Homeless living in/parking RV on street

[PbdBlue]

It's a huge problem here in San Diego. Unfortunately the end result is that the city enacts a bunch of ordinances that affect us all. These guys don't park in some remote location but rather in prime day use spots near the bay. Believe me when you see these rigs you'll understand the difference between a homeless person and a full timer. Most look like they won't make it to the next gas station.

[CLIFFTALL]

Originally Posted by PbdBlue

It's a huge problem here in San Diego. Unfortunately the end result is that the city enacts a bunch of ordinances that affect us all. These guys don't park in some remote location but rather in prime day use spots near the bay. Believe me when you see these rigs you'll understand the difference between a homeless person and a full timer. Most look like they won't make it to the next gas station.

I've seen them during a visit in 2013. Not a pretty site at all.

[YFwebsite]

We feel for folks like this, but we understand it creates a mess of things for RVers who actually may need to park on the street when visiting friends or family. We just had this exact problem in California, as the entire west coast seems to have a particular issue with "vagrant" RVers.

Fortunately, another kind RVer was willing to take on our motorhome while we house/dogsit in sunny San Diego. Our hosts didn't seem to care about city/HOA rules (or neighborhood perception), but we realized it was not appropriate for our 22-year-old RV to be on the street alongside million-dollar homes.

[halfwright]

I am not homeless, but I am houseless and we have been for almost five years. My home has been in thirty-nine states and one foreign country in that time.

I do not know if the number of RV's is increasing or I just notice them more since I live in one.

I have seen what most people refer to as homeless but in RV's in only one spot, Eureka CA.

[Raining Star]

Originally Posted by Hammer bird

Interesting point. Where is the dividing line between homeless and a full-timer. Is it that a homeless family may still have to work and needs a place close to the job? Full-timers are free to move about the country. curious...

I think that having to work isn't a good dividing line to classify them as homeless, as that would mean all work campers are actually homeless people. Also why would someone who has a job, and a home to live in, ever be considered as homeless, just because the home is powered?

I'm not trying to disagree with anyone else's perspective, I'm just trying to point out its very easy to categorize other people, but isn't so easy to logically justify those classifications.

As for parking on the streets, personally I'm not opposed to those restrictions. It would be nice if we could write laws that allowed reasonable behavior and only limited those who abuse privileges, but reality doesn't allow it. I don't want people abusing that privilege using my neighborhood to effectively squat in.

I have found that if I'm behaving responsibly that such restrictions usually aren't an issue. The local law enforcement officers may talk to me and tell me it's not allowed, and I may need to move along, but I've never been cited for anything since I outgrew my righteous indignation and stopped arguing with the officer. Many times I didn't have to even move just as long as I agreed not to do it again (in that town at least).

[MSHappyCampers]

I noticed in the video that one city provided a parking area for these people, including porta-johns and electricity. That seems to me the best way to handle this problem. I think most any city can find vacant lots and afford the small cost, at least for the toilets! JMHO

[MRUSA14]

It's really not that hard to tell the difference. If an RV sits in a public place for days on end and seldom moves, it's probably a homeless person. If it is lived in but never driven more than 10 or 20 miles, it's probably a homeless person. If it is a total eyesore and shows a lack of care and maintenance, it's probably a homeless person. Would you want this parked in front of your house?

On the other hand, if the RV is neat and clean and well kept, travels regularly and stays mostly (not always) in RV parks, then it's probably NOT a homeless person. It is not offensive, doesn't stay in one place long (unless it is an RV park), and has little impact on its neighbors.

You can't live in a house or apartment without paying taxes or rent. Why should an RVer be different? The typical RVer or fulltimer pays his rent at RV parks, but the homeless can't afford to do that, so they park on the street or in private parking lots. This can't be tolerated in cities any more than you could allow them to take over public parks by erecting tent cities. If it is tolerated, you will soon see restrictions that will affect those of us who are not homeless.

I understand that these people need a place to live, and I applaud the efforts of some cities to provide them a safe place to live in (and a proper place to dump!). I also worry that if this practice continues to grow, eventually none of us will be able to park anywhere except in an RV park. I totally understand why people who pay big money to live in nice neighborhoods do not want a bunch of squatters parked in their neighborhoods. If this practice were not controlled, the cities would eventually become inhabited by a mass of homeless in RV's which would create a visual and societal mess that would crowd out ordinary vehicles and diminish the values of people's homes. Do you think your rights would not be affected by this?

I think it is a threat to every one of us. The homeless need a place to live, but parking RV's all over our cities is not the answer.

[Steverino]

In the context of RVing, perhaps a helpful definition for someone experiencing homelessness might be that the RV is their only place of residence and that they would not be able to afford to live sustainably in permanent housing (sticks & bricks) if they wanted to.

I would also add that after 16 years in the housing counseling field, I have found that there are many definitions of homelessness, depending on who is doing the defining. And also that the causes and solutions are as complex and varied as there are individuals.

[1bigmess]

[QUOTE=MRUSA14;3029929You can't live in a house or apartment without paying taxes or rent. Why should an RVer be different?[/QUOTE]

Short answer: RVrs of all stripes are not different.

Long answer: Sales taxes, fuel taxes, many full timers work and pay income taxes. Full time RVrs do pay taxes. There are many taxes other than property taxes.

This fallacy needs to be destroyed.

[Gordon Dewald]

I'm not homeless, I am fixed address impaired!

[BeachDude]

This is an epidemic in Los Angeles, due to the year-round nice weather. You will randomly see motorhomes parked in very odd places, (that do not have parking enforcement issues).

Just experienced it last weekend while taking my kids to visit the Velaslavasay Panorama near the USC campus in downtown. There are old Class C and Class A rigs parked all up and down the streets in a 1920's era residential neighborhood.

The historic Venice area of LA also has an acute problem with homeless RVers.

Folks that like to layover at Walmart and Rest Stops would do well to learn from these homeless RVers!! These homeless people NEVER extend their awnings, their slide outs, or even can be noticed to be inside of their rig, (they block all light from escaping the windows, while allowing ventilation). They generally look like abandoned RVs even if there are two families inside at any given time! They do not dump their tanks, or run their generators. Very discreet.

[dexters]

Originally Posted by BeachDude

This is an epidemic in Los Angeles, due to the year-round nice weather. You will randomly see motorhomes parked in very odd places, (that do not have parking enforcement issues).

Do you know if RV parks - not mobile home - occupancy is high? I saw a youtube video where a woman has a job and lives in her RV in a RV park. She has to move every X weeks for a couple of days due to local laws.

[Raining Star]

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

I noticed in the video that one city provided a parking area for these people, including porta-johns and electricity. That seems to me the best way to handle this problem. I think most any city can find vacant lots and afford the small cost, at least for the toilets! JMHO

I'm surprised by this. This sort of semi-official sanctioning of the lifestyle seems to open up many other community issues that has caused many other cities to move away from such homeless "settlements."

I know I wouldn't be thrilled to be the property owner across the street from such a encampment, and I certainly wouldn't want my kid walking passed such a place on their way to school or bus stop.

I'll say no more because it's both moving the boundaries of the question and a hot button issue likely to cause heated responses. In closing I will say it's a vastly complex issue with no easy solutions, thus it shouldn't reduced to stereotyping people from wildly varying circumstances into a single unflatteringly label.

[1bigmess]

The encampments in Seattle that are officially sanctioned by the city are located in commercial and heavy industrial areas. No children walking past them to go to school, probably no effect on property values. No one's making more land in Seattle, so what is there has high values, period. Scheduled trash pickup will be available at the camps.

https://www.thestranger.com/blogs/sl...n-rvs-and-cars

Seattle has issued an official State of Emergency regarding homelessness. Homes are not affordable even to two income families making double the minimum wage in the City of Seattle. I can't speak for the finer points of what it takes to live, work, or to live on the streets of Seattle, but it seems a very humanitarian thing to do in giving folks that may be one small step away from not having any roof over their head someplace to park without fear of getting in legal trouble over where they parked.