The World Watches The Growth Of American Tent Cities

Yesterday, I spoke to a reporter of the Guardian, a British media paper, who is writing on how the housing slump here in America is affecting homelessness. And more importantly, how more Americans are resorting to living in tent cities.(Here's the latest example in a local paper.)

We had a long discussion on the hows, whys, and wheres. I realized afterward that more and more international media outlets are picking up this sad phenomenon in the richest country in the world—American Shanty Towns. Many of these outlets follow this blog, and email or call me about how we are tracking the state of homelessness around the country.

My specific comment to the UK paper was this… the real story on the state of homelessness is found in the local American media outlets. Local papers cannot exaggerate, or under-exaggerate, the state of homelessness in their local parks, rivers, hills, and streets. Their local readers will know what is true.

Statements by federal or state officials are always overshadowed by political agendas. National papers and media outlets typically message stories on homelessness based on what they think will sell their paper.

It’s sad when the world is watching and writing about our country’s societal weaknesses—particularly homelessness. But maybe this will shame our leaders into doing something about it?