News & Blogs Not having a home in Columbia, SC illegal

[Mongo]

It’s Now Illegal To Be Homeless
It’s now illegal to be homeless, at least in Columbia, South Carolina. Homeless people are set to be shipped off to a camp on the outskirts of town – but the kicker is that the shelter only has 250 beds, which are available on a first come, first serve basis. Once you’re in the camp, there’s no way of leaving, and there’s no room for the other thousand homeless residents left in the city. Sound too crazy to be true? Just wach the video below.




And it’s not just the homeless who will have a tougher time. People and organizations that wish to support or feed the homeless must pay a fee and obtain a permit 15 days in advance. One affected charity, Food Not Bombs, said they now will have to pay at least $120 to host their weekly free meal picnic, in which they offer free food to anyone who needs it. The organization has been holding these free picnics in Finlay Park every Sunday for the last 12 years.

According to the group’s organizer Judith Turnipseed, “We have no formal organization. We don’t have a 501(c)(3). We’re just a group of people who come to the park and bring food and share it with anyone who comes. That includes people who are homeless, and people who have a home but are hungry. It’s a people’s picnic.”

The government of Columbia has even removed several public benches from downtown areas, and have encouraged citizens to be ready to call police if they see anyone suspected of being homeless. Do you think that this is the job of the government, or have they stepped too far?

http://squattheplanet.com/threads/not-having-a-home-in-columbia-sc-illegal.18879/#post-140924

 

[rugburn]

This was just posted like a week ago on here

 

[Deleted member 20]

This was just posted like a week ago on here

Are you sure that wasnt the story about florida? Im unsure but its equally disturbing news to me.

 

[wizehop]

Shitty but not surprising considering the stuff governments to to control people. I watched a doc a few years back about how the RCMP in Canada would go out and take all the nomadic Inuit people and force them to live in towns, work and dress a certain way. Its fucked, but they just cant have people living outside of their system.

 

[rugburn]

My mistake I saw this on facebook not here my bad

 

[Thorne]

This is one of the things I am trying to change with my research. Altough I am only in Tucson now, I hope I can oneday have a major influence. I have good advisors who also believe in my vision.

I know it sounds like a pipe dream, but....

Also, if you have that link to the similar incident in FL I'd love to have it. I don't remember seeing it, but I have been busy.

 

[wizehop]

Read this today, may be relevant to the discussion. For the discussions you will need to click the link as I don't want to flood this page unnecessarily:

"I am homeless by choice: I sleep in my office and shower at the gym. No one knows after 2 years."

http://www.reddit.com/r/confession/comments/1ybbxm/i_am_homeless_by_choice_i_sleep_in_my_office_and/

As a graduate student (26,male), I make a pretty pathetic salary. I also live in an expensive city, which means that I can hardly make ends meet, let a lone save any money. I also don't receive any financial support from my parents.

A few months after moving here and learning that I'd be spending around a thousand dollars per month for a one-bedroom apartment that I hardly spent any time in, I decided to make a change. I moved into my office. The office is shared with two other people, which sometimes makes it difficult to keep my situation covert, but I have managed now for about two years. The 'why' is obvious: to save money. Here's the how.

I am already very minimalist with my possessions, so getting rid most of my remaining stuff was not difficult at all. I managed to get everything down to two bags: a small 20L backpack, which holds my laptop and other electronics, and a medium sized gym/duffle bag, which holds only my clothes. I put the duffle bag into a large drawer in my desk during the day, and I change into the clothes I'll wear the next day in the evening when no one is here. I do laundry every week on Sunday, when (hardly) anyone is around to see me leave and come back with my duffle bag (and if they do see me, the explanation is clear: I was at the gym and working on the weekend).

The gym I shower at is not only free (for students), but it's literally 30 seconds away from my office building. In the morning, I get up before anyone arrives to work (about 6am), and shower/shave etc. at the gym. I then shower again in the evening after working out.

Sleeping can sometimes be uncomfortable, but I have discovered a comfy set up. There are three chairs in my office, and one of them, thank goodness, does not have arms on it. So, I sleep lying down across the three of them, either on my back, or on my side. It's not incredibly comfortable, I'll admit, but certainly I've had many good nights of sleep there.

Everything works like clockwork, and I have gradually and carefully refined my schedule to minimize the chance of getting caught. After two years, not a single person knows or suspected anything. During the day, I lecture for university courses, instruct labs, do research, and write. Fucking clockwork.

What about relationships/sex? Her house, obviously. What if she asks? I say I live with roommates and that our place is tiny or unwelcoming or something like this. It works. At one point (I am ashamed to admit) I also took on multiple girlfriends simultaneously, which meant that every night, or every other night, I was sleeping in a comfortable bed. I felt bad about this tho, so I stopped. (they were mostly fwb anyway, tbh)

I am confessing this because here because what I am doing is obviously a social taboo. You’re not supposed to live in your office. You’re supposed to take your shitty salary and give it to a landlord so you can live in a tiny or unwelcoming place with roommates from craigslist. However, my goals of traveling, buying a vehicle with my own money, building a house one day, etc., are not served by doing that, so I did something different.

Has it paid off? Definitely. In addition to being very frugal (yay for r/frugal), and watching the movement of every penny I have, this lifestyle (if you can call it that), has allowed me to bank $25,000 in the last two years.

I guess I just want to hear all of your honest opinions about what I’m doing, and I wanted to finally tell someone. I've been keeping this secret for so long. Do you think it is ridiculous of me to do this? If people found out, do you think they would think a lot less of me? (I think they would)

TLDR: I live in my office; I have it down to a science and haven’t been caught; I saved $20K in 2 years; I want your opinion about my lifestyle.

 

[Thorne]

Thanks for that wizehop This is definitely something I can use.

 

[Matt Derrick]

that's pretty awesome. but i do kinda fear what might be the dystopian future of everyone living in hotel coffins (neuromancer reference).

 

[Elliska]

I live in SC, used to live in Columbia. I now live near the SC/NC border, and in my area they'll gather the homeless people, put them on a bus, and ship them an hour and a half down to Columbia. Not even kidding. Once they're off the bus they give the some food, maybe a $20 and that's it. With this development in the homeless situation, I can't imagine they'll continue this. It's a pretty shit deal for anyone here in that situation.

 

[Odin]

These laws are a crime again humanity dammit.
Two aspects that matter to my pov...

One your homeless cuz of some personal trouble... emotional or financial reason.
That does not make you a criminal. The police mafia should not be able to use that as a reason to take away your liberty and freedom of movement.

Two... your homeless... because maybe you don't come from a privileged family and don't have connections... so it makes sense... live in your office live in your vehicle or how ever you can to work save and get ahead in life... Get ahead in life...isnt that what this country was supposed to be about?

These anti homeless and vagrancy laws are starting to sound archaic to me.


Just one example... society has been down this road BEFORE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Poor_Laws

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagrancy_Act_1824

EDIT


Hmmm... thinking about this brought me back to this line I posted in updates back some time from a renowned anthropologist dude.

"The primary function of written communication is to facilitate slavery. " -Levi-Strauss

Now as much as I love the written word as an artform and medium of communication exchange... it is amazing to think that its primary utility in culture may just be a form of slavery.

After all without it writing and enforcing stupid homeless laws would be a shite bit more difficult.

After all it is easy to say the law is on the books... you should obey it and durka durr... now we arrest you.. but as much as it pains me... if there were no books?... hmmm ...

SIGH>>> SIGH>>> SIGH>>>

Cavemansailor. Your human/tribe/in silence experiment is sounding freaking interesting indeed@awsome.

AWWW DOUBLE EDIT>.>...

AHAHA touche!!!... my adhd brain... Written communication can also be used as a form of rebellion though...

::drinkingbuddy:::ompus::::eyepatch::
Oh... joy the yin and yang.

 

[Beegod Santana]

This happened back in the late summer, this was the result.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/04/columbia-criminalizing-homelessness_n_3866273.htmlkj

We talked about it then as well.
http://squattheplanet.com/threads/its-official-columbia-sc-bans-homeless.17329/

 

[Charlie]

I heard about this. That's unfortunate that they choose to solve their problems by making matters worse.

Odin, I've got lots of hard labor that needs to be done. I'll give you books in trade for your labor. These books make hard labor very appealing.