We have all been treated for quite some time to all of the impromptu Tent Cities that homeless and migrants have set up in various major cities as well as along the Rio Grande as they await their interviews for entrance into the Land of Good & Plenty.  Until now however the only ones that were officially run by Da Goobermint were the ones directly surrounding the Border Crossings.

The combined problem of locally grown homelessness and rapid influx of migrants from war zones and failed states has now become so large that major cities like New York and Phoenix are opening up official Hoovervilles, the name for the Tent Cities that sprung up under the administration of Herbert Hoover, POTUS at the beginning of the Great Depression.



I have long been in favor of creating designated spaces for legalized camping in tents and cars & RVs as an alternative to the regular sweeps and cleanups of locations, where the residents pickup and move somewhere else for a while, then eventually move back, rinse and repeat 2 or 3 times over the winter months making problems for everyone since they don't have anywhere better for them to go to.  You can make the encampment disappear for a while but the people do not disappear.  Not yet anyhow.

So OK, now they are trying the legal tent cities method, with 2 problems.  On the one hand, the Human Rights advocates types do not consider such living arrangements worthy of human habitation since they lack such amenities a hot & cold running water, flush toilets and central heating.  The prospective residents don't like them because they are dropped down in the middle of nowhere without so much as a convenience store nearby, plus restrictions against alcohol.  This means you can't even have a beer at home in your tent space!  That really is inhumane treatment!

With their current configuration, I do not forsee these Hoovervilles to make much of a dent in the homeless situation.  Right now in NYC where empty commercial real estate is in hefty supply, I think renting out some of these buildings and converting them for residential living would be a better alternative.  That won't happen too soon either.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2023/11/13/phoenix-structured-campground-open-for-homeless-population/71524369007/

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/migrant-crisis/controversial-tent-city-shelter-opens-to-migrant-families-in-nyc/4855588/

RE