Choosing Streets Over Shelter

Life can be dangerous for people without homes. Without a roof or doors to lock, homeless people are often at the mercy of the streets, its people, and its elements.

In recent months, several homeless people have been victimized by senseless and brutal acts of violence, targeted simply because they call the streets "home." In fact, streets have become so dangerous that there is a strong push for federal hate crime protection for homeless people.

Despite the dangers, many homeless people choose to stay on the streets rather than in a shelter. Communities like Portland, Oregon to Athens, Georgia, are seeing tent cities pop up at alarming rates. 

But why would anyone want to choose to live this way? Today's Sacramento Bee provides a glimpse into one homeless man's rationale for choosing to live with an "army of homeless" on the streets instead of in a homeless shelter:

Despite the perils of the streets and the bracing cold of winter, he did not plan to seek indoor shelter.

"It can be very dangerous out here," said Totten, an angry scar scissoring down from his left eyebrow. "I thought about buying a pistol to protect everyone. But then I got worried about it getting into the wrong hands."

Still, he insisted, braving the mean streets is better most nights than sleeping at the winter haven at Cal Expo, or any shelter for that matter.

Totten and other diehards prefer living outdoors, they say, where no one forces religion upon them or monitors their eating, drinking and sleeping habits. They dote on their pets, pick up cans and bottles and recycle for extra income, and gather wood to create campfires for warmth and cooking.

It seems the appeal of living in a tent city has a lot to do with the independence they can maintain and the sense of community. One homeless woman interviewed in the article said it best: "We don't want that much. Just a piece of land and our freedom. Is it too much to ask?"

Photo from the Sacramento Bee: "Tony Sims, 51, shakes out his blanket last month at the Bannon Street homeless camp, where he had been living August. Bannon Street, and a site near the Blue Diamond almond factory, are two of the area's largest camps, despite regular police sweeps. A day after this photo was taken, police moved the homeless out."