Poverty in America

I came across this story on the website for my local new station.

Cliff notes version:
There is a roaming population of homeless that call themselves Tent City3.  It is made up of about 100 men and women with out children. They go from site to site every 90 days (by law, I think).  Mostly they stay at churches.  Frequently they are invited back to sites where they have been before.  To be in Tent City 3 (TC3) you have to operate by their code of conduct. The residents of TC3 rotate duties (such as security and cleaning).  You can read more about them Here.  So this group has been invited to stay at a Church in a neighborhood in northern Seattle.  Many of the neighbors there don't appreciate that the church is inviting them (at least it seems like many, according to news reports).  They say that the neighborhood can't support having homeless, in the area, even though the church has and continues to off shelter to some 20 homeless most every night.  It amazes when I hear people say that the church is irrelevant these days, yet when the church tries to do what Christ has called it to do, people don't like it. 

Recently our church put on two BBQ's for TC3.  One at the site they are at now, and one at our church. I was only able to attend the one at our church.  However, it was a very good experience.  I got to hear some of their stories, and share a meal with them.  I also was able to talk with the people that BBQ'd at TC3 and many of them came back to our BBQ, because they knew that what they were doing was worth it.  They had been at their current location for 2 months when we talked to them, and there had been only 1 police call, and the police were called because someone saw a homeless person (didn't know that was a crime). 

TC3 I think could be an effective way of helping to alleviate poverty.  The people that choose to stay there, have to live with in rules and want to get out of their current situation. It is not something that just anyone can walk in and be a part of, thus it weeds out most of those that are just looking for free hand outs.  They become a self governing group that has rules to follow.  Arguably most importantly, it becomes family and community. In my time working with homeless, the thing that keeps them down the most is they have no one to be accountable to and no one to share experiences with.  It becomes a steady place (where they can shower) from which they can leave their stuff and go to a job.  Not too many homeless have that opportunity. I think we should continue to give them the opportunity and applaud this church for giving them this opportunity.

In the future I would like to see people come along side the church and use the practices of When Helping Hurts (see link of book).  This would include building relationships with the residents so that they can get more training (to secure better jobs), skills for managing money, building relationships, being a good employee, etc.  A wholistic approach, so that they are offered more than just shelter, they are offered a chance to live life how Christ wants them to live life.

Here is one person's take on TC.