With shelters full, Salvation Army directing families to live in the woods

[Liberal_in_LA]

With shelters full, homeless family sent to woods instead

PADUCAH — With so many in need, and an increasing number of families homeless, there's just not enough room at area shelters. It's so bad, the Salvation Army has had to send families, one with three kids and a baby on the way, to live in the woods.

Johnny Adams, 19, and his fiance couldn't believe what the Salvation Army told them. There is no place for them at shelters and only one option.

The River City Mission is the only local shelter accepting families but the couple must be married and most of the time, the family section of the mission is full.

That's why the Salvation Army sends some families off with a tent and directions to "Tent City".

"It's definitely not appropriate but it's better than sleeping out where it's not safe," said Sheila Downing with the Salvation Army.

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/No-room-for-families-at-shelters-sent-to-woods-instead-119448789.html

[LiberalAndProud]

1. NO.

This is not acceptable. Not in the United States of America.

Not okay.

[SoCalDem]

2. Ahh.. Life in America..where the poor are feral and the rich are fecal n/t

[murielm99]

3. We have so many empty houses in my community.

I know my town is not the only one. People are losing their homes, and leaving their communities because there is no work.

I think some of these homeless people need to be housed in the empty houses all over the country.

[anneboleyn]

4. Ours too. In our "nice" neighborhood, there have been five foreclosures and multiple bank sales

in the past three years. And that is just our neighborhood. People were hit with enormous property tax bills the builder owed but refused to pay (and the builder went into bankruptcy and was protected despite the legal complications). Some people lost their jobs unexpectedly when our state was hit by the great recession, and they lost their homes as a result of this tragedy. There have been so many signs for bank sales. So people lost their homes, and home sales are at an absolute standstill in this entire state.

[anneboleyn]

5. Ours too. In our "nice" neighborhood, there have been five foreclosures and multiple bank sales

in the past three years. And that is just our neighborhood. People were hit with enormous property tax bills the builder owed but refused to pay (and the builder went into bankruptcy and was protected despite the legal complications). Some people lost their jobs unexpectedly when our state was hit by the great recession, and they lost their homes as a result of this tragedy. There have been so many signs for bank sales. So people lost their homes, and home sales are at an absolute standstill in this entire state.

[intheflow]

6. And empty office buildings, and empty malls.

Lots of unused commercial property rotting out there that could easily be converted to housing.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. 50 homeless were living in a closed Car dealership that burned down recently

http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_17854438

Dozens of people who had been living at a former Vallejo auto dealership were displaced Thursday, a day after one of its buildings went up in flames.

"Nobody has a clue. Nobody seems to care," said Christine Hofmann, a 53-year-old homeless woman who had been living at the former Bill Lang Cadillac dealership

for a year and a half.

Officials and the dealership's occupants estimate at least 50 people lived at the facility at Sonoma Boulevard and Yolano Drive, largely in the complex's easternmost building. The dealership's large, westernmost building was the one that burned Wednesday afternoon and was still smoldering a full 24 hours later.


Firefighters broke out the windows of the eastern building for ventilation and to allow pets and people to escape, fire officials said.

[Lorien]

10. Some of the comments posted to that story are truly vile. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. I bet. Sometimes I avoid the newspaper forums.

[HughBeaumont]

15. Newspaper forums are loaded to the hilt with foot-shooting Freep-ass fucksticks.

All running over themselves to defend the unbridled crapitalism they love and think they'll win someday. What a sad bunch of assholes. I'm just waiting for a comment along the lines of "I'm not going to bullshit you any longer - Screw this 'freedom' shit, I LOVE the fact that the US continues to blow up Ay-rabs, I LOVE assuming the poor are lazy, I'm GLAD they're staying where they're at for life . . . and yes, it really IS all about ME ME ME ME ME!!!"

[murielm99]

9. Yesterday, my husband drove down a street I used to

drive frequently when I worked in town. I hadn't been there in awhile. There is a large home that was once nice right behind an office building. It now sits empty, with boarded up windows. Across the street from that house is the old school. It has been developed and redeveloped. For awhile, it was apartments. Now it is sitting empty, deteriorating. We drove past the library where I used to work. Nearby, there are empty houses with uncut grass. Even some of the occupied houses look shabbier than I remember. My town is going to hell in a handbasket.

[Tesha]

17. Ah, but "private enterprise/private capital" own those empty houses.

To use them to house the homeless would be (gasp!)
"Socialism!".

Tesha

[Lorien]

8. I always wonder how the family or friends of people like these can

allow this to happen to them. Now, granted, not everyone has family, but most people have a few friends. five people is a lot to house but really, wouldn't any of us with friends in a similar circumstance try to make room for them? Why not offer empty hotel rooms to them at the very least? How can any of us turn people OUT INTO THE WOODS like that?? This is all just completely insane.

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. I worked with homeless families in the past. Most of the time, they had family in town

Different situations prevented them from living with family - #1, family lives in rental that doesn't allow a bunch of extra people to live there. #2, family tensions, #3 homeless hid homelessness from other family members due to pride, #4, Parents fedup with their daughter's path to single motherhood

[freshwest]

13. Depends on the family. Some just won't be bothered, no matter what anyone thinks. People are weird.

[napoleon_in_rags]

14. We got a tent city in these parts.

Its called camp quixote. At minimum, you need to set up tent cities. The local churches host for a period of time, and pass it on to the next church. But when you have a tent city, law enforcement can give an eye to their protection, you don't get that when you send families into the woods.

[BanzaiBonnie]

16. Could cooperatives be formed that would buy up houses

and rent them for only the true cost?

I know that wouldn't help those who were totally without money, but what if there were work-shares. Someone who was unemployed could do repair work in exchange for rent.

Just a thought. I'm sure it's been done. Hasn't it?

[The Doctor.]

18. Unbridled Capitalism is paradoxically forcing us into Communism.

Damned fools.

[whoneedstickets]

22. FDR saw this dynamic occuring in the 30's, he 'saved' capitalism from itself...

..or so goes one narrative on the new deal.

[butterfly77]

19. A lot of this has been going on for years...

but now its more noticeable,because it is hitting people who never thought it would or could happen to them. WHAT IS THAT SAYING AGAIN...FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE....CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW!!!!

[Forkboy]

20. This country is in seriously sad shape.

What a shame the myth we sell to the rest of the world about America.

[Starry Messenger]

21. Back to Hoovervilles

This isn't going to just go away. The federal government needs to acknowledge that there is an actual problem in our economy.