tent city

When officials closed down Camden's Tent City this past May, they promised the 54 homeless residents that it was not an eviction, but the first step to a better life. Now, less than 6 months later, many of them are once again homeless and some have created a new Tent city encampment near the original site. 

Camden County New Jersey has announced plans to shut down a tent city encampment that has stood in Camden for over the past year. Fifty people currently live there, supporting themselves through ties with community members who offer aid and support, and looking out for one another. 
Camden officials state they will use federal stimulus funds to provide social service support to those living in the tent city. The amount of aid being offered, and how the relocations will impact residents remains unclear. 

In January of 2010, the Poverty Initiatve, a group based in New York that aims to reignite Dr. Martin Luther King's Poor People's Campaign, visited Philadelphia for an immersion tour. The tour highlighted the history of the struggles of poor people in this city. Willie Baptist and Liz Theoharis, of the Poverty Initiative,  shared stories about the struggle of the homeless in 1995 and 1996.

Homelessness is on the rise across the county. With tent cities springing up in a number of cities, and being forcably closed down.

As job losses and foreclosures continue to skyrocket, tent cities are cropping up across the country. The below article spotlights one in Sacramento, CA.