"Every week"

I could have taken scores of sad, moving photos, but out of respect for the frustration and suffering of those involved, I refrained. 

People literally dragged the tents shown here from under the freeway overpasses and lined them up on the sidewalks. 

Later, after the police left, they set them up again under the same overpasses.

"Every week they do this," a very tired gentleman told me.  "Every week it's the same."

Sadly, every day hundreds of our neighbors set up homemaking under the naked sky. 

Emergency shelters provide cover for some at night.  But morning comes and everyone is forced out until the intake hour arrives in late afternoon for most programs. 

Some folks have decided that the last shred of dignity they possess can be protected only by remaining outside and independent.  I respect that. 

Of course, what people need is housing, plain and simple. 

That's why these tents project both sadness and hope.

Almost always a tent is a home owned by the one who sleeps in it at night. 

People don't like living on the streets. 

What is needed is the development of hundreds of homes and the loving friendship that can grow from a neighborhood. 

Sometimes a tent city is about the limit of the available capacity for people who don't seek handouts, but simply peace and progress. 

There is something, no, there is much to learn in this reality.