Florida tent city offers hope to homeless

Florida tent city offers hope to homeless
Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:03pm EDT

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 17 (Reuters) - A Florida tent city for hundreds of homeless people lies at the end of a dead-end street, but residents say they have not given up hope of a better life despite the U.S. economic downturn.

The Pinellas Hope camp, 250 single-person tents in neat rows on land owned by the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg in a wooded area north of the city, has room for about 270 and has been filled to capacity since it opened two years ago.

"I could open the gates and have over 500 people," said Sheila Lopez, the chief operating officer for Catholic Charities at the St. Petersburg diocese.

The camp has a food hall, bathrooms and showers, a laundry room and a few computers for residents to look for jobs and prepare resumes.

"This is a great place to be. It gives us a great opportunity," said Alex, a resident who declined to give his last name. "We have a safe place to live. It sure beats sleeping on the street."

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN10449570



Pinellas Hope resident Scott Hubbell, 42, passes the 6- by 8-foot sheds at the camp for homeless people. Sheila Lopez, director of Pinellas Hope, would like to add 100 or more sheds. She said there are plans to also build 8- by 10-foot sheds that would be available to couples.


A man walks at the tent city homeless community, knows as Pinellas Hope in Pinellas Park, Florida, USA.

http://www.business24-7.ae/Articles/2009/6/Pages/Floridatentcityoffershopetohomeless.aspx

Anyways good on them for providing that to the homeless.

Just like 100 years ago.

http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/imlsmohai&CISOPTR=2464&CISORESTMP=&CISOVIEWTMP=



Poor farm, Georgetown, (Seattle), King county, 1907

In 1854, Washington's legislature made counties responsible for caring for all poor, sick and homeless people whose relatives could not support them. Counties could build workhouses or poor farms and contract out the care of sick and indigent adults. Starting in 1877, King County operated a County Poor Farm on the Duwamish River, where destitute people lived and worked.

of the tents and sheds is a motivator to get on those computers available within the facility and look for work. In the interim, they're not getting rolled and stabbed while sleeping under a bridge.

I'm just saying, we like to pride ourselves on "how far we've come", but we're really just baby steps away from where we were. They don't have to work, but if things don't improve they'll put in an organic garden and then the guests will be asked to tend it, or given credit for tending the garden instead of going to chapel, and then we've really got a work farm again.

I like the idea of housing and food stamps and energy assistance and jobs programs a lot better.

in FLORIDA, where they don't cotton to that stuff as much as other places do.

I think the people running the joint are doing the best they can; they're innovating quite cleverly in the face of daunting need. I say kudos to them for doing what the state won't, and giving enough of a damn to do anything at all.

It would be terrible to be in one of those even in a tropical storm.