News & Blogs Largest Homeless Camp In Mainland USA

[wizehop]

Any one on here live there? or is it still there. Story is a bit dated but enjoyed looking over it none the less.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-jungle-largest-homeless-camp-in-us-2013-8?op=1

WELCOME TO 'THE JUNGLE': The Largest Homeless Camp In Mainland USA Is Right In The Heart Of Silicon Valley

ROBERT JOHNSON


SEP. 7, 2013, 10:52 AM 905,256 82

• Homeless In Silicon Valley" series reported by Robert Johnson and edited by Chris C. Anderson. Jill Klausen and graphic designer Mike Nudelman contributed to this series.
  
  
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  
  
  
  
  The Jungle is the largest of many Silicon Valley homeless encampments, and the 65 acres bordering Coyote Creek in San Jose can be home to up to 175 people at a time.
  
  It is the largest homeless encampment in the continental United States.
  
  From kids to convicts to moms and dads and the mentally ill, The Jungle is a desperate mix of people out of whatever options they might have once had.
  
  When Business Insider visited The Jungle over the course of a week in mid-July the city was getting ready to clear the homeless out again after they had just settled back in from a previous eviction.
  
  It's a back-and-forth with no easy answers as Silicon Valley's cost of living increases, but the jobs and affordable housing needed to keep its poorest residents inside and off the streets remains unseen.
  
  
  Welcome to the Jungle, the largest homeless camp in the Silicon Valley and continental United States.
  
  
  
  Business Insider
  
  Business Insider visited The Jungle several times in mid-July to talk to the people who live here and see what their lives are like.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  The conditions here are deplorable.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Yet people still live out their daily lives here.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  There is no "type" of person who lives in The Jungle.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Officials say only the "chronically homeless" settle in places like this in Silicon Valley, but that's not true.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  For some people this is the last stop on a decline that started with losing a job or fighting an illness.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  The woman who lives here lost her business and has a daughter who often lives in a neighboring camp.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  The man who lives here was a union carpenter.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  The woman who lives here is 56 years old.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Some people have lived in the jungle for years.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  GiGi got lucky and has moved into an apartment since we met her in July, but she was a long-term resident of The Jungle.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Click here to see GiGi's story.
  Jeri found a burnt corpse along the river in The Jungle and says it's not uncommon to hear threats of "burning people out" of their tents while they're asleep inside.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  She says a lot of camps are booby-trapped.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  "I could hear them digging holes in the middle of the night," Jeri says of her time in The Jungle.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Digging here can be to hide things from thieves or to bury a beloved pet.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Or to expand a living space.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Mama Red has a daughter who intended to give birth in camp and she's added children's toys and additional tents to her site for them.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  See Mama Red's full story here.
  Giggles has lived on the street most of her life since she turned 18.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  See Giggle's full story here.
  Patricia built this underground room for protection against intruders.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  A lot of time and effort has gone into many of these Jungle encampments. San Jose city officials call this type of semi-permanent camp an "entrenchment."
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  People here feel any type of barrier protecting them from their more unstable neighbors is simply a good thing.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  The scores of homeowners in nearby neighborhoods are concerned the longer people stay, the greater the chance Jungle fires could spread to their homes, as this one nearly did in July.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  The stream that cuts through the middle of The Jungle has little water in mid-July.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Everything is brittle and dry.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  The water that fills much of Coyote Creek is runoff from local roads, land and parking lots. It arrives through immense pipes shored up by these sand bags.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Though with few other options, people still often bathe and do their laundry in the creek.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  There is not much residents here can find for work aside from collecting cans and bottles.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Or stripping wire for copper to sell at scrap yards.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Empty rubber housings from old power lines are all over The Jungle.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  When Troy the carpenter couldn't find work that didn't stop him from building this tree house.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Click here to see how Troy lives >
  This homeless mason used his job skills to build a set of stairs from his camp to the creek.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Just days after we visited, the city came through and cleared out The Jungle again.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Tons of trash was removed.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  And all the camps that you see in this story were torn down.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  The city has to do something to address the health and safety concerns brought on by people living here.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  Though officials know residents will be back since there's really nowhere else for them to go.
  
  
  
  Robert Johnson for Business Insider
  
  
  
  Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-jungle-largest-homeless-camp-in-us-2013-8?op=1#ixzz2x4mdUmKh

 

[TheWindAndRain]

That's pretty crazy. Niether google maps satellite view nor any of the street views show anything there anymore. One old satellite view shows 5 or 6 tents on the other side of the creek from what is shown in this story, but when you zoom in they all disappear.

Street view shows the area is covered in "no trespassing" signs now. Reminiscent of asheville, nc.

 

[Kim Chee]

These people have no "American Dream" delusions. They know better and have decided to live within their means, much unlike their more financially well off counterparts. More disturbing are the millions of Americans who are wage slaves who are paying rent who will never own a home.

I remember when the train used to run in San Jose. When leaving the city heading south, the tracks were lined with side by side camps for a couple miles. I don't remember ever seeing such a large concentration of "self housed" individuals anywhere else in my travels.

 

[ancienttoes]

That looks pretty cool. Maybe I'll visit someday if it's still there. Where other people see poverty, I see community. Not all housed up in boxes staring into boxes. The pictures show a lot of creativity and not even motivated by profit. I hope its still there. I just looked it up. http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/loca...s-Spearhead-Improvement-Effort-250246701.html
This was posted just March 2014 about the residents cleaning up things there themselves. Who will pick up the garbage? the capitalists ask ridiculously.

 

[eske silver]

Wow, I've spent most of my life in the Bay, and I've never heard of the Jungle - places like it, sure, but not this one.
Sounds like a desperate place, but wrought with potential!
Some peoples should organize together, clean it up and take it from the city. Start a new slab right in the middle of Silicon Valley! lol