Tent City Documentary

American Story: Tent City USA is a documentary about the homeless in Lakewood New Jersey. The purpose of this documentary is to help make people aware of the conditions some Americans live in due to the unbalanced system. The intended audience is anyone who might not know of how hard it is to survive in the United States. It brought to light that anyone can be affected and forced to be homeless such as artists, veterans, and ministers. Anyone and everyone is accepted into their community with one fundamental rule which is to “respect your neighbor.”
There were many main points made throughout the documentary. It showed that there are many barriers that homeless people face, such as some people are unable to get a job due to past convictions leaving them in a
economics
There are many counterarguments against helping the homeless. One is that some people just want to be able to get things for free which is true for some. To prevent this from happening there needs to be structure to prevent people from taking advantage of the system. Many of the people also don’t have the survival skills to provide for themselves and they still expect help without going out and getting a job. There is also a sense of entitlement among many people. However as long as government not recognize the underlying issues such as the imbalanced economy and system there will be tent cities.
The documentary is organized by first explaining why there is homelessness plaguing the United States. Several members explained their situation and why they are living there. Then, the documentary mentioned the government actions that are being taken on the community and its people. It talked about the STEPS program that was made to help end poverty and assist homeless people with finding adequate housing. The end of documentary showed that some of the members had been able to find a home but that many people still expected help and handouts instead of learning to provide for