Some Of Sacramento's Tent City Residents Struggle With Indoor Living

McClatchy Sac Bee ^ | 05/22/09 | Cynthia Hubert

[BunnySlippers]

On the first night he slept indoors in more than 15 years, Jeff Latchaw tossed and turned and fretted.

It was much too quiet. The mattress was too soft. Latchaw got in and out of bed, over and over.

"Just having these walls around me, it's a huge adjustment," Latchaw said, waving his calloused hand around the living room of his tidy home in Natomas. "There's no open sky above me. No fresh air. No birds greeting me when I wake up.

"At times I have thought about going back out and pitching a tent."

[BunnySlippers]

Yet more proof that the people in the Sacramento tent city were chronic "homeless" who want to live on the street ... NOT people who lost homes to foreclosure.

This was a big talking point in my office, Libs saying that they were victims of the mortgage crisis.

[org.whodat]

On the first night he slept indoors in more than 15 years

15 years, he would be one of the Clintoon , homeless!!!!

[robomatik]

all those times i camped out in a tent, i thought, when i was awakened by a noise, i was looking at the dome/roof of the tent. thanks to this individual, i now know that i was hallucinating, and should have being seeing stars.

need another beer bro?

[freekitty]

I agree.

[U S Army EOD]

When I moved off my sailboat back into a house, the adjustment was much more difficult.

[Lx]

We have a tent city??? Where is it? Is it on 15th street near loaves and fishes?

[ScreamingFist]

"Just having these walls around me, it's a huge adjustment," Latchaw said, waving his calloused hand around the living room of his tidy home in Natomas. "There's no open sky above me. No fresh air. No birds greeting me when I wake up.

Paraphrasing..."No free handouts, no dope, no booze. I wish I could return to the good old days, when morons handed me money. This sucks. I'm expected to actually get off my dead ass and take a shower. We're repressed....man."

If Mr. Panhandler wants to live free with the birds and the sun rising, I suggest a canoe trip down the Mississippi.

[BunnySlippers]

This was a huge issue. But the city paid BIG bucks to move these people into homes.

Just the health hazard alone warranted it.

[Secret Agent Man]

He missed the birds crapping on him. Missed other hobos peeing on him in the middle of the night.

[GnuHere]

OMG, this A/C and indoor plumbing must be a b*tch to adjust to!

You want birds to greet you in the morning? Camp by a pond where Canadian geese fly over and leave prolific “greetings”.

[LaineyDee]

All this means is that we're shoveling "our" idea of what we think life should be....down another person's throat. Nanny-state do-gooders have struck out again.

I work with patients in their homes and though I don't always understand how someone could live in the type of circumstances they do..... it's THEIR life. I have no right to interfere unless it's obvious they are hurting others or mentally imbalanced and incapable of keeping themselves safe from harm.

[Inyo-Mono]

I have always loved camping and the outdoors and have spent many a night under the stars. When my brother and I were teenagers, we spent a whole summer sleeping out in the backyard everynight. It was very hard to adjust to sleeping inside the house when we finally came in.

[Chode]

yup, ya don't get rocked to sleep on shore...

[calex59]

If Mr. Panhandler wants to live free with the birds and the sun rising, I suggest a canoe trip down the Mississippi.

You might enjoy this joke I got in an email the other day, it is about illegal panhandlers(homeless)

Jose and Carlos are beggars. They beg in different areas of town.

Carlos begs for the same amount of time as Jose, but only collects about $8.00 or $9.00 a day.

Jose bring home a suitcase full of ten dollar bills every day, he drives a Mercedes, lives in a mortgage-free house, and has a lot of money to spend.

"Hey, amigo," Carlos says to Jose, "I work just as long and hard as you do, so how come you bring home a suitcase full of ten dollar bills every day?

Jose says, "Look at your sign, what does it say?" Carlo's sign reads; "I have no work, a wife and six kids to support."

"What's wrong with that?" Carlos asks him.

"No wonder you only get $8.00 or $9.00 a day!"

Carlo's says, "Alright, what does your sign say?"

It reads, "I only need another ten dollars to get back to Mexico .."

[concentric circles]

Jeff Latchaw, a homeless man, looks at a pool of water from a recent rain storm at a homeless tent city March 4, 2009 in Sacramento, California. The tent city is seeing an increase in population as the economy worsens and more people are becoming unemployed and having their homes slip into foreclosure. (Photo by Justin Sullivan)

With the tent city's removal, Jeff Latchaw, 46, began sharing a Natomas area home, where his prized possession is a tiny television with rabbit ears. He now works at the Loaves & Fishes homeless complex caring for kenneled pets of the down and out. (Photo by Anne Chadwick Williams)

[elkfersupper]

Just the health hazard alone warranted it.

What?

Nothing warrants it.

[Moonman62]

This is why they are called urban outdoorsmen.

[BunnySlippers]

I don’t think they should be allowed to soil the close by streams. Sorry if that offends you. But living like that endangers many nearby people.

[BunnySlippers]

See, there’s that foreclosure reference again. There are chronic homeless and NOT families who have been foreclosed on.

[elkfersupper]

I don’t think they should be allowed to soil the close by streams. Sorry if that offends you. But living like that endangers many nearby people.

It's an alternative lifestyle. It should be embraced rather then using government to try and change it(/sarcasm).