The Libertarian Solution To End Homelessness

[Alex Libman]

I truly hope that everyone will see this upcoming documentary film called Destiny's Bridge.  It is about the "Tent City" of Lakewood, NJ, where I am currently a resident:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNIWjfMDqBM


Tent City is a voluntary institution that exists as the result of local supporters and mutual aid, saving the taxpayers 1-2 million dollars a year!  It is a perfect example of how more can be accomplished on a voluntary nickel than on a dollar that has been stolen from the taxpayers by the corrupt and inefficient racket called the Welfare State!  The government here has done nothing to help the homeless, and everything that it could think of to try to shut this place down...  The film covers the personal stories of several individuals, as well as the never-ending harassment from the local government.

This film is an authentic look into the lives of otherwise-homeless individuals living in a little village of about 100 tents and shanties - a homestead that has been built on "public" woodland over the past 7-8 years.  This film will be particularly enjoyable to people interested in off-the-grid living, agorism / homesteading, the small house movement, government corruption, protests / civil disobedience, and voluntary charity.  It also explores some very complex issues, like the underlying causes of homelessness in America, artificial scarcity, sustainable living, personal responsibility, addiction, love, hope and despair...

When this documentary is a success, it will attract donor and volunteer attention to help set up another voluntary village for the homeless, someplace where the government wouldn't be quite as oppressive as it has been in Lakewood, NJ. (I'm obviously promoting the idea that the best place to do this is the Free State of New Hampshire.)  The name of this new project (a 501c3 charitable organization), like the film, is Destiny's Bridge.

Libertarians are often mindlessly attacked for "not caring about the poor".  Tent City is living proof that the very opposite is true - it's the government that hurts the poor, and it's the voluntary sector that has the power to help them!  My quixotic efforts to keep the government from shutting down this existing Tent City will continue, but that is a separate battle - Destiny's Bridge is an idea whose time has come!

Please help me spread the word about this documentary film!  Please share the trailer with your friends.  Visit DestinysBridge.com for more info, and subscribe to it on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.

               

[Silent_Bob]

I truly hope that everyone will see this upcoming documentary film called Destiny's Bridge.  It is about the "Tent City" of Lakewood, NJ, where I am currently a resident:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNIWjfMDqBM


Tent City is a voluntary institution that exists as the result of local supporters and mutual aid, saving the taxpayers 1-2 million dollars a year!  It is a perfect example of how more can be accomplished on a voluntary nickel than on a dollar that has been stolen from the taxpayers by the corrupt and inefficient racket called the Welfare State!  The government here has done nothing to help the homeless, and everything that it could think of to try to shut this place down...  The film covers the personal stories of several individuals, as well as the never-ending harassment from the local government.

This film is an authentic look into the lives of otherwise-homeless individuals living in a little village of about 100 tents and shanties - a homestead that has been built on "public" woodland over the past 7-8 years.  This film will be particularly enjoyable to people interested in off-the-grid living, agorism / homesteading, the small house movement, government corruption, protests / civil disobedience, and voluntary charity.  It also explores some very complex issues, like the underlying causes of homelessness in America, artificial scarcity, sustainable living, personal responsibility, addiction, love, hope and despair...

When this documentary is a success, it will attract donor and volunteer attention to help set up another voluntary village for the homeless, someplace where the government wouldn't be quite as oppressive as it has been in Lakewood, NJ. (I'm obviously promoting the idea that the best place to do this is the Free State of New Hampshire.)  The name of this new project (a 501c3 charitable organization), like the film, is Destiny's Bridge.

Libertarians are often mindlessly attacked for "not caring about the poor".  Tent City is living proof that the very opposite is true - it's the government that hurts the poor, and it's the voluntary sector that has the power to help them!  My quixotic efforts to keep the government from shutting down this existing Tent City will continue, but that is a separate battle - Destiny's Bridge is an idea whose time has come!

Please help me spread the word about this documentary film!  Please share the trailer with your friends.  Visit DestinysBridge.com for more info, and subscribe to it on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.

How much taxpayer money has been wasted on attorneys litigating to maintain the tent city.

[WithoutAPaddle]

[Alex Libman]

How much taxpayer money has been wasted on attorneys litigating to maintain the tent city.

None of that was my idea.

From what I understand, most Tent City residents are represented by Lowenstein Sandler LLP, working pro-bono.  I am not a party to those agreements, and choose to have no "representation".

The government lawyers, needless to say, are funded through theft and violence.

[Strange how some choose to live like that instead of choosing to be rich like us.]

I don't agree with the sentiment of that cartoon.  I did choose my lifestyle.  Most other homeless people have also made decisions that have led to their homelessness (though almost always less deliberately than me).  I am not fighting for anyone's entitlements, I am fighting for negative Rights.

[Russell Kanning]

You gotta fight
For the right
To te - nt

[Alex Libman]

LOL, exactly.  Especially on so-called "public land", which the government stole from the marketplace - one of the many many things the government does that multiply the cost of basic housing for the poor...

[Alex Libman]

I've clumsily started something like a chat-room about Tent City / Destiny's Bridge on Facebook, and introduced the situation to some of my FB friends.  (Clumsily because I refused to use "social networks" before just a couple of months ago, when someone asked me to use it "for the cause", and sometimes FB doesn't behave the way you expect...)


Some very interesting people were able to weigh in...


L. Neil Smith [FB] [TW] [WP] [WQ]:

All I have to contribute to the topic is this, but it is enough.

Buy a copy of my book Down With Power: Libertarian Policy in a Time of Crisis. Over my 50-odd years as an activist and advocate, I am convinced that involuntary homelessness and poverty are the result of deliberate practices on the part of the government and its various corporate symbionts.

We can see this clearly on the world stage, where there is widespread hunger but no shortage of food. What creates starvation is a political class whose greed and lust for absolute power stands in the way of freedom from both misery and tyranny.

There is also the United Nations, whose upper echelons (although the "embedded media" ignore it) have openly declared that they want to see 90% of the human race exterminated.

The only action you can take that will have any lasting meaning or effect is to read my book, and then join me in speaking out to end both taxation and economic regulation, which are the chains by which we are held captive. The result will be an immediate 8-to-10-fold increase in real wealth and purchasing power, and an end to the problem you're concerned with.

L. Neil Smith's Down With Power: Libertarian Policy in a Time of Crisis, winner of the 2013 Freedom Book of The Year Award, is available at Amazon.com, B&N.com, and other such places, in both dead-tree and e-book format.

Mary J. Ruwart [G+] [FB] [IN] [WP]:

L Neil Smith is correct: most homelessness is a direct result of zoning and building restrictions, which keep housing prices high. When I was renting to low income tenants, the city of Kalamazoo enforced ridiculous codes (like the length of a kitchen counter), so that landlords would have to do expensive renovations, raise rents, and drive the poor out of the city. The inspectors told me they did this deliberately and were proud of how they were "cleaning up" the city. They didn't think about the homelessness that would and did result.

Davi Barker (The Muslim Agorist)  [G+] [FB] [IN] [TW] [YT] [FTL] [SS]:

I wrote this years ago about a particular homeless man who got himself out of poverty in a very libertarian way, entrepreneurship. Of course it was the city that came and shut him down in the name of helping him.

Minimum wage, licensing laws, and vending permits have a lot to do with it too. I've been trying to think my way into an actual solution since I wrote this, but so far everything I've come up with would be criminal. But my short answer is, if you want to help the homeless, train them to be Agorists.

Alex, I love what you're doing.

http://www.examiner.com/article/what-about-the-poor

L. Neil Smith:

Here's something that may interest you.

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2008/tle497-20081214-04.html

I first wrote this speech in the early 1970s for delivery to Libertarian Party audiences. I gave a version of it at a Future of Freedom conference in Culver City, California in 1987; among others in the audience was the great Robert Anton Wilson, who came to me afterward and praised the speech and my delivery highly. Made me blush and almost made me weep.

The version here has been modified to support my social contract, the "Covenant of Unanimous Consent" but you can disregard that aspect of it if you wish. The general idea is the effect of freedom on the economy. I'm going to prepare a more generic version in the near future and probably make an audio recording of it.

Here you go ...

Unanimous Consent and the Utopian Vision -- or -- I Dreamed I Was a [Libertarian] In My Maidenform Bra

By L. Neil Smith <lneil[shift-two]netzero.com>

"There's no single Libertarian future, but as many different futures as there are individuals to create them."

L. Neil Smith's THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE
Number 497, December 14, 2008

Thank you, Mary.  Robert LeFevre used to tell some very funny (and infuriating) stories about his attempt to open a restaurant in San Francisco. I suspect Robert Heinlein drew some of his "The Tale of the Twins Who Weren't" in Time Enough For Love from LeFevre's experience.

One story involved the requirement for a legal occupancy notice -- we've all seen them: "This Room Seats 120 People". He had a sign maker draw him up a nice one on poster board, only to be told he was in violation: the sign had to be made in cast bronze, and by some odd coincidence, the Mayor's brother just happened to have a foundry ...

It cost something like $800 in the 1950s. How many jobs in the kitchen did that wipe out? I've always said that poverty is the government's most important product and its proudest achievement.

[Russell Kanning]

 I agree with l Neil except you don't necessarily have read his book to see the government thug are the main problem. :-)

[Alex Libman]

I love L Neil, in spite of our differences on IP.  I really do love most people.  Including Ian.  We all just gotta learn to "forgive those who trespass against us" in various ideological details, and look at the big picture.  If anyone out there is willing to forgive all my well-intentioned eccentricities / wild thought experiments / mistakes, then I am certainly willing to forgive theirs.

[WithoutAPaddle]

I don't agree with the sentiment of that cartoon. 

Actually, I suspect that you do agree with the sentiment of that cartoon, as it was facetious.  The message is, Reagan and Meese are thick.

[Tom Sawyer]

The thread title keeps making me think of the "final solution". 

[Alex Libman]

From the Destiny's Bridge blog -- Tent City / Destiny's Bridge Documentary Soon To Go Public --

The documentary entitled "Destiny's Bridge" has been edited into an 86-minute DVD, which will be available to the public following initial public screenings, expected to begin during the first or second week in August 2013.

Independent film maker Jack Ballo has woven a tapestry of images and stories into a compelling narrative about the plight of the people of Lakewood, NJ's (USA) "Tent City", and their hopes for a new type of community following the concept of Destiny's Bridge; it is expected that Rev. Steven Brigham (widely known as "Minister Steve") would have a prominent role in the management of such a community, as he has with Lakewood's Tent City since at least 2006.

More to follow...

                

DVD cover:

[Alex Libman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYA0KTZgj10


On Friday, from The Lakewood Scoop -- Township Tears Down 'Illegal Tents' at Tent City --

Illegal may be a relative term when dealing with an illegal encampment, but the Township on Friday tore down approximately 20 illegal tents at Tent City in an effort to crack down on those not willing to take part in the closing of the encampment -- despite the court orders -- and on those who moved in following the court order.

After the recent court order and agreement which would officially put an end to the homeless camp by finding placement for those eligible, most of the residents present at the encampments at the time of the settlement agreed to be counted, documented and ID'd -- along with their structures -- as officials from the Township, County, and STEPS work on placement.

However, the Mayor confirms to TLS that some decided to not take part in the program. So on Friday, those who wished to remain in the camp "illegally", saw that Officials mean business.  []

"Per our agreement, no new people are allowed to move in," Mayor Akerman tells TLS. "We gave notice to those who moved in after the court order that we will be tearing down their tents."

And if new ones are built, they too will be torn down.

"We will continue to do this as long as people keep moving in," the Mayor said. "People continue to come to Tent City from all over the Country, and it must stop - even the current residents of Tent City are not happy about some of the new arrivals."

About one hundred others remain in the encampment.

Note that by "new people moving in" they don't mean me; I came to Tent City on March 1st, and that's well in advance of their deadline - I simply refused to accept their deal.  I'm just a libertarian guy living in the woods, trying not to pay the bad guys' salaries, helping out around Tent City, and fighting for the Right to homestead government land.  I've complied with the census, as per my personal policy of transparency, but I've refused to take an ID card.

By "illegal" they mean that a handful of bureaucrats got together and decided that "public property", which the government stole from the marketplace, cannot be used by members of the "public" who they've hurt the most.  This gave them exactly what they wanted - an excuse to rob the tax-victims for a few million more...

When they reference the Consent Order "agreement" to justify evictions...  It's just simply laughable!  These people must have slept through the first day of Contract Law 101!  Person A and Person B cannot sign an "agreement" binding Person C to do something!  The majority of Tenters signed up for "One Year Of Free Housing" - I didn't.  What's next, maybe those lawyers will decide to marry me without requiring an "I do"?!

Everything in this article is wrong, including the number 20.  The total number of tents marked for demolition is about 15, and only a fraction of the work was completed on that day.  The bulldozers and police came back at around 8:30am today (Monday), and the demolition "work" continued.  

They're demolishing slowly and ineptly (I wonder if we can build new shanties faster!), but no doubt at a huge cost to the taxpayers...  It probably costs more to run those bulldozers for a day than it does to run the whole camp for a month, supporting the lives of over 100 otherwise-homeless human beings!

Lots of trees are being damaged by the bulldozers.  The local chickens / cats / dogs / rabbits / etc might get hurt as well.  I've even heard unverified rumors of reckless endangerment of human life, as some guy allegedly had to cut his way out of a tent as it was being demolished...

And of course this article is wrong in its unreferenced claim that "even the current residents of Tent City are not happy about some of the new arrivals".  I haven't heard this generalization from anybody.  This resident for one would love to see more people move right in!

[Alex Libman]

I'm very happy that other libertarians, in New Jersey and elsewhere, are starting to talk about Tent City.  For example, my forum writings have been picked up by the NJLP.  There's also been a great blog post by Dorit Goikhman with some constructive criticism of Tent Cities not being a perfect solution - I will respond to that later.  I would very much like to hear more libertarians discuss this issue - on this forum, on their blogs, on our Facebook page, etc.

On Saturday, Tent City had a visit from Steven J Uccio, Libertarian candidate for the NJ State Assembly (14th Legislative District).  He posted photos of his visit on FB.  (My tent is the one under blue tarp, with a collapsed pillar, and hanging laundry, LOL.)  Steven wrote:

There's a place called "Tent City" in Lakewood, NJ. It's a group of about 100 homeless people who have no where else to go. The closest shelter is in Atlantic City and it's full. The township's solution is to offer everyone a free year of housing. It's a trick. When those people are gone the township's going to bulldoze the place to the ground and hope they never return. That's "Government Charity," bulldozing a person's home.

There's no long term solution. These people would be better off if they were left alone. There are private charities willing to help, but I'm told the township is trying to discourage people from helping them.

I couldn't agree more!  I also agree with one of the FB comments - "first candidate I've seen talk about this".  In the history of Tent City, a Dem or two might have mentioned TC in an urge to tax-and-spend, but they too want it to be shut down.  I think Libertarians are the only ones who can push for a fair and rational solution - recognize the negative Rights of Tent City residents, call off the bulldozers, and let private charity work!


Another Tent City that has recently been in the news is Nickelsville [FB] in Seattle, WA.  Governments seem to be playing from the same gamebook, as those Tenters were also given a "mess of pottage" offer to GTFO...

A lot of excuses for Big Government are made "in the name of the poor".  Voluntary Tent Cities, if some improvements are made, can be a perfect counter-example!


---


Unrelated to TC, but a great quote:




---


"One battle at a time", but New Hampshire continues, as always, to remain in the back of my mind...  In many ways it's a great place for a new Tent City, and in some ways it isn't...  I'm trying to gauge the enthusiasm...

[Jim Johnson]

Stefan Molyneux... could have humbled Socrates.  You know, if Stefan lived 2420 years ago or if Socrates lived to be 2482 years old.