Is there going to be a new Tent City on Powers?

[Vision67]

I don't expect a tent city to develop on Powers, and certainly not in January. In January, it's just too damn cold.

Homelessness is expanding all over. If you look how rents have soared during the past 10 years you see why.

Here is a thread from the Phoenix file: https://www.city-data.com/forum/phoe...cottsdale.html

They have a ton of campers there. Heck, I can't blame them for preferring Phoenix to Colorado Springs in winter.

My wife, a retired RN, volunteers in the clinic at the downtown homeless free lunch spot. She observes that many of the homeless folks have learned how to milk the system and most of the resources are downtown, not out on Powers. She thinks that about half of the homeless people have mental problems and the other half are just opportunists who loathe working.

I don't pretend to know a solution. But if you feed pigeons, you get more pigeons.

[mollygee]

Originally Posted by Vision67

I don't expect a tent city to develop on Powers, and certainly not in January. In January, it's just too damn cold.

Homelessness is expanding all over. If you look how rents have soared during the past 10 years you see why.

Here is a thread from the Phoenix file: https://www.city-data.com/forum/phoe...cottsdale.html

They have a ton of campers there. Heck, I can't blame them for preferring Phoenix to Colorado Springs in winter.

My wife, a retired RN, volunteers in the clinic at the downtown homeless free lunch spot. She observes that many of the homeless folks have learned how to milk the system and most of the resources are downtown, not out on Powers. She thinks that about half of the homeless people have mental problems and the other half are just opportunists who loathe working.

I don't pretend to know a solution. But if you feed pigeons, you get more pigeons.

There are a lot of veterans that are homeless. There are a lot of families that are homeless. These are people, not pigeons. I happen to love pigeons; but come on lets not belittle people in need of a helping hand.

[BornintheSprings]

Originally Posted by mollygee

but come on lets not belittle people in need of a helping hand.

But but I want someone I can look down on with self righteous indignation!!

[TCHP]

The crux being within that statement: "about half of the homeless people have mental problems and the other half are just opportunists who loathe working."

I think most of us would not have a lot of heartburn about assisting the most challenged segment of our society, but within that population are also the opportunist that intermingle with them and prevent this from being an easy solution and are manipulating the system. To most of us, the lifestyle they have through manipulation is not one we would want, but it becomes irritating to see some who CAN do better for themselves but they choose to take benefits from those who CAN'T do better for themselves.

[MTransplant]

Being legal immigrant and lived in this wonderful country for 25 + years, working 2 jobs sometimes and pushed 2 kids through college, my immigrant friends and myself are still wondering why people who had advantage being born and raised here, do not use all opportunities this country has to offer. I am seeing more and more young adults and middle age people staying at COS intersections and asking for money- don't we have the lowest unemployment in the country? couldn't they find a job at fast food, Walmart, etc. I think- they do not want to do it since the society, especially here in Colorado Springs has too many freebies to offer and they can easily ride on our hard earned tax payer money, which is disgusting. The city failed to implement any program to put these folks on bringing some value to this city- how is about sweeping streets and clean your mess at the creeks for a dinner or bed in shelter? I do not know any immigrant who are homeless and we all came with almost no money and no language skills. The demographics of homelessness is hard to find, but I bet you won't find there Mexican, Indian, Chinese or Easter Europeans folks. Why?- because we worked very hard to earn the place in this society.

[BornintheSprings]

Originally Posted by MTransplant

Being legal immigrant and lived in this wonderful country for 25 + years, working 2 jobs sometimes and pushed 2 kids through college, my immigrant friends and myself are still wondering why people who had advantage being born and raised here, do not use all opportunities this country has to offer.

Because not everyone is born equal in skills and ability. Also your post is a prime example of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

[MTransplant]

Too many freebies is offered and life is too comfortable here. I wish every US citizen spends 6 months abroad- Latin America, Africa or China/Russia, so they will have a different prospective to life and appreciate what is given here to everybody. I bet we will have less homeless people then.

[BornintheSprings]

Originally Posted by MTransplant

Too many freebies is offered and life is too comfortable here. I wish every US citizen spends 6 months abroad- Latin America, Africa or China/Russia, so they will have a different prospective to life and appreciate what is given here to everybody. I bet we will have less homeless people then.

Spoken like someone who has never been in poverty in the US. Are US citizens by and large better off than many poor nations yes are US citizens who are poor coddled? No and I think you lack perspective on what poverty is like in the US.

[Screenwriter70]

Originally Posted by mollygee

There are a lot of veterans that are homeless. There are a lot of families that are homeless. These are people, not pigeons. I happen to love pigeons; but come on lets not belittle people in need of a helping hand.

There's a lot of this belittling going on within City Data. It's one reason I don't spend a lot of time here. I've actually seen more compassion on Redddit lately (which I fled back to in order to escape the rampant conservatism of CD).

[rochester_veteran]

Of the homeless people I've seen here in COS, they're mostly younger people, more men than women. There are some older people that I've seen though. You'll see homeless guys panhandling on the traffic medians at Fillmore St at the intersections west of the diverging diamond bridge interchange. None have gotten aggressive. A few of the guys had dogs that were laying by the person's backpack and belongings. I've noticed homeless people camping in tents along the stream beds. It gets cold here at night and COS does get snowstorms and blizzards and that's got to be tough getting through living in a tent! I can't imagine this being anyone's plan and have heard stats that a good portion of the homeless are mentally ill and drug addicted. There's similar homeless encampments where I'm from in Rochester, NY and even though there's places for these people to stay, they choose not to because of the rules of those places (no alcohol, no drugs). Eventually, City officials make the call to clear out the encampments and clean them up. I'm not sure how Colorado Springs handles the problem or that of camping in public places.