Portland, ME Tuesday low: 34F, rain.
City officials have been busy tearing down dozens of homeless encampments, providing those depending on them with little options aside from sleeping on concrete.
Seattle Tuesday low: 37F, rain.
Seattle mayor Ed Murray authorized two "legal" encampments, which only house roughly 100 people. The remaining encampments will be torn down.
Eureka, CA Tuesday low: 41F, rain.
Police in Eureka, California - a liberal haven in the far-northern part of the state - have cracked down on homeless encampments so much that the area's homeless are forced to literally sleep in the swamp. The Marsh, as locals call it, is the coldest, wettest part of Eureka, and is the only place where Eureka police won’t enforce the city’s no-camping ordinance.
Boise, ID Tuesday low: 27F, party cloudy.
A group of 100 homeless campers in Boise, Idaho were staying in a tent city known as Cooper Court near downtown Boise for several months, but police cleared the camp in early December.
Some of the residents of Cooper Court said they had no choice but to decline staying in Boise's homeless shelters, as some are veterans with PTSD, and others have mental health conditions like schizophrenia, both of which can be exacerbated by the crowded environment at a homeless shelter.
Salinas, CA Tuesday low: 46F, rain.
In Salinas... the war on the homeless has intensified to the point of the local city council passing a resolution allowing the city to steal homeless people's possessions in the middle of the night, while contracting with a private company to demolish encampments. The city will be spending between $175,000 and $200,000 per year contracting with Smith and Enright... who will be tasked with confiscating and storing the possessions of the homeless.
Oakland, CA Tuesday low: 45F, rain
California Highway Patrol enlisted prison labor to clear out a homeless encampment under the I-880 highway in Oakland. Prisoners were forced to throw mattresses, pillows, tents and sleeping bags in garbage trucks.
"We got nowhere else to go, and it's raining," a camper identifying himself as Kevin, who had lived under the bridge for months, told the East Bay Express. "We had something under the bridge, out of the rain. We cleaned up the area, and we're not bothering nobody."
"This is our property," said a California Department of Transportation supervisor at the scene who didn't identify himself. "They're trespassing."
New York City, NY, Tuesday low: 52F, rain.
The New York Civil Liberties Union today will file notices of claim on behalf of three homeless New Yorkers whose belongings were destroyed by police and in conjunction launched a campaign #TheThingsWeCarry asking for humanity in our treatment of homeless New Yorkers this holiday season.
And in my own town:
Berkeley, CA, Tuesday low: 46F, rain
Via First They Came for the Homeless:
We have been getting soaked for three days now. A housed person just came up to yell about a mess here. I explained we are not responsible for the mess other people leave. She said stop feeding the homeless. Stop them from coming to the Post Office to seek shelter. Really? My response was no, I will not stop feeding the hungry, providing dry blankets when available, or tell them to leave. This person is a disgrace for suggesting this. Merry Christmas, right? Staying dry is impossible in this weather. Unless you are housed. So please have a heart and think. Or come here and see the misery. But don't ever come here and tell me to stop caring for those in need. POS!
What are they doing to the homeless where you are?