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Inside his tepee in the woods outside Lakewood, NJ, at the homeless Tent City, the roosters wake early and the mornings are already cooler. A musician who lost his Florida home in the housing crisis, Hardman says he floats in and out of Tent City, that he's proud of his kids, and misses the life he no longer has.

He has a lot of company out here.

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Tent City made the news recently and while community leader Steven Brigham says the media attention brought in greater donations, it also brought unwanted attention from the local politicians.

After battling with the city for years to have access to the public land here, Brigham found a New Jersey lawyer to represent his case pro bono.

The attorney, Jeff Wild, argued that the homeless population are part of the public and should therefore have access to public lands. Rather than take the case to court, Lakewood City Council settled, and Brigham signed an agreement to put up no more shelters and allow no more than 70 people to stay.

But last winter the community put up three wooden structures to house everyone and keep them warm.

"We didn't lose anybody last year," Brigham says, "and nobody got sick."

This year could be different. After City Council members saw the shelters on TV, they sent demolition crews in. The walls were torn down around whatever was inside, and meager furnishings were left to the elements.

This year, the tent city's residents will have to put wood-stoves in tents and plastic shanties, increasing fire risk. Brigham says the town is making it impossible to survive there, hoping to get the homeless out, and he's concerned it will end up killing people this year.

More than 700,000 people are currently homeless in the U.S. and the number has grown 20 percent from 2007 to 2010.

A recent UN report says the way the U.S. denies its citizens access to water, basic sanitation, and criminalizes homelessness is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Brigham can relate. He started the camp five years ago and more people show up every year. Some stay, some find part-time work where they can, move on, and wind up coming back.

"There's a real glut of low-skilled manual labor in the area," he says. "There's just nothing for people to do."

Brigham works as a high-voltage electrical contractor on the bridges and tunnels around New York, but his mission is here in the Lakewood forest.

"I found this spot that had no underbrush, which is very unusual," he says, "and this community's become a living protest."

I ask him what he means, and he says, "We're protesting the insincerity of the political system. It's supposed to be for the people and its not."

(Reverend Steve Brigham can be reached at P.O. Box 326, Lakewood, NJ 08701)

Outside the town of Lakewood New Jersey, across from this intersection...

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70 people live at this homeless camp in the woods

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Some people have lived here for years and consider it their home

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The camp is run by Reverend Steven Brigham and welcomes residents from all walks of life

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Food comes in sporadically, like these baked goods from a local grocery store

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Nina is from Poland and according to Steve, moved into camp when her husband kicked her out (she's eating borscht)

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This is Nina's shanty

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She has family in Poland that she misses very much

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She has car batteries rigged up for power

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This is musician Doug Hardman who plays piano for the church services -- watch a video of him playing below

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Video of Doug Hardman playing piano.

Doug lives in this tee-pee

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Even with all the rain from Irene the inside is dry and smells like old smoke

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Daily essentials

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Elwood Hyers lives here and decorated the outside of his shanty with stuff he found behind a Dollar Store

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Elwood caught a felony drug charge and with a record he's has been unable to get on his feet

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Elwood lives with Cynthia Vellinga who decorated the inside

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This woman and her boyfriend didn't want their kids to recognize them online

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But they live here and allowed me inside

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The living room

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Walls insulated with old sleeping bags, the firewood supply, and a litter box filled with sand

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Their bedroom

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The vanity mirror and toilet in the background

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The chimney design to keep the place from burning down in the winter

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Marilyn and Mike lost their NYC jobs in the recession - ran down their savings and had nowhere else to go

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They raise chickens and rehabilitate birds -- they have a tent and the chickens have a tent

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This is their kitchen under a tarp and Marilyn is filtering a cup of coffee

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There are public facilities like toilets

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A wash house

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With a shower and water heated by an electric oven coil

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A washer and dryer

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A mirror and washtub

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And a basket of toiletries by the door

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There's also a kitchen

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Currently filled with food from a wedding and donated by the party house

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The chef lives here

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There's a chicken crossing sign painted by Marilyn

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Chickens are everywhere -- the eggs hatch and the birds never get slaughtered -- they keep down the number of bugs

Clover

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Rabbits are also supposed to be abundant

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But the only one I saw was in a cage

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There's a public garden named for a young girl who died from cancer

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A food storage shed

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A bell/empty oxygen cylinder - calls people to church - listen to it ring below

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Video of Steve ringing the cylinder with a monkey wrench.

A church that was torn down

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A group of Mormon missionaries were there Saturday helping chop wood for winter

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The camp will go through a stack this size, every day, all winter long

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Fires are not unheard of

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Which is why community sleep houses like this were put up - to keep everyone warm and safe in the winter

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But the town came in and tore them all down

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Leaving a mess and a winter filled with wood-burning fires inside everyone's tents and shanties

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Despite their situation, people here still love their country

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Even if there's no place for them and the people on Main Street want them gone

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Unfortunately this problem is getting worse

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