Tent City

A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents or other temporary structures. Informal tent cities may be set up without authorization by homeless people or protesters. As well, state governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house refugees, evacuees, or soldiers. Tent cities set up by homeless people may be similar to shanty towns, which are informal settlements in which the buildings are made from scrap building materials.

In the military, the term "tent city" usually refers to temporary living quarters erected on deployed military bases, such as those found in Bosnia and Herzegovina or Iraq. Depending on the branch of service and the length of time the tent city has been in place, the living space may be equipped with most modern amenities. For sanitary reasons, military tent cities place toilet, shower, and laundry facilities at least 50 feet (15 m) from living quarters. Also, tents are typically divided into clusters of 8-10 to prevent the rapid spread of fire, which is of utmost concern because of the tent and bedding materials.

Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005, the term has been used to describe temporary housing sites set up for Gulf Coast residents who were left homeless by the storm. Some of the tents that were built by Seabees and funded by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are wooden structures covered by tents. With the exception of indoor plumbing, most of the tents have heat, air, and lights. The tent city can hold as many as 250 occupants. Displaced residents are only expected to stay for three to six months.

Camp Hope is an alternative transitional living project, for the homeless, in the form of camping. It is located on the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope (MVCH) campus and is an alliance of agencies that address homelessness in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The tent city can house 50 people that would otherwise be on the streets, providing them a safe place to seek direct services, healthcare, and find jobs and housing. Camp Hope has provided the homeless with the opportunity to be right next to all the Direct Services the agencies on the MVCH campus provide.

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