The Rain and Other Issues

After over 36 hours and 4+ inches of rain I made out ok except for a little cabin fever. Several others in camped out in my neck of the woods didn't fare so well though. It's all part of the deal when you are homeless and camping out. For the next week there will be a need for new clothes to replace the ones ruined by the weather. It's always this way within the homeless community. There are the people who have not, can not or just will not protect their property so clothing will be needed. It's not just the campers that have this problem though. There are a few others who have no shelter other than maybe a bridge overpass to live under. Others will take shelter under awnings and other cover around town. There are also the folks who left the shelters during the day who may not have had much in the way of clothing to begin with. It's always like this.

Other news this week is that about 7 or 8 camps in an area about a mile or so from me will have to be moved out by the end of this week. Once again it was a case of one camper creating a problem that ultimately affected all the others. In this case a couple was having an argument. The police were called and because the police had to officially recognize those people they were required to notify Code Enforcement who then gave them until today to move. Where these 10 or 12 people will go, I'm not sure. We will see what happens by next week when the dust (mud?) settles.

Lastly, in a little less than 2 weeks from today there will be a census taken of the homeless community here in Ft Worth. Accordingly it will be used to determine funding allocations and what the local needs are or will be for the homeless community. I got on a rant last week about this and some of the other comments made by homeless agencies over the holidays. I've not only noticed that the numbers of unsheltered homeless reported in past census totals were not just a little low but extremely low. It's almost as if this group of homeless people do not officially exist. I've since learned that during the last two census cycles, the teams sent out to record the unsheltered homeless were sent to areas where there were no homeless to count and the areas where the unsheltered homeless did live were ignored completely. What does this really mean? Is the agency doing this census deliberately ignoring the unsheltered homeless while reporting how much good they are doing for the very same group of people or are we dealing with people who don't have a clue about what is really going on beyond the shelters along Lancaster Ave. When this next census has been taken and the numbers are published I will certainly have a good idea which way the wind is blowing.