Desert. I've met a couple at the rest stops; they go there to use the facilities as well as living in the tent city.
I think they feel welcomed by the other residents; no matter how humble, it is their home.
Ontario has a nice location where you can see the mountains; it's warmer because it's further from the ocean - closer to the desert, and there are a lot more low-income people in this immediate area, so I think they feel like they 'fit in' better.
Being out under the sky at night; enjoying the camp-fires (we sat with some of the people one night because I took a few things on our last visit after I saw the tents set up), and not being inside a large unfriendly 'structure', is what most told me why they prefer this area to going into a single building where they have much less privacy.
They like their little tents and their 'space' that they can create for themselves.
At least the year-round temperature is something they can cope with; in the snow country, it would be an impossible set of conditions to live in.
I'm just glad that so far, they haven't closed the city up completely.
I see that Arnold is closing the one up in the Sacramento area; he's putting them into one of the sport stadiums so they'll have toilet facilities/showers, etc., and says he plans to create a more permanent place in the coming months.
In our area, there are a lot of homeless who just get hold of one old r.v. or camper; then they can park in many areas without a problem because we're unincorporated right now.
Since our town is trying to incorporate, I worry about some ordinance they'll establish about the homeless; for now, they remain safe from the police bothering them and any rules governing them.
I think anyone who is homeless has the same rights as those with a home or shelter; we need to stop harassing them - let them 'camp' as they can and where they can - after all, it is the USA - we're supposed to have certain freedoms, and living without persecution should be one of them.
I'm glad you posted this; of course you've been posting about many of the homeless, and I appreciate you taking an interest in them as I have. Diane
It is sad.. these cities just keep growing and then they move them out, because they are embarrassed by them. It won't be long until they will be back in this place or another one.
thanks annette and Happy for understanding and appreciating why I focus on the Tent Cities...
Those new pressures-- of some bureaucracy clamping down & kicking people out, shutting down the camp, bulldozing through the little things people did have left??? Unreal.
That system of identifying bracelets & that chain linked fence horrified me.
It reminds me of Hitler's labeling system.
I don't know the whole story.... but like the temporary shelter they had here-- the volunteer staff felt overwhelmed by people with addictions, serious medical problems & mental health problems were not something they could handle.
Could you imagine having to be the one who decides who gets kicked out of a tent city?
I could not sleep at night, denying such a bottom line of humanities care & thrusting some into worse desperation.
I have always hated the *move em along* way of dealing with the homeless issue.
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