After losing his job working for temp agencies, Tony has been living along the river for two years now.
“It's been pretty good,” he said of living outside. “I just don’t like people,” he said of avoiding shelters.
He does have friends in the tent community, and was about to go shopping at Walmart for someone who had given him money for some survival supplies, as nights get colder and colder.
He says he tries to find harder to access spots not to bother anyone or to get booted in police sweeps.
”They go on the other side of the river, where all the parks are, so the police kind of leave us alone here,” he said. Unlike many others living in their tents, Tony says he keeps very little so he’s able to quickly adapt to any situation that may come his way.
He says some of his neighbors sometimes try to go into local shelters on cold nights, but have to wait hours and sometimes get turned away, so many give up even trying.
“I’m fine,” he said when we asked for final words.