Why Are Tent Dwellers So Hated?

We just came across a great article about the ATE movement - anti tent energy. Imagine that you're coming home and there's a tent dweller outside your apartment. They're not loud, are keeping their perimeter clean and always say hello to you. But you're mad. Because you pay rent for an apartment and they're living feet away from you, for free. Life's not fair, right?

Fair to who? 

The homeless? A down on their luck person that maybe once had a good job, fell on hard times, was evicted in the past decade (50% of evictions during that time period were illegal) and are ecstatic to have some sort of stability - by way of a temporary address, a roof over their head and somewhere to store their belongings instead of dragging them around in a shopping cart.

You? Working from the comforts of your own home for six plus months, snuggled up in pajamas, taking those occasional breaks for Zoom exercise boot camp classes and sneaking in a few shopping sprees...because you're worth it. Finances aren't a worry, the salary is rolling in and your trusty overpriced app food delivery service is usually on time so you can vegan and gluten free your way through a night of Netflix.

But when you look out your living room window, you're mad. The ATE in you towards your tent residing 'neighbor' has now blocked your perfect world. The tent village across the street irritates you to no end. And you want these people gone, away from your idyllic life while you sign up for the next 'equality for all' and 'diversity is healthy' protests, taking place this weekend.

If you live in the suburbs, there are expected hierarchy tiers that come with a picket fence, 2.2 kids, an SUV and a newly delivered Labradoodle puppy. For us urbanites, life is more integrated, scrappier and wealth is designed to meet poverty on every single corner. Dreaming of the day when tent residents are sent packing back to the central freeway underpass, Tenderloin or Mission Bay is not how urban environments operate. If you live in a city, you must understand how the socioeconomic dynamics work. 

So sniffing your nose in disgust because you just returned from from a cocktail happy hour soiree at a luxury outdoor parklet ($20 per drink, naturally) has turned a lovely evening into a complete nosedive, because the homeless man or woman is eating food with their fingers at their tent, outside your home and they've utterly ruined your evening...this is exactly what you signed up for when you moved to San Francisco. 

You now have three options:

1. Continue to belittle the ones less fortunate than yourself. Good luck in how that'll turn out.
2. Be kinder to the homeless and when you're heading out or returning home, give them a soda, a sandwich or a few snacks.
3. Step up the plate and donate your time at a food bank, the Salvation Army, Food Runners, Project OpenHand, Glide, Shanti.org or one of the multiple nonprofits that continue to advocate for the needy. 

Remember, just like Bob or Amanda that are tent living outside your home: One month they were gainfully employed yet over the next two months, they lost their job, were illegally evicted and now live outside the apartment they once enjoyed...the home you rented from that same landlord. Embrace San Francisco for all its diversity, or move to suburban pastures and put a downpayment on one of these little angelic beauties: