Crystal Steckel's Blog
A New Approach to Homelessness? / Feb 19, 12:56 AM
L.A. County and many of the surrounding counties here in southern California have some of the highest homeless populations in the country. LA county, alone, has more homeless than the cities of Chicago, Philadelphia and New York combined! That statistic doesn’t even take in to account the surrounding areas. I’m not really sure what that’s attributed to, the warm weather year round, the high cost of living out here…I’m sure there’s any number of theories on why. Needless to say when I first moved out here I was incredibly overwhelmed by the homelessness seen everywhere (cities, suburbs even the rural areas). It all seemed very hopeless….
Recently, however, I heard of a city (actually a suburb of LA) that is taking action. Trying something that has rarely, if ever, been tried. The city of Ontario has set aside a portion of land for homeless people to take residence on! The city itself is calling this area a “rest area” for people, and have collected donated tents to set up for people to live in. They’ve also provided running water and toilet facilities, and since many homeless people tend to suffer from some sort of mental illness, the city is sending counselors/therapists to meet with people all throughout the week!
As far as food goes, churches and other local organizations come in throughout the week as well to provide meals. There is also one church who has been bringing in portable shower facilities a couple times a week. What a beautiful example of a community pulling together to provide for other’s who are in need! There has been little resistance within the community to this idea, and many are trying to come up with even better ways to help out this rapidly growing “Tent City” community.
I can’t say for sure that this is the best way to handle homelessness. I don’t think anyone can say “yea” or “nay” about that for sure, but, I do know that it’s exciting to see a community making effort, and trying new ways to combat homelessness. It gives me hope!
Here’s a link to an article about “Tent City”:
http://www.hoanewsnetwork.com/media/news/tent-city-in-ontario-offers-shelter-services.php
There’s also a couple of videos produced by some of the organizations that are working on site with people. If you go to You Tube and type in “tent city-ontario” you should run across some of them.
Thanks for taking the time to read some of my ramblings!
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