at least one of the tent cities in Cali listed by wikipedia is gone, the one located in Sacramento. bear in mind that many cities and towns do not welcome a tent city sprouting up and many make an effort to shut them down. in Cali, I know of a couple small town tent cities: in Nevada City at the Coyote Diggins and in Grass Valley, behind the Safeway on Brunswick Rd. both towns are next to each other in the Sierra foothills between Reno and Sacramento. neither is an organized effort. there are groups that help out locally, Divine Spark in Nevada City and Hospitality House in Grass Valley. both towns are fairly friendly to the homeless. the one downside is that the weather is changing in the region and it will be rainy very soon, with some years snowy, some not. better to go somewhere in SoCal in the desert near a town and have your own tent city, you will be less encumbered by the bullshit of others and the cop hassles these places inevitably attract. Yeah I agree. The city shut down a small tent city with about 10 people here earlier this year near the train yards. People are likely to fare better if they camp covertly and tell no one where they are! Groups here tend to attract too much attention. I have trust issues so a tent city just wouldn't work for me.