Foreclosures are changing the face of urban USA

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Foreclosures are impacting on urban life and changing the face of cities in USA. Large numbers of workers without any papers are putting up ramshackle settlements that have come to be known as tent cities. These are not dubbed slums as the administration continues to hope that the problem will soon go away and the eye sores vanish.

The low wages these people earn does not permit them the luxury of becoming renters – leave alone owners. Meanwhile the cost of housing continues to rise. In Fresno the general market rent shot up by 52% from 2000 to 2008 as per the findings of National Low Income Housing Coalition. Today the usual apartment comprising of two bed rooms are rented out for $805 per month – far out of the affordability of workers like young Juan Garcia who has come from Mexico in search of greener pastures in the legendary land of plenty known as USA.

In the Central Valley drought has added to the misery with the most fertile tracts of the land turning into deserts. This year there will even deeper cuts in water distribution ranging from 85% to 100%. Loss of jobs could touch 95,000 in the state that would lead to a net loss of $2.8 million in income said Richard Howitt an economist focusing on agriculture from University of California. The workers are suspended between Mexico and USA – with neither country giving any guarantee for jobs. At least in his native state Colima, Garcia has the luxury of enjoying family life. This has made him decide to return home.

Fresno city struggles to meet development targets by trying to increase tax collection. It is the same picture in other cities. The authorities look down on the tent cities as crime dens that thwart all their efforts. This view is common wherever informal urbanism has become a fact of city life. Without any sympathetic attitude the squatters are left to rot on the fringes of ruin. There is a constant fear that even this little shelter will be bulldozed. The feeling of insecurity is agonizing as well as dangerous. Fear became a reality when a couple of years ago the encampments were attacked and the makeshift structures pulled down. It was conducted by Fresno City and California Department of Transportation for the sake of restoration of public health. They cited instances of many complaints coming from citizens about people defecating in the open.