GA - North Fulton's hidden homeless
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| The homeless do exist in North Fulton. (From left) Alex N., Jeremy Golem and Adam West all live in tents along Foe Killer Creek, near North Point Mall. They each have been homeless for years. (click for larger version) | ||
NORTH FULTON - Behind the shopping plazas and big-box stores, between the subdivisions and golf courses, there is a dirty little secret North Fultonites rarely talk about even though most are aware of its existence.
North Fulton's homeless.
In an area that boasts such wealth, it may be surprising to know that North Fulton has its own homeless population, people living at the fringe of society, eking out a living by working meager jobs or begging for change.
More than 500 families are known to exist in North Fulton who are homeless. Many of these families are helped by groups such as Homestretch or The Drake House, which work to give people the tools to get their lives back together as well as short-term housing.
But many go unnoticed, staying beneath the radar.
"The numbers are understated. That's frightening, so we really don't know," said Rose Burton, director of Homestretch, a Roswell charity that provides temporary housing to needy families. "People who stay at extended-stay hotels or living with friends short-term, they're the hidden homeless."
Every year, Fulton County tries to inventory how many homeless families it has within its borders, a challenging feat due to the transient nature of many homeless people.
"If we find evidence of a person but don't actually see them, we can't count them," Burton said. "And someone facing eviction or foreclosure is not counted yet."
The unknown numbers of "hidden homeless" are just part of the full picture of North Fulton's homelessness.
Just off Westside Parkway in Alpharetta, close to Mansell Road, there exists a little "tent city." Accessible only by a narrow and rutted dirt road, then down a small path through the woods that border Foe Killer Creek, roughly a dozen tents are scattered between the trees, home to a number of homeless people.
Some tents are abandoned, evidence of vagabonds who passed through or died. They are surrounded by rings of garbage and trash littered throughout the woods. Only narrow paths between the tents are clear of the mess.
The number of people living in this campsite community varies widely. Some people pass through. Some stay longer.
Alpharetta police officer Terry Joyner has made a point of regularly checking up on the residents of this tent city, as well as keeping an eye out for new tents that may spring up in the woods and abandoned areas of his city – there are several he knows about. He makes sure they're all right, sometimes providing them with food or blankets when the cold weather moves in.
Alex N. (who did not wish to give his full last name), Jeremy Golem and Adam West were all at the campsite when Joyner recently went to check on the site. Alex said he's been homeless for four years; Jeremy about a year. Both added "off and on" to their time – sometimes they get jobs and live somewhere. Sometimes they don't.
"I had a job," said Alex. "I was working for a moving company. I got out of here and got an apartment. But I messed that up." He and Jeremy were out there "because of drugs," they admitted.
Adam said he's been homeless, "longer than I can remember."
There was also a woman living in the tent city, although Joyner did not see her in his recent visit. Her truck was parked on the road nearby, so she was somewhere close by. Joyner was at a loss as to how a person without an address could either own a truck or get the new Georgia license plates that adorned it.
The ramshackle village is hardly an ideal campsite. During the flooding last year, Alex was the only person in the tent camp when Foe Killer Creek crested its banks.
"I was asleep on the couch in that tent," he said, pointing to a collapsed pile of plastic. "Maybe 30 or 45 minutes into the nap, I woke up and the couch was floating in water. It wasn't even touching the ground." It took him half an hour to swim through the woods and climb back to the road.
"I thought I was going to die," said Alex. "I wouldn't want to die back here. That's lame as hell. This is not a place to die."
According to the three guys, they stumbled upon a sleeping stranger recently not far from their tents and invited him to spend the night with them, eating what food they had and sharing their campfire. The stranger was gone when they woke up the next morning. That worried Joyner.
"It's the loners you gotta watch out for," he said. "They need checking up on."
Joyner tries not to hassle the homeless too much, provided they don't break any laws or have warrants for their arrest. Living on private property is only a problem when the owner complains. Many of these wooded areas are owned by large corporations or banks who have more to worry about than the occasional tenant.
"I'd rather be aware of who they are, where they are, than to ignore them," said Joyner, who's not about to shoo them away without a reason; homelessness is not a crime. "They've got rights just like anybody else."
http://www.northfulton.com/Articles-c-2010-11-19-184898.114126-sub-North-Fultons-hidden-homeless.html
Posted by Knucklz at December 1, 2010 9:29 PM 
Categories: Helping Others, Anarchy, Government, Health or Science, Economy, Conspiracy
Tags: Georgia Homeless Economy
Categories: Helping Others, Anarchy, Government, Health or Science, Economy, Conspiracy
Tags: Georgia Homeless Economy
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