Homeless in Sacremento

by William T. Vollmann

In this lengthy article, Vollmann addresses, as only Vollmann can, the issue of homelessness in America today.  He starts the article by discussing the problems he has had with people choosing to camp in the parking lot adjoining his home.  Being William Vollmann, and therefore a soul of heart-breaking gentleness and need for approval, he is reluctant to run these people off his property, or erect barriers to make it harder for them to camp.  Instead, he puts up with having to wash excrement off his doorstep, and the occasional act of minor vandalism, not to mention the threatening presence of the authorities.

From here, Vollmann begins to examine the Safe Ground movement; a concept whereby groups of homeless set up orderly, safe camps in national parks or out of the way places where they hope to remain undisturbed by the authorities.  Again, in typical Vollmann fashion, instead of simply visiting these places, he makes a habit of camping in them, living and eating with the inhabitants on a sporadic basis over many months.

Through his experience, we are given a window on a group of people who defy the usual image of the homeless.  These are not depraved, insane individuals (but for the very rare exception), but are instead people who have slowly found themselves in this unfortunate situation.  There is no pointing of fingers; I expected at least one diatribe against sub-prime mortgages, or the other typical evils of American finance, but this is nowhere in evidence in this article.

What there is, instead, is an abundance of beauty.  Vollmann portrays people at their kindest, and takes pains to also paint a portrait of the natural beauty with which they surround themselves.  There are a few typical Vollmannesque diversions, such as his discussion of the nature of dogs, and how homelessness brings out the best in them, but for the most part, this is a more restrained (and perhaps space-conscious) Vollmann than I'm used to reading.

I believe that much of the first half of this article appeared in his book Poor People, but I enjoyed reading it again, especially in the context of the latter part of the article that deals with Safe Ground.  In all, this is a balanced piece of reporting, that does not pretend to have any solutions for the problem of homelessness.