A camp in the Cedar Bluff area, about a dozen miles away from our so-called “mission district,” that was used by people who are homeless has apparently been destroyed. WVLT covers the story here.

This story discredits the myth that homelessness is not an issue that directly effects Knoxville’s and Knox County’s suburbs. There are camps all over our community. Some of them are right downtown. Others are a short walk of the Interstate in deep West Knox County.

It’s also true that there are a lot of camps out there that you’ll never know about unless they become associated with trouble of some kind. Camps often remain virtually invisible for quite a long time. Of course, some of the people who live in them are quite visible. You can spot them soliciting donations at Interstate exit ramps and in the parking lots of strip malls. Some are longterm residents of the areas in which they set up camp.

Not all people who live in camps make their living by committing crimes. Many campers who live close to downtown, for example, actually work during the day. Their location gives them ready access to day labor staffing services, and they use these services to get jobs and make money. The  invisibility of their campsites protects the belongings they leave behind when they’re gone during the day. It also helps to protect them when they’re at their campsites.

Some service providers in our community, most notably Knoxville & Knox County Community Action Committee, do quite a bit of outreach in the camps in Knox County. Their objective is to build relationships that will help move people who are homeless out of camps and into permanent or transitional housing.

It simply is not true that everyone who’s living in a camp wants to be out there experiencing a carefree drug-fueled 21st Century version of this tale. Some of them are, perhaps, but there are many others whose mental illness and addiction issues are the monsters that keep them out in the woods. Homelessness, whether its being lived out in a camp, under a bridge, or in an emergency shelter, is always a major symptom of underlying issues that are all but impossible to address effectively in the unrelenting chaos of a life lived outdoors.

We’re committed to the idea that housing, with appropriate support, is the biggest part of the solution. Let’s end homelessness instead of just pushing it around.