logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Nonprofit Newswire | Tent City Pops Up Again

Rick Cohen
April 19, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

April 17, 2010; Keene Sentinel | During the Great Depression, they were called “Hoovervilles” after the well-intentioned but hapless U.S. President who oversaw the beginning of this nation’s worst economic crisis ever. The current Great Recession is apparently on the road to recovery, if consumer spending upticks are any indication, but look hard enough, and you’ll see modern day encampments of the homeless and dispossessed in our own communities. In Keene, New Hampshire, a “tent city” of the homeless exists in the woods behind a shopping center. The residents have been told to vacate the site, but so far no action has been taken by authorities to have them removed physically. Apparently, a mid-winter order to vacate had been obeyed, with no one there during a visit on April 5th, but several are now back living in shacks made out of tarps and other flimsy materials. An unidentified social service agency called the owner, a local Democratic state legislator’s family, about the encampment, soon followed by a call from the police. Is this just an idiosyncratic occurrence in Keene? Not quite. In Vancouver, where the homeless were swept from the streets into temporary shelters during the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Olympic shelters are closing between April 20th and April 31st, and shelter tents have already begun to appear. In Camden, New Jersey, the residents of a more populous tent city had been facing a deadline of this past Thursday to clear out, but the deadline passed without incident so far.  Camden’s tent city is located on state government-owned land, so these residents might get a few more benefits than their Keene brethren if they are evicted. Already, the number of Camden tent city residents has fallen from above 60 to around 35. Nonprofits such as the Volunteers of America have been trying to get the tenters to complete forms for alternative housing. We hope we do not have to make any more trips down Hooverville’s Nostalgia Lane and see more people calling home a place where there’s a tarp over their heads.—Rick Cohen

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: Nonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
5 Land Defense Protests Around the World
Iris Crawford
Turning Toward EV Frontline Communities
Katherine Leah Pace
Muslim Women Are Reclaiming The Narrative
Anmol Irfan
How Policy Is Building a Social Economy in South Korea
Minsun Ji
Nonprofits and Movements: How Do the Two Relate?
Steve Dubb
Human-Centered Design for Behavioral Health
Sonia Sarkar

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.