SoylentNews

cafebabe [soylentnews.org] writes:

A few short miles from multi-million pound homes and the booming Silicon Valley, several hundred homeless people live in squalor in a make-shift jungle camp.

At the camp, believed to be San Jose's largest homeless encampment, some 350 of the city's forgotten live in tents, makeshift shacks, caves and tree houses along polluted Coyote Creek.

The camp is a melting-pot of illness, addiction and disorder with residents spending their days and nights in various states of mental confusion and intoxication.

and:

San Jose, the 10th largest city in the US, is at the heart of the Silicon Valley, home to Google, Apple, Facebook and many more, but it also has a seven-year 20,000-person waiting list for housing support.

As the technology sector has boomed, so has the housing market.

An average home sells for £583,000 and two bedroom apartments rent for £1166. The widening gap between rich and poor is clear to see.

However:

In the Jungle, trails wind through trees and bushes, and there are neighborhoods like Little Saigon, where Vietnamese residents have dug large rooms into steep hillsides and squat by the creek to wash dishes and get water.

Their bathrooms are hand-dug holes or buckets.

Mentally ill people burst from tents screaming and punching at unseen terrors. A man staggers by, bleeding from his ear after being hit with a shovel. A pregnant woman calls for help, her legs too swollen to get up.

One morning, residents found a corpse in a tent.

'We're like the scum of the earth,' said jungle resident Maria Esther Salazar. 'We're like nobody.'

Ms Salazar's life fell apart at 11 when she was kidnapped and gang raped.

The 50-year-old has been arrested dozens of times, convicted of 17 felonies, almost all drug related and has had four children, none of which she has raised.

Jennifer Loving, executive director of the nonprofit housing agency Destination: Home, is spearheading a new, concerted effort in San Jose to house people and keep them housed, not just out of compassion, but to save money.

A homeless person can cost an estimated £35,000 a year, including trips to the emergency room and jail. The cost of housing someone can be just £9,300 annually.

Why are we edging closer to Elysium and Fairyland when we don't have to?

Original Submission