Tent cities in Sacramento? (Granite Bay: apartment, foreclosures, rentals) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

Ludachris · 02-27-2009, 09:50 AM

My wife heard from a friend who lives in CA that Sacramento has "tent cities" popping up due to all the people who have lost their homes/jobs.... that sounded a little crazy to me. Is this true? I'm getting a little more concerned about our decision to move back to CA everyday. It doesn't seem like it would be a wise move.

Beth26 · 02-27-2009, 10:01 AM

It was on Wednesday's Oprah show. The normal sized homeless camps you might see in California (and across the country), are getting bigger due to foreclosures, etc. This is not just Sac, it is all across the country. I think Sac is hit harder due to the high foreclosure rate. You'll be seeing this same phenomenon across the country...just like in the Great Depression.

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahsh...tows_lisa-ling

CityGirl72 · 02-27-2009, 10:13 AM

I remember reading about one that was growing in East Sac by the railroad - they were being pushed out. But I wouldn't doubt the foreclosures are having an effect on the tent cities. When I lived in Sac I didn't even know what a tent city was, I never saw one.

In Seattle they are ALL OVER...everywhere no matter what the economy, and they are in the super nice neighborhoods.

CityGirl72 · 02-27-2009, 10:15 AM

PS: You guys are considering Granite Bay...any tent city in Sacramento won't ever have an effect on you...you'll probably never see one being as far out as Granite Bay.

edwardius · 02-27-2009, 10:38 AM

The local economy in Sacramento is still very weak. If you don't a job lined up here, I wouldn't move out here. Its not just that the unemployment rate here is high, its that its high and still increasing.

http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/lfmonth/lf_geomaps.pdf

FresnoFacts · 02-27-2009, 10:55 AM

The problem relates to the slowing economy in California and people living paycheck to paycheck (for whatever reason).

Construction and other industries being impacted by the slowdown are laying off workers.

If you don't have a cushion (savings, etc) to get you through a job loss it becomes a major problem.

Losing a house to foreclosure but still having a job does not put necessarily people in a tent. They could still rent an apartment, etc.

Unfortunately, too many people are overextended financially. If things get tougher for them they won't have the ability to go several months while job hunting.

Notice the stories on Oprah have people saying they lost jobs, etc.

I feel for people who have to go through that. But it is a lesson for all of us that we need to try to be ready financially to ride it out in case we lose a job too.

CityGirl72 · 02-27-2009, 11:14 AM

This is true...I'm in this limbo. Both my husband and I are college educated, master degrees, and we BOTH were laid off. I'm having a hell of a time find a job.

I was given a severance and coupled with the piddle amount of unemployment we can sustain ourselves for about 6 months. In that time we have put our house on the market. Luckily our house (if sold for the price that it's up for) we'd have 250K net profit. We wanted to sell before foreclosure was ever an issue

We will live on that. But I hope I can find someone to rent to us. That's where I worry. We don't have jobs, we just have the cash...I mean it's alot of cash but we need o convince people to rent to jobless couple.

edwardius · 02-27-2009, 11:33 AM

In college, I rented a place with out a job. So its definitely possible, but I expect that the landlords will ask for a larger deposit.

FresnoFacts · 02-27-2009, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityGirl72

This is true...I'm in this limbo. Both my husband and I are college educated, master degrees, and we BOTH were laid off. I'm having a hell of a time find a job.

I was given a severance and coupled with the piddle amount of unemployment we can sustain ourselves for about 6 months. In that time we have put our house on the market. Luckily our house (if sold for the price that it's up for) we'd have 250K net profit. We wanted to sell before foreclosure was ever an issue

We will live on that. But I hope I can find someone to rent to us. That's where I worry. We don't have jobs, we just have the cash...I mean it's alot of cash but we need o convince people to rent to jobless couple.

I would also think you can find someone to rent to you. After all people who are retired can find rentals.

I know the stress you are feeling though, I've gone through several layoffs myself over the years. I have the graduate degree bit too but it still takes time to find a new position. Not an easy time doing it in this economy but hang in there.

Ludachris · 02-27-2009, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CityGirl72

PS: You guys are considering Granite Bay...any tent city in Sacramento won't ever have an effect on you...you'll probably never see one being as far out as Granite Bay.

It's not the tent cities that I'm worried about specifically, it's what they represent. It seems as if CA is worse off than I had originally thought. I'm really concerned about how hard schools will get hit in the future, as well as all the the other things you end up taking for granted on a daily basis. How bad will the CA quality of life become? That's the real concern.

Is it wise to move from an area that isn't getting hit as hard to an area that looks to be getting hit the hardest? Just something we're thinking more about.