How US cities are pushing the homeless to live in tent camps

A homeless encampment on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, California, the United States. Photo: Levi Meir Clancy/Unsplash

As Covid-19 swept across the United States, 63-year-old Elisheyah Denise McKinley lost her home in Phoenix, Arizona – and was told her only option was to put up a tent in a parking lot.

The camp allowed people to pitch tents on two car parks with access to handwashing areas and toilets, but had few other facilities and became searingly hot as the asphalt baked in temperatures of more than 112ºF (44ºC).