51³Ô¹ÏÍø

September 3, 2018, St. John River, Visalia, California, Tulare, County, USA: Jeff Thomas, who has been homeless for a few years, talks about the problems homeless people face in Visalia, California. A population of homeless persons lives in a tent city in and on the banks of the Saint John River in Visalia, California. Tulare County, which has an 8-billion-dollar agriculture economy, and a growing population of people experiencing homelessness, but few resources available to help the homeless. Many of the homeless end up in Visalia, where police move them from one place to the next, sometimes issue tickets for trespassing, and force them to leave areas of the city, only for them to reappear in the same or other places. Tent cities began to appear again in areas of the Central Valley after the 2008 Great Recession, but hadn't been seen in significant numbers since the 1930s and the Great Depression when Okies escaping the dust bowl moved to the area to work as farm laborers. There are now tent cities in towns up and down California's Central Valley in cities such as Fresno, Visalia, and Sacramento. Thomas said he gets some money each month, but it's not enough for housing, and he moved to California from Arkansas to be near his grandchildren, but has been homeless ever since. Other cities in California, such as San Francisco or Los Angeles, which have services to help the homeless, have long had a large homeless population, but in the valley more homeless appeared on the streets, and in tent cities after 2008. Tulare County in contrast to urban areas along the coast has a high rate of poverty, and few services. According to an article in the Visalia Times-Delta, 25,000-dollars in local money was set aside by local officials to help the homeless but went unspent, and the city is struggling to house the homeless population that outstrips its ability to house them. A housing crisis in the state of California has only compounded problems for the homeless.