Homeless Turn to Tarps During Cold Winter

Normally tarps are popular at construction sites, boatyards and other worksites, but this winter they were also being used as makeshift housing for homeless people.

Along the banks of the Feather River in Northern California, people with nowhere else to go used tarps as roofs over pieced-together structures when temperatures dropped to the freezing point in January, the Appeal-Democrat reported.

An estimated 30 to 40 people were camped along the river in a region without enough emergency beds for the number of local homeless people, the Marysville, Calif., newspaper reported.

Reinforced blue roof tarps like those from TarpSurplus.com have become a familiar sight at the locations of major hurricanes and other natural disasters to protect damaged rooftops.

For a few dozen homeless people perched on a California riverbank this winter, a simple tarp to protect against the elements was the only roof available.

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