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We can debate about definitions, but I wouldn't call people living out of expensive, customized vans homeless. Those people still have a roof over their heads.
by samsolomon 7y ago
We can debate about definitions, but I wouldn't call people living out of expensive, customized vans homeless.
Those people still have a roof over their heads. They just don't have a mailing address.
EDIT: I stand corrected. Apparently, San Francisco does count those among the homeless.
> The number of people living in cars and campers grew — a big part of the reason the number of unsheltered people increased, the city said.
- lazyasciiart 7y agoA lot of those, I expect the vast majority of them, are in a regular 4 door sedan, or a shitty old camper that barely runs. People living in cars, on a friends couch, etc, all count as homeless.
- colechristensen 7y agoThe streets in the peninsula are lined with campers and vans in varying levels of decay, but mostly functional if a bit unclean. I've been thinking about doing a dashcam of 10 miles of El Camino Real to show the extent to people unfamiliar.
- scruple 7y agoI'd love to see that. When a video surfaced a few years back, of the Santa Ana riverbed behind the Big A in Anaheim, it was much easier to share the video with family and friends who were unfamiliar than it was to try to explain what I was seeing (I stopped into that particular tent city a couple of times searching for an ill family member who contends with bouts of homelessness).
- stevenwoo 7y agoIn San Jose there are/were several on ramps to 280 and 101 lined with tents where people lived last time I was in the neighborhood. It's kind of mind-blowing the first time you see people living like that here.
- in_hindsight 7y agoReally that many vans? 10 miles? I thought it’s anecdotal
- nradov 7y agoYes it's really that many. The vans and campers tend to move around to different areas as the police crack down on illegal long-term parking in particular spots.
- colechristensen 7y agoIt is not 10 miles bumper to bumper, but in that 10 miles you will see very many apparent vehicle residences.
- lazyasciiart 7y agoNot sure what you're saying, sounds like you're agreeing that they aren't living in "expensive, customized vans"?
- colechristensen 7y agoThe cities that have to manage the people living on their streets in vans (usually much less fancy) can't treat them as anything but homeless.