Dozens of Homeless Tennessee Families Have Set Up Camp in Makeshift Community

[Louisiana1976]

(CBS) Tammy and Troy Renault Look like any middle class couple, but someone else is living what used to be their home.

Almost everything they own is in storage, reports CBS News correspondent Seth Doane.

Now, home for the Renaults and their four kids is a campsite - a tent and a borrowed trailer.

Troy said that how they ended up there is Economics 101. When he lost his job with a construction company and had trouble finding work on his own, the bills piled up, and everything else came crashing down.

"You go from 'do you pay your lights and water' or 'do you pay the house payment and sit in the dark'", Troy explained.

"You had a house. How strange does this feel?" Doane asked.

"The first week, when we first moved out, I conditioned my mind that I'm on vacation," Tammy said.

That was four months ago.

<snip>

more...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/25/eveningnews/main5341212.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesPrimary

[MadMaddie]

1. This is insane

There are thousands of empty houses and the states and cities haven't figured out how to get these people into homes. Geeze..

[EmeraldCityGrl]

2. Why not bring back some form of homesteading.

If the banks owe the taxpayers money, allow them to barter in homes. Take a city like Detroit with neighborhoods full of vacant homes
and make them available. Funnel some of the stimulus money into paying jobs for the residents in exchange for community rejuvenation.
Schools could reopen, small stores and other vendors could cater to the residents. Just seems like a waste letting these homes sit vacant.

[csziggy]

3. This winter is going to be very bad.

:cry:

[alittlelark]

4. There is a disturbing mindset being portrayed here

<snip> But like so many here, the Renaults haven't lost their faith.

"We trust in the Lord, he's got a plan for our lives," Troy said. <snip>




That kind of thinking disturbs me. I understand that they are relying on their faith to get them through this - that's fine.

I don't think a god would want them to sit there and 'take it'.

Just saying 'It's gods will' is a serious cop-out.

Perhaps gods will is for them to work on changing conditions for themselves and their neighbors. They should be getting actively involved to change the unfair structures that put them there.


I cannot stomach the 'gods will' thing.

[Trillo]

6. "work on changing conditions"

It seems that is precisely what is happening. They worked for years to change their conditions. They lost. Now they have a new life.

As written above, he apparently decided to think of it like being on vacation. By so doing, he changed his mind about his condition. By talking about it, he helps others learn to accept, though he can not force them to change their minds as well.

"They should be getting actively involved to change the unfair structures that put them there"

Yes. By living this new way, that is what he is doing. He can't change others, or the institutional structures, only himself. One certainly cannot say he or his family are not "actively involved" when they're actually doing it.

[alittlelark]

11. So you think he should 'lube up and bend over'?

Wow.... I don't know what to say.

No, I do - that stooopid way of thinking is for cattle in the chutes.

We are thinking beings capable of CHANGING that around us.

<edited for letter transposition in title>

[Trillo]

12. I never said what I thought he should do!

You seemed to be conflicted about his choice, both expressing contempt for it, while at the same time writing words that seemed to be able to be interpreted as supporting it. :shrug:

In your reply to me, you clarified your belief he either shouldn't have the right to choose what he did, or that he was "stooopid" for doing so.

I was merely explaining his point-of-view as I understand it.

[alittlelark]

13. His 'point of view' is based on some belief that 'GOD is doing

with us what he WILL'.


That is what is STOOOOPID and F'ed up.

It is a victim mentality.

Jesus was a community organizer that WORKED for the good of the people (Habitat for Hum., Food Banks....)

This guy is following a Jesus that says 'it's all OK, when you die your life will be better.'

[midnight]

5. You know what is more insane, Our president is looking at bailing

out the newpapers. Homeowner, students, workers, etc..... we have to wait. I know this stuff takes time, but why the newspapers?

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. I watched this on CBS news today. Heartbreaking but I must say, their trailer was

pretty nice

[Trillo]

8. Maybe a good question on health reform might be,

how it would affect families such as this, living in the brush, or camping, or whatever term you prefer.

I wonder if this type of living will be a growing phenom. Seems like a good guess. People who just sort of "disappear off the radar" of public or private institutions, because that's all they have left.

[Selatius]

9. THIS...in the United States of America. We're just a fucking glorified banana republic. nt

[SpiralHawk]

10. "Crank up the bulldozers and clear the proles. Smirk." - Republicon Homelander Overlords