The hemisphere's first-ever International Tent City and Housing
Alternatives Day kicks off in this city at Portland's own Dignity
Village on Sunday, May 15th, at noon and the celebration with bands
and picnics will continue throughout the day and into the evening.
Dignity Village invites the WHOLE TOWN to come out and celebrate with
us on the day.
The nascent seed for the idea of a day celebrating the work done and
yet remaining to be done by tent cities, tent city initiatives, and
alternative housing arrangements in the current affordable housing
crisis came initially from Tacoma / Pierce County's Coalition of the
Homeless and spread from there to the tent cities and initiatives on
both coasts of this country and into Canada. We are hoping our friends
in the tent villages in the parks around Osaka, Japan, will also join
us in celebrating this momentous day.
International Tent City and Housing Alternatives Day will be
celebrated in a variety of ways in various participating cities and
towns. In Tacoma, WA, a model tent city will be set up in Wright Park
as a demonstration of how tent cities operate and there will be
speakers on topics ranging from social cleansing and gentrification
to alternative building techniques and energy sources. There will be
testimonials from those who made the transition from the streets into
conventional housing and also a model graveyard honoring and
remembering those who didn't and died on Tacoma's streets.
Toronto will be celebrating International Tent City and Housing
Alternatives Day by picnicking at Toronto City Hall's Nathan Phillip's
Square, where the notorious "Public Camping Ban" has been instituted,
scattering a community of 100 unhoused citizens back to scrounging for
hidden places to sleep. The Self-Housing Association will be flying
balloons in solidarity with our brothers and sisters across the world
that have housed by any means available. Support is expected from both
Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
and other housing supporters in Toronto.
Denver's Tent City Initiative is currently working on its guest list
and deciding whom to invite among Colorado's Coalition for the
Homeless to a possible barbecue it's planning on the day. Spokane, WA,
home of Mayor Jim West, has its own festivities planned for
International Tent City and Housing Alternatives Day according to
friends of that town's Village of Serene Freedom.
Many organizations are with us on this day of celebration including
the National Coalition of the Homeless in Washington, DC; Vancouver,
British Columbia's Anti Poverty Coalition; Ontario's Coalition Against
Poverty, Toronto Disaster Relief Committee and Self-Housing
Association; and Seattle / King County's SHARE/WHEEL; Springfield,
MA's A.R.I.S.E. Local organizations include Sisters of the Road,
Crossroads Community Organizing Project, and Street Roots.
Come help us celebrate housing by any means available at Dignity
Village on May 15th, a day Dignity will lobby to have added to our
City and State calendars. For more information about this day, check
the Village website http//:www.dignityvillage.org. If you'd like to
help organize local festivities or have constructive and creative
ideas for this first International Tent City and Housing Alternatives
Day, kindly phone the offices of Dignity at (503) 493/0740 and ask for
Jack or Tim.
http://www.outofthedoorways.org/
