Foreclosures Increasing Numbers Of Homeless Leading To More Tent Cities Around Nation

(AHN) - More cities around the country are finding themselves with tent cities housing otherwise homeless people, and homeless advocates say the foreclosure crisis is partly to blame.

Even before the foreclosure crisis, officials in St. Petersburg, Florida tired of criticism over police routing homeless people camping in and near the downtown area on sidewalks in tents. The city allowed various groups to form a permanent, regulated tent city that offers services to occupants to help them get back on their feet.

But now, even the upscale community of Santa Barbara, California has found itself with people sleeping in cars while nearby Fresno is trying to manage not only tent cities, but a new encampment where people are constructing shelters out of scrap wood.

But the growing problem of encampments isn't confined to Florida and California, homeless advocates say tent cities have appeared or expanded in Portland, and Seattle, Oregon, Reno, Nevada, Athens, Georgia, Chattanooga, Tennessee and Columbus, Ohio among other places.

According to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless, nearly 61 percent of local and state homeless coalitions say their communities have experienced a rise in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began in 2007.

As further sign of the worsening crisis, in some communities many furniture or household listings on the free Craigslist.com are ads from people selling all of their furniture, saying they are moving and can't take anything big with them, or selling even furnishings such as dishes, towels and sheets, saying they are losing their home.

The growing problem of homelessness is also leading to a mini-crime wave in some areas as well.

With shelters full, some people are looking for a place to go and might lack a tent. A growing number of neighborhoods are finding that homeless people break into foreclosed vacant homes to have a quiet, protected place to sleep.