Homeless In America
"There but for the grace of God, go I" - attributed to John Bradford, 16th Century
In any given night in America, 700,000 to 2 million people have no home to go to. Staggering statistic? Yes. And these numbers were from 1996.
In Colorado Springs, Fountain Creek runs parallel to Interstate 25. It has become 'home' to many of the city's considerable homeless population. It is estimated that Colorado Spring's chronic homeless number about 350 persons, and about 750 more have joined the homeless population due to job loss. That puts the number of people living on the streets, or along the creek bed, at approximately 1100.
Local Shelters are filled to capacity, and while the city struggles to find a solution, the homeless camps remain. Some cities around the country are providing basic services to their 'tent cities' on public land, such as portable toilets, (which I saw today at a few of the camps I photographed), trash pick up, firewood, and mobile medical vans.
A few of the homeless are there because they want to be. Most are not.
Why not designate an area, provide the needed services, and give these people a place to live with some dignity while we all await better times?
Proudly, in just 24 hours, we as Americans donated 10 million dollars to the relief effort in Haiti.
Granted, it's not on the same scale, but are the fast growing tent cities across America not also a crisis?
Statistics show that most homeless are men. But more and more women and children are joining them as families lose their jobs, and with them, the ability to pay rent. This is a cold, and dangerous way to live.
While I took these photos in Colorado Springs, I'm sure they are indiscernible from any other city in the country.
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Homeless In America
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2 comments • Jennifer Morales Team Fayetteville,Fort Bragg, NC Real Estate • January 20 2010 08:42AMComments
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So true, it's hard to see these photos and know that they are very prevelent here in the US. I agree that we should be doing more to help the homeless here, there are a lot of programs availabel though, that our tax dollars pay for.
In the land of excess, so many live without, why?
Debi is not only an amazing photographer, she's a wonderful person as well.
I've had the pleasure of being one of her subscribers for some time now and I encourage anyone reading this post to become one too.
You did a great job re-blogging this to introduce this post (and Debi) to a whole other group of readers.
Well done Jennifer!