[EightSix]

“Vehicle residency is one of the fastest-growing forms of homelessness”

— Sara Rankin, associate professor of law and director of the Homeless Rights Advocacy Project at Seattle University.

Read an article on USA TODAY, here is a small excerpt:

Americans are being driven into their vehicles by pandemic-fueled woes. And their ranks are likely to grow as the government safety net frays and evictions and foreclosures rise.

Even before COVID, millions struggled to afford a decent place to live. The pandemic has made the housing crisis even worse, says Pruss.

He expects a surge in the number of people without permanent homes taking refuge in cars, vans, RVs and campers – and not just in the nation’s most expensive regions such as the San Francisco Bay Area where vehicles have increasingly become a form of affordable housing, but all over the country.

"We have seen more people moving into vehicles and more restrictions on public parking for them over the last decade, and then COVID hit,” Pruss said. “I am concerned that we may be facing a population increase in mobile sheltering and vehicle residence at unprecedented levels."

Nearly one in 500 Americans is homeless, mostly on the West Coast and in the Northeast, according to estimates. Homeless advocates say people without permanent housing are chronically undercounted. It's even harder to track the tens of thousands of people living in their vehicles rather than on the streets or in shelters because they must move around so much.

Will not quote the full article here, due to obvious reasons. Read it up at this linky: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money...rv/6713901002/

Picture Credits: "Van life." by MrZebra is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Here’s what we must note:

• Homeless people struggled even before COVID. But the virus has made the situation worse.
• In places like Bay Area where cost of living is high, vehicles have already become a form of affordable housing.
• The numbers of Americans in mobile sheltering and vehicle residence would increase at unprecedented levels is what the experts say.
• The reason why this is a problem is that these people are being undercounted. Since they are always moving from one place to another, they are harder to track.
• Living in a car is preferable to shelters or encampments since cars offer a greater degree of autonomy or privacy, along with protection from physical elements.
• What’s more important is that the isolation of vehicle living has protected people from the coronavirus as compared to the other homeless.
• USA Today reports: “Rusty old RVs and campers, the kinds seen lining city streets or stowed under overpasses, can be acquired for a few thousand dollars, but are not permitted in many RV parks.”
• ”With few alternatives, most vehicle dwellers park on public streets, often illegally. They have no running water or electrical hookups, which can create tensions with neighbors who complain of dumped trash and sewage and scarce parking spots.”
• “Last year, a car dealership in Charlotte, North Carolina began offering people living in their vehicles a safe place to park at night” and many more of these safe parking lots have been opening up.

Is this a real crisis as USA TODAY calls it? A new problem? What do you think? Let’s discuss.

[DicKy]

Reminds me of the Great Recession of 2008.
But that was mostly people forced to live in their cars.

No doubt, people are forced to live in vehicles this time too, but a great number of them seem to be doing it out of choice.
Especially the San Francisco area were rents are sky high.

Van culture, camping has always been there. But more people are embracing it nowadays.

What it entails for the future. No one can say for sure.
IMO, waaaay better than living on the pavement.
And we do take it for granted, that we have a roof over our head.

[ninjatalli]

There are a host of documentaries on this - here's an excellent and concise one talking about the reasons for this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHDkALRz5Rk

As shown in the video, you'd be surprised by some of the profiles of folks living out of cars - even a middle aged software engineer!

Also note the date of the video - this is a problem that has been across America much before Covid. Unfortunately, the pandemic has only made it worse.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Also note the date of the video - this is a problem that has been across America much before Covid. Unfortunately, the pandemic has only made it worse.

Too true.

We lived in Kansas City from 2009-2012. My wife helped out at the local primary school, Troost Elementary. Almost 100% black kids. Even then we had a number of parents who lived in their respective cars, with their kid(s). Very sad.

They were pretty good at hiding it from the school authorities. Which was a bit of a shame. Because, especially with kids, even in the USA, there were some alternatives and help was available.

All of these were single parent mums, usually with a history of abuse by their respective husband/partners.

At some point in time they decide to escape the violence, grab the kid and the car keys and take off. Credit to them, to keep putting the kid to school every day. If anything they were ensured at least one proper meal.

But a very sad state of affair. I have never ever understood why so many Americans see the USA as the greatest nation on earth. I am not talking just about your typical Trump supporter. The USA has plenty to be proud of, but boy, does it have a lot that really needs improving big time.

Jeroen

[MCR]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

There are a host of documentaries on this - here's an excellent and concise one talking about the reasons for this

Thanks for the link.

I hope the new administration (In the USofA) takes note of this and starts working for the benefit of the people. Hope they understand "Charity begins at home".
I had heard of such stories from a close relative who works and stays in California. Never thought the profile of the people to be so diverse and interesting.

lesson from the Documentary : Never say have seen it all!

[AltoLXI]

Incidentally I was reading about the people who call themselves as nomads staying in cars, SUVs or RVs last week. Many of them have had some sort of personal/financial tragedy and have chosen to stay away in their own little world.

Some like Bob Wells have chosen the nomadic way of life way back in 1995. Apart from suffering personal/financial losses, the other reasons for his nomadic living can be attributed to the general discontent about the daily grind.

As days became decades, he went to a job he hated, worked with people he didn’t like, to buy things he didn’t want. By his own telling, he was the living embodiment of Thoreau’s “quiet desperation”. He knew he wasn’t happy, but it never occurred to him to live differently.

Link

Bob Wells also has started a Youtube channel on RV living with lakhs of subscribers and millions of hits. Watch them here,

https://www.youtube.com/c/CheapRVliving/featured

Some stories are inspiring - resilient people who survive and thrive in the cars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0EoyTzcFOI

He is also featured in the film Nomadland where he plays himself.

https://youtu.be/6sxCFZ8_d84

[Durango Dude]

We will and never be able to understand poverty in the US: I got that feeling when I viewed 'In pursuit of happiness', since we see a more abject version of poverty here in India: thats what drives us to be more ambitious and achieve goals: basically be who we're.

[aargee]

For some reason, I see a great sense of opportunity worldwide. I have many flashing thoughts of creative destruction on real estate like...
1. Housing subscription
2. Camper (not cramper) houses

Seriously, something has to be done to real estate & make affordable, I mean REAL AFFORDABLE, housing to everyone

[stallmaster]

Off-topic, but in India I really want a camper van based on the Omni/Eeco with the 1.3l Gypsy engine, its 4x4 transmission, and Super Carry's turbocharger.

I searched on youtube and found 2/3 examples of similar work being done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPPDq3AUwew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XMmy2j_Z9Q

This is a series of a kind of DIY.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IstfRS3hJFI

[landcruiser123]

Homelessness & Living in cars has become such a problem in the area where I live that my neighborhood has a sign saying "No vehicles over 5 tons" and "No parking for vehicles longer than 20 feet."

Poverty is a big problem in the US and people are being priced out of big cities. Also, the weather makes life tough these people. While nobody should go through poverty, I think the poor in India have it better than the poor in the USA in most aspects.

EDIT: I once saw a TV interview of a youngster in his early 20s living out of a van in Silicon Valley while working at Google (and making handsome money) to clear his student debt.

[srishiva]

I guess in the erstwhile Soviet Union, at least homelessness would have been absent. Of course everyone had to stay in govt built small flats, but still.

In our country too, dealing with land has become one of the most profitable things for people. Being an auto forum, we can see most of high end cars are owned by people in real estate And here in Bengaluru, govt designed layouts are great while the private ones coming up dont even have good roads.

People own the country but they cant own an Home. Really sad that its not a important issue for majority who vote.

[AnInternetUser]

This thread reminded me of Stradman! He's a car vlogger. Used to live in his Audi TT for a little while before his YouTube channel took off. He has a Bugatti Veyron, two Aventadors, a Nissan GTR, an MP4-12C, a Gallardo TT and a couple of other cars now. His story is quite cool. Graham Stephen did a podcast with him where Stradman talks about his journey.

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j0LA45GiHM

[GTO]

Homelessness is very sad. Amidst all our daily problems & challenges, let us be grateful for the roof over our heads .

The difference between the American homeless & Indian homeless is the cars per capita statistic. There are 800 cars / 1000 citizens in the USA, and about 40 / 1000 citizens in India. Hence, we have more homeless sufferers on the footpath, rather than a car!

Originally Posted by aargee

I have many flashing thoughts of creative destruction on real estate like housing subscription

It already exists & is called "renting" .

[pkk077]

Originally Posted by aargee

Seriously, something has to be done to real estate & make affordable, I mean REAL AFFORDABLE, housing to everyone

Govts over the years have said that moving people to cities from villages is the way economic growth will happen. The homeless people we are shown living in vehicles in USA are living in/near big cities. They possibly can't move to the interior/less-populated areas because the current economic model has left the interior/villages unsustainable. And cities cannot grow fast enough to house everyone.

May be it's time to reverse this model of migration to cities. Direct Benefit Transer/Universal Basic Income/Work From Home can be possible solutions in this direction. A farm labourer getting DBT in their native village is better off than the same labour living in a city slum and earning a little more to save and send back home.

Having said that, I don't think it will happen easily in India at least. The rent-seekers have too much power/influence and too much at stake to allow this model. Ongoing farmer protests is a case in point.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Slightly off topic, but this reminds me of this recent news article about pavement dwellers who were living in an abandoned BMW X5 in Mumbai:




https://www.cartoq.com/abandoned-bmw...ome-in-mumbai/