What is Tent city?
[[File:Darfur report - Page 5 Image 1.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Tent city of 40,000 in [[Darfur]] ]] A '''tent city''' is used to describe a variety of temporary housing facilities made using [[tent]]s. Informal tent cities may be set up without authorization by [[homelessness|homeless]] people or protesters. As well, state governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house refugees, evacuees, or soldiers. Tent cities set up by homeless people may be similar to [[shanty town]]s, which are informal settlements in which the buildings are made from of scrap building materials. == Environmental disasters and homeless people == Since [[Hurricane Katrina]] made landfall in August of 2005, the term has been used to describe temporary housing sites set up for [[Gulf Coast]] residents who were left homeless by the storm. Some of the tents that were built by [[Seabees]] and funded by [[FEMA]] are wooden structures covered by tents. With the exception of indoor plumbing, most of the tents have heat, air, and lights. The tent city can hold as many as 250 occupants. Displaced residents are only expected to stay for three to six months. In late December 2006, the St. Vincent de Paul Society in [[Saint Petersburg, Florida]] established an encampment on their property when dozens of homeless moved off of public land across the street from the society. In early January 2007, city officials noted city codes that prohibit living in tents and gave the society one week to evict the occupants of the tent city.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/08/Southpinellas/Pickets_greet_mayor_a.shtml | title=Pickets greet mayor at church | publisher=St. Petersburg Times | author=Robert Farley | date=2007-01-08 | accessdate=2007-01-10}}</ref> == For travelers on The Hajj to Mecca == Every year, the [[Saudi Arabia]]n government's Ministry of [[Hajj]] sets up a tent city to support [[Muslim]] pilgrims in the village of [[Mina, Saudi Arabia|Mina]], where the ritual [[Stoning of the Devil]] takes place as part of the ove