The following article doesn’t describe the first occurrence, and surely not the last, but there appears in some cities to be a modest trend towards actually tackling homeless encampments in a practical, responsible way.
Affordablehousingaction.org is inclined to be redundant, reporting such modestly positive events again and again, if only as a better-news antidote to frequent media descriptions of officially sanctioned tent camp trampling beneath official (and often police) boots.
Here is one city acting to support rather than further diminish those desperately poor people who currently are forced to live somewhere outdoors. Read about a new Portland, Oregon program in The Olympian: 3 city-sanctioned safe rest villages announced for homeless.
P. S. There seems to be a pattern of fencing requirements when it comes to some of these more constructive approaches to tent camps. Keeping people in, or keeping people out? Certainly, we’ve seen reports suggesting that tent camps have become party magnets for non-residents, so either could be a possibility, depending on the whims of city councils. Needless to say, there are concerns associated with any whiff of fencing put in place to keep people in!
P.P.S. Another (and also rather depressing) use of fencing is to be found in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in line with more often encountered eyes-closed-make-it-all-go-away civic approaches to homelessness. Read more at the CBC: Thunder Bay delays plan to fence off gathering place for city’s homeless
