Loose lips and all that...

[Soph0571]

Heh. Exactly this.

[CottonBear]

1. I've seen people coming out of the woods in the back corner of my neighborhood.

It’s a natural wooded buffer that’s part of a common area. The common area abuts two other similar neighborhoods with natural, wooded buffer, perimeter common areas. There’s a storm water pond in the natural drainage way in the buffer, so it might get sort of buggy down there.

There’s been an explosion in the population of homeless people on this side of town. A nearby liberal church holds a weekly food bank and they let people camp on their large, suburban property.

I think I’ve seen the same couple (man & woman) before when they were walking through the alleyway behind my home.

I donate to the food bank at the church.

Our community has lots of services for homeless people. There is even an official camp ground on city property with large dome tents on platforms, and communal kitchen & bath facilities. It’s not perfect, but better than nothing. It’s safe and clean.

Housing is just so expensive, even for people with good jobs and steady income.

The homeless need both housing, support and services. Our community has used COVID funding to address this issues and fund solutions. It’s a start.

[haele]

4. The working poor. I've had neighbors who were living in the canyons

Or in covered dumpster cubbies who had jobs but couldn't afford housing for various reasons - layoffs from higher paying jobs, child support and Chapter 13 bankruptcy were major reasons I heard of for the working homeless.
This since the 1990's.
The working homeless living in the canyon behind us in the mid 2000's for example - we'd help when we could. They had spent a few months trying not to be noticed, but when I was working our lower backyard (we were living in an area built in the 1930's with "garden lots" that included a backyard for fruit trees and garden beds) I saw the wife cleaning up their campsite and started talking to her. I told her they could use our water spigots, built in grill and patio laundry cubby with a half-bath the landlord/owner put in if they kept it clean, and after talking to the neighbors on both sides, we let them "borrow" from our gardens to help them out. They also made sure their garbage ended up in garbage bins along the street when it came time for collection. One couple was able to get into their own place after a year, the other couple left for a job out of state two years later.

If our landlord at the time knew we were allowing these people to use the backyard and patio facilities, we would have been evicted. We were lucky the neighbors he still knew didn't rat us out.

There are some homeless who are disturbed and careless about the local environment. But I suspect there's an equal number of homeless living quietly and as un-noticable as possible in hidden away areas, making arrangements with businesses or neighbors to remain until they can get back on their feet or find a more permanent place to live.

Haele

[aeromanKC]

2. Meanwhile, Missouri passes new law to criminalize sleeping outside.

It criminalizes homelessness. Fuck I hate living in Missouri!! It's an Alabama wanna be state. It just sucks living here.

[KPN]

3. What does that mean? Is sleeping in a tent not outdoors?

This is really sick. Hope there are organizations in MO that resist and challenge this.