[Loki]

Life in a Modern Day Hooverville: Interesting little documentary on a homeless camp in Miami.
Umoja village
And lest anyone think these camps are limited to Miami, we have one here in Portland, too. It caused a bit of a hubbub for a while, but haven't heard much about it lately. I expect to see MANY more such camps in the future.

[I_Like_Plants]

Hoovervilles are all over the US, it's no secret to anyone who has their eyes open.

[dissimulo]

Not so much Hoovervilles as insane asylums without walls. Most of the homeless in the US today really can't hold a job.

I have no doubt that will be changing, though. Real Hoovervilles, filled with sane, stable, responsible, but non-essential people will be coming.

When you see a homeless camp full of white people with liberal arts degrees, you'll know things have really changed.

[jdmartin]

Man, I hate to know what the hell they were cooking on that barrel....

[frankthetank]

It looked like refried beans with okra or maybe pepper??? These people don't know how nice they have it. Up here the homeless must freeze their asses off. Low temps in the -20'sF, down there its cold when it goes into the 40's. The cold just saps energy out of a person.

The homeless here live on a sandbar by a park in the summer...i'm not sure where in the winter?

We also have a park where the gays(always men) meet and have sex (prostitution maybe?). One time a bridge worker spotted two dudes jumping out of a car naked. I'm not gay, i just know things

[I_Like_Plants]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dissimulo', 'N')ot so much Hoovervilles as insane asylums without walls. Most of the homeless in the US today really can't hold a job.

I have no doubt that will be changing, though. Real Hoovervilles, filled with sane, stable, responsible, but non-essential people will be coming.

When you see a homeless camp full of white people with liberal arts degrees, you'll know things have really changed.

[I_Like_Plants]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jdmartin', 'M')an, I hate to know what the hell they were cooking on that barrel....

[Newsseeker]

Another good one is "Shadowed Lives" by Chavez. It's about undocumented workers in California and the Hoovervilles they erected during the 80s. My guess is that now there are many more.

[I_Like_Plants]

There are a hell of a lot of people in the US who are one step away from a Hooverville, that's for sure.

There are semi-homeless who are homeless during the warm months then take refuge in flophouse hotels during the cold months. People and by people I mean families, staying the mandated 30 days at a time in various seedy motels. Nope not for free, they're paying for it - since the law moves 'em on every 30 days, they have a hard time getting a real job, getting benefits due them, etc., so they tend to drift into the underground economy.

The area I'm in is very affluent, but there are these really seedy-ass places all over. They're right out in open sight, right on El Camino Real, or you see the tops of 1940s vintage mobil homes peeking over the top of a hedge, etc. I found one place, mobiles right out of some film about the post-WWII recession, plus garages, people were renting and living in the garages.

There's the whole subculture of couch surfing, van-camping (illegal here but lots of people living in their vehicles around here) and so on. Right in the middle of the high tech miracle place etc. The layers are fascinating. What's weird is how so much of it is just invisible to the average yuppie.

[Plantagenet]

The US is supplying jobs to 12 million illegal aliens from Mexico and other latin American countries, while native-born Americans live in "Hoovervilles" and say they can't find work....

[I_Like_Plants]

The illegals are living pretty Hooverish too, they're 4 in an apartment the size of the one I have to myself, the family car is the family bike, etc. No not out and out Hoovervilles, admittedly. For some reason, the homeless around here seem to be Anglo and black. I've seen one down-and-outer who's Asian, Hispanic homeless are really good at staying out of sight I guess!

[The_Toecutter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')here's the whole subculture of couch surfing, van-camping (illegal here but lots of people living in their vehicles around here) and so on. Right in the middle of the high tech miracle place etc. The layers are fascinating. What's weird is how so much of it is just invisible to the average yuppie.

[I_Like_Plants]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'A')mericans are one month away from homelessness. That is the time our food, stocks, and municipal services will last without payment. Without these imports our "homes" are next to useless.

We produce and store nothing from our homes. They are little isolated islands in a sea of carelessness and detachment. We don't share anything with our 'neighbors' and there is no community. Nothing is exchanged in our small regions, and everything is imported: food, energy, manufactured goods, supplies, inventory, culture, nutrients, drugs, medicine, services, income, familes, love, fun, games, art, life. Our 'homes' are mere line items on our asset accounts.

There is no reason for most to be where we actually live, other than the faux investment we stake our lives on: the square little real estate 'investment' and the box that heats/cools us, a parking garage for our commuting vehicles, and a cafeteria-style food-service device that feeds us.

We already live in luxury Hoovervilles.

[gg3]

Re. best post in a while: yeah I agree.

Here's an observation from the dotcom crash:

A luxury sedan or SUV with a vanity license plate that spelled out some coder-jargon, towing a beat-up camping trailer.

I saw this more than once.

The story it tells is: Well-paid coder d00d or otherwise dotcom beneficiary, who lost their job in the crash, and decided to let go of the house, keep the expensive vehicle, and add a cheap trailer in which to sleep. While looking for work.

Coder d00ds on the couch circuit were also commonplace at the time. Lucky me, I survived, but only by virtue of major belt-tightening and a good bit of grassroots communism (the only kind that works) among friends.

The next industry to crash will be biotech, due to the normal bipolar-disorder "booms and busts" of the "business cycle." You'll see PhD biologists on the couch circuit and sleeping under bridges. Maybe one of them will get a real bad attitude and whip up the next bacterial or viral plague. Hmm.

Nothing more dangerous than an unemployed biologist.

[MD]

The Portland settlement includes internet access. We've a long way to fall, yet.

[julianj]

Hi all, I have just seen Ep.3 of the new series of Dr Who and it is set in the 1930s, NY, with the Empire State building almost complete. A major location is a Hooverville shanty town built in the shadow of the Empire State (which is historically correct).

Although of course it is SF and downplays a little the hardship, it is always interesting when social comment is sneaked into popular media. I'm being a bit circumspect about the plot because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the episode.

I also rapidly becoming a big fan of new companion Martha Jones (Freema Agryeman)

[SevenTen]

Rose's departure was the most poignant scene ever in the entire series, close behind was the reunion with Sarah Jane. Too bad Christopher Eccelston was only on one season. Haven't watched the new season yet, gonna get them all later and watch them one after the other.

I've enjoyed the series since I was a kid. Hope we get to see a few more seasons before the lights go out.

[Grifter]

you're talking about Ep4 julianj, you must have missed one.

What you say is right though. Good Doctor Who.

[julianj]

Sorry Grifter, you are quite right. Innumeracy strikes - it is Ep 4.