California shuts down Tent City

A few miles from California's state capitol, on a pasture of land bounded by a railroad track and the tranquil American river, a large cluster of homeless men and women has settled in what's been dubbed Tent City.

With perhaps hundreds of makeshift tents, no running water or bathrooms, and trash strewn everywhere, the encampment conjures up images of populations from developing countries living in America - so stunning it drew Oprah Winfrey's attention last month, and then a crush of national and international media coverage.

Now, Tent City is coming down.

Sacramento, California, mayor Kevin Johnson said yesterday officials plan to close the encampment within the next few weeks and move residents to shelters, apartments, and other accommodations.

"We're not going to go in and sweep them out of there," the mayor said at a news conference. "We've got to have tough love, but we've got to be compassionate."

The burst of media coverage is not the kind of publicity the mayor, a former basketball star, might have hoped for during his first months in office.

Some stories portrayed Tent City as a modern day Hooverville, a reference to the shantytowns built by homeless men driven into poverty during the Great Depression. With foreclosure rates in the Sacramento region among the highest in the US, the ragtag camp has been depicted as a symbol of the economic meltdown - people who'd lost their homes and were suddenly pitching tents along a riverbed.

The truth is somewhat less dramatic.

Although a sliver of the roughly 200 Tent City residents are recently working-class people who lost their homes, the overwhelming majority – 80% to 90% by several estimates - have been homeless for years, even decades.

Some residents said yesterday they have enjoyed the camaraderie of Tent City.

"We all take care of each other," said Michelle Holbrook, 34, who arrived with her dog, Angel, about a month ago after losing her job caring for an elderly man. "I've become the camp mother - I do most of the cooking and make hot water for coffee."

Still, living conditions are deplorable. Yesterday, one woman used a jug of water to bathe herself next to her tent. With no portable toilets, a man said he had no choice but to relieve himself a short distance from the living area. Although a garbage company recently placed a dumpster nearby, litter is everywhere.