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New Jersey Tent City Houses 70 Homeless People Who Draw Community Scorn
ABC News ^ | Aug. 11, 2011 | JESSICA HOPPER

Posted on 08/13/2011 4:59:44 AM PDT by Son House

The rocky economic recovery and stagnant unemployment rate have led to a surge in the homeless seeking shelter in shanties and tents nationwide, experts say.

There's no official estimate on how many tent cities exist but, experts say, nearly every state has one and the presence of such communities is soaring.

"In just about every major city, there are tent cities," said Michael Stoop, a community organizer for the National Coalition for the Homeless. "Unfortunately, we're in a growth industry and the numbers are going to continue."

Stoop and his organization began formally tracking tent cities in 2010 but the numbers have grown so much that trying to keep a detailed report of every tent city has overwhelmed them.

"Imagine if you had never been homeless before and you'd just lost your job and you lost your home," he said. "What would you do? Would you immediately go begging or knocking on a door?

The communities range from just a few people living together in tents or wooden shelters to full-fledged organized communities such as the one in Lakewood. Just a few homeless people began gathering in the woods there in 2005, but as the financial meltdown worsened, their numbers grew.

Steve Brigham, a pastor, has been working with the community since it began forming. Two years ago, he quit his job as an electrical contractor and now lives with the homeless in the camp. He lives in a bus donated to him from a local school.

"I wonder to myself how long I can continue with the population growing, resources dwindling. ... I'm very concerned about this winter, extremely concerned about ... whether I'm going to have everything I need to keep these people satisfied and comfortable and the basic needs met," Brigham said.

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: city; homeless; houses; tent
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Newt Gingrich understood the kind of urgency needed to get the economy going, and there were several good examples of legislation presented at the debate that Speaker Boehner should waste no time in passing bills for.

Do not rest, vacation, or dither hence forth. Pass the common sense conservative economic solutions now with the Republican majority, and keep sending it to the Senate until some Democrats wake up.
1 posted on 08/13/2011 4:59:48 AM PDT by Son House
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To: Son House
The modern-day Hoovervilles have names such as Dignity Village or Pinellas Hope ...
Oh yeah, how's that HOPE and change working for 'ya now?
I suggest all tent cities should be named 0bamaHope_1, 0bamaHope_2 ... 0bamaHope_∞
2 posted on 08/13/2011 5:15:49 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: Son House

This ‘’tent city’’ is about ten minutes from my house and this article is a crock. This ‘’pastor’ Steve Brigham is a leftie, open-border advocate and pretty much all of these people are drug addicts and illegal aliens.


3 posted on 08/13/2011 5:24:20 AM PDT by jmacusa (Political correctness is cultural Marxism. I'm not a Marxist.)
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To: All

The common sense conservative economic solutions are not political games for the left to defy, they are based in what works and what has been proven to work.

Keep informing the public with examples and devastating criticism of what Democrat legislation has caused, as Democrats and the media are going to be defiant.


4 posted on 08/13/2011 5:26:48 AM PDT by Son House (The Economic Boom Heard Around The World => TEA Party 2012)
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To: jmacusa

ya gotta make this known somehow, jmcusa...


5 posted on 08/13/2011 6:21:22 AM PDT by BonRad (Ut Roma cadit, sic omnis terra -As Rome falls, so the entire world)
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To: oh8eleven

How about “Obamavilles”


6 posted on 08/13/2011 6:28:06 AM PDT by lowbridge (Rep. Dingell: "Its taken a long time.....to control the people.")
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To: Son House
"Unfortunately, we're in a growth industry and the numbers are going to continue."

Business opportunity....sell tents....EBT cards accepted.

7 posted on 08/13/2011 6:46:08 AM PDT by Roccus (Obama & Holder LLP, Procurers of fine arms to the most discerning drug lords (202) 456-1414)
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To: Son House

Yes. They are Obama’s answer to the “rent is too damn high!” syndrome.


8 posted on 08/13/2011 6:47:26 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Son House
Stoop and his organization began formally tracking tent cities in 2010 but the numbers have grown so much that trying to keep a detailed report of every tent city has overwhelmed them.

"Fundamentally transforming America". Here it is, folks. This is Obomas vision of a new and improved America.

9 posted on 08/13/2011 6:47:26 AM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: Son House
Tent cities = Forward operating bases for addicts and thieves (actually, most addicts are thieves so scratch that.

Tent cities = Forward operating bases for thieves....

10 posted on 08/13/2011 6:51:01 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: jmacusa
You are so right. If you want to see tent cities disappear then start deporting all the illegals. Taxpayers are paying for this one way or another.
11 posted on 08/13/2011 6:52:41 AM PDT by Flavious_Maximus
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To: Son House
Stoop and his organization began formally tracking tent cities in 2010

Jon Corzine January 17, 2006 to January 19, 2010 Democratic

Chris Christie January 19, 2010 incumbent Republican

Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

12 posted on 08/13/2011 7:11:16 AM PDT by Raycpa
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To: oh8eleven

Not sure how reliable this is, but I’d heard once that the little disposable umbrellas sold on the streets during the Great Depression were called “Hooverettes.”


13 posted on 08/13/2011 7:18:56 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: lowbridge

Obama Shelters, Obama Housing, Change You Can Believe In.


14 posted on 08/13/2011 7:26:25 AM PDT by eaglestar
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To: Son House

Google “Dignity Village, Portland, Oregon” and do some reading...Portland’s experiment in this nonsense is ongoing, and they are almost halfway through the timeframe they set to “abolish homelessness” in ten years. All they have done is make Portland a vagrant magnet and create an environment where so-called “homeless” are tolerated in ever increasing numbers.

Portland just finished opening a downtown center for the homeless where they can do laundry for free, take showers, hang out, watch cable TV and find access to any number of agencies and non-profits that cater to these people.

Many of these “homeless” are familiar faces to commuters, because they have been panhandling on the same street corners and freeway on ramps here for years. We have one panhandler here who begs all year long, good weather and bad. At Christmas he stands at the off-ramp, wearing a Santa cap and a portable oxygen mask with a tank...”Anything helps”...of course when he is done for the day you can watch him walking back to his car smoking a cigarette...

I would be very interested to find out just how much cash money and free services these people go through every year. It’s all gratis and tax free....


15 posted on 08/13/2011 7:27:13 AM PDT by Bean Counter ("For every man there exists a bait he cannot resist swallowing.".....Nietzsche)
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To: Larry Lucido
the little disposable umbrellas sold on the streets during the Great Depression were called “Hooverettes.”
Interesting. Couldn't find them, but did find two others ...



16 posted on 08/13/2011 8:12:09 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: oh8eleven

Actually it would be more accurate to call the camps Obama Change 1, Obama Change 2 . . .


17 posted on 08/13/2011 8:19:00 AM PDT by LRoggy (Peter's Son's Business)
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To: Son House

Are you really expecting the likes of Boehner and McConnel to get any corrective action going? These people are sellouts to the Obama and his enablers game of destructive hindrance. The one thing I thought interesting in the Iowa debates was the panel appeared to telling the Repubs in Congress that they are apart as far as current behavior from the solutions needed.


18 posted on 08/13/2011 8:27:18 AM PDT by noinfringers2
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To: oh8eleven

More info here. (Might be where you got that one picture).

************

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2010/08/hooverettes.html

Among the frocks, smocks, coverall aprons and coat dresses are three “Hooverettes”, a term that seems forgotten.

One would guess the clothing was named for Herbert Hoover who was President from 1929 to 1933. Although most of the suffering occurred after Roosevelt took over, Hoover carried the blame for the Great Depression.

Dorothea Lange portrait of a woman in a California camp in the 1930s.

“Hoover buggies” were old cars so broken down they were pulled by horses; “Hoovervilles” were camps for the homeless and “Hoover hog” was a main dish of rabbit or armadillo.

Hooverette as a name for a dress costing 47 cents might thus reflect depression frugality. However, the Dictionary of American Region English defines “Hoover Apron” as slang for a coverall or housedress with an overlapping reversible front, a name reflecting Hoover’s earlier career as an effective administrator of post-WWI-relief in Europe. The wrap-front dress could be worn until the bodice was dirty and then the overlap reversed to reveal a clean area. The name Hooverette or Hoover Apron alludes to an efficient work dress.


19 posted on 08/13/2011 8:45:37 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Son House


20 posted on 08/13/2011 9:43:41 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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