An org did that in our city. Not full on homes cause that’s too big of a reach, but built some insulated sheds with room for a bed and some storage and had a system of getting keys to people sleeping in tents back when covid hit. As soon as it was declared ‘over’ the cops tore em down and just last month they cleared out the tents and fully fenced off and closed several parks so now no one can use them anyway
The news in Australia is full of “tent city” headlines lately. This country has some pretty dastardly deeds in its past but I really fear what’s to come if certain areas reach a critical mass and “solutions” need to be applied.
It’s so fucked. The last city I lived in bussed tons of people out of the city in preparation for an Olympic Games, to a much smaller locality far less equipped to deal with the population and its needs. If you didn’t know the “how” of it, it just looks like they were disappeared, maximum sinister-style.
Same city had another tent city pop up that was left alone for ages. The park was SAFER while they were there. It felt nice. The tents stuck to the perimeter and despite how backwards this country can be I don’t remember any horror stories related to it.
Now I’m watching puff pieces on international students forced to live in tents because rent and commute makes work impossible. Just presented in the news like “Huh, how about that hey! Be tough if you had a family!”
Another tent “city” starting up a couple hundred km north of my current city and that’s just the one big enough to get attention. Which no doubt means it will be destroyed.
I haven’t seen this level of overt precarious living since I visited London and a couple of cities in America in 2019.
Oh, wrote all that and forgot to address the most interesting part of your post- the way people manage to find ways to help each other make it through. Building covert shelters and providing safe access to water and bathing etc.
I imagine more people would find ways to make things more bearable if liberalism didn’t make it seem like acts of charity didn’t come with reams of incomprehensible liability.
Tangentially related: I’m I unironically the occasional squatter victory story that makes it through to my corner of reality. But I can easily imagine if I had more to give in my life, the news cycles would have me clutching every last red cent jealousy out of pure fear. It’s incredible how knotted and tangled all the interests of capital and competition and fear weave together into a fkn society-wide straight jacket.
An org did that in our city. Not full on homes cause that’s too big of a reach, but built some insulated sheds with room for a bed and some storage and had a system of getting keys to people sleeping in tents back when covid hit. As soon as it was declared ‘over’ the cops tore em down and just last month they cleared out the tents and fully fenced off and closed several parks so now no one can use them anyway
The news in Australia is full of “tent city” headlines lately. This country has some pretty dastardly deeds in its past but I really fear what’s to come if certain areas reach a critical mass and “solutions” need to be applied.
It’s so fucked. The last city I lived in bussed tons of people out of the city in preparation for an Olympic Games, to a much smaller locality far less equipped to deal with the population and its needs. If you didn’t know the “how” of it, it just looks like they were disappeared, maximum sinister-style.
Same city had another tent city pop up that was left alone for ages. The park was SAFER while they were there. It felt nice. The tents stuck to the perimeter and despite how backwards this country can be I don’t remember any horror stories related to it.
Now I’m watching puff pieces on international students forced to live in tents because rent and commute makes work impossible. Just presented in the news like “Huh, how about that hey! Be tough if you had a family!”
Another tent “city” starting up a couple hundred km north of my current city and that’s just the one big enough to get attention. Which no doubt means it will be destroyed.
I haven’t seen this level of overt precarious living since I visited London and a couple of cities in America in 2019.
Oh, wrote all that and forgot to address the most interesting part of your post- the way people manage to find ways to help each other make it through. Building covert shelters and providing safe access to water and bathing etc. I imagine more people would find ways to make things more bearable if liberalism didn’t make it seem like acts of charity didn’t come with reams of incomprehensible liability.
Tangentially related: I’m I unironically the occasional squatter victory story that makes it through to my corner of reality. But I can easily imagine if I had more to give in my life, the news cycles would have me clutching every last red cent jealousy out of pure fear. It’s incredible how knotted and tangled all the interests of capital and competition and fear weave together into a fkn society-wide straight jacket.