VEHICULAR HOMELESSNESS
COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
JULY 31, 2018


LIVING IN CARS IS BECOMING A TREND, THOUGH NOT A FASHION

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-americans-are-living-in-their-vehicles-amid-high-housing-prices/
By JONATHAN BERR MONEYWATCH July 31, 2018, 5:00 AM
More Americans are forced to "reside" in their vehicles

The number of people who live in their vehicles because they can't find affordable housing is on the rise, even though the practice is illegal in many U.S. cities.

The number of people residing in campers and other vehicles surged 46 percent over the past year, a recent homeless census in Seattle's King County, Washington found. The problem is "exploding" in cities with expensive housing markets, including Los Angeles, Portland and San Francisco, according to Governing magazine.

The problem of vehicle residency is national in scope, although its impact may be more "acutely felt in urban areas where space is more limited," said Sara Rankin, an assistant professor law at Seattle University and the director of Homeless Rights Advocacy Project, in an email to CBS MoneyWatch.

Challenges abound for people who live in their vehicles, ranging from racking up parking tickets to finding a safe place to park and shower, advocates say.

A recent survey by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP), which tracks policies in 187 cities, found the number of prohibitions against vehicle residency has more than doubled during the last decade.

"Much like outdoor camping and sleeping bans, city-wide restrictions on living in vehicles may leave no lawful place where homeless people may live in a community," NLCHP said in a recent report. "Bans that permit vehicle impoundment, or that result in impoundment flowing from unpaid tickets or other enforcement of such bans, can cause homeless people to lose their shelter, transportation, and personal belongings in one fell swoop – with no realistic option to retrieve or replace them."

It's a frequent problem for the youth and veterans who turn to the Volunteers of America in Illinois for help, impacting perhaps one-third of the organization's clients, said Airielle Macool-Cunningham, manager of veteran's support services.

"People don't consider themselves to be living in their car if they are only doing it for a couple of nights here and there, and so they are not self-reporting that," she said. "Since our climate is a lot colder, they don't typically stay in their cars long term unless it's the summer months."

Stephanie Monroe, managing director of Children Youth & Family Services at Volunteers of America, Dakotas, tells a similar story. At least 25 percent of the non-profit's Sioux Falls clients have lived in their vehicles at some point, even during winter's sub-freezing temperatures.

"Many of our communities don't have formal shelter services," she said in an interview. "It can lead to individuals resorting to living in their cars or other vehicles."

Homelessness rose last year, marking its first increase since 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. About one-third of the homeless population was described as "unsheltered," which includes people living on the streets and in their vehicles. HUD's data doesn't provide more specific information.

A fair number of the "vehicular homeless" in Silicon Valley are employed but are unable to find affordable housing, as the Associated Press noted last year. Lines of RVs can be found near the headquarters of tech heavyweights such as Apple, Google and Hewlett-Packard. Nationwide, extremely low-income renters are facing a shortage of 7.2 million rental homes, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

"A lot of times, once you lose your home it can spiral downwards from there," said Megan Hustings, interim director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, in an interview. "We have seen people living in their cars anywhere from a couple of weeks to months to years. "

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https://endhomelessness.org/resource/changes-in-the-hud-definition-of-homeless/

CHANGES IN THE HUD DEFINITION OF “HOMELESS”
Publications | January 18, 2012

HUD has issued the final regulation to implement changes to the definition of homelessness contained in the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act. The definition affects who is eligible for various HUD-funded homeless assistance programs. The new definition includes four broad categories of homelessness:

People who are living in a place not meant for human habitation, in emergency shelter, in transitional housing, or are exiting an institution where they temporarily resided. The only significant change from existing practice is that people will be considered homeless if they are exiting an institution where they resided for up to 90 days (it was previously 30 days), and were in shelter or a place not meant for human habitation immediately prior to entering that institution.

People who are losing their primary nighttime residence, which may include a motel or hotel or a doubled up situation, within 14 days and lack resources or support networks to remain in housing. HUD had previously allowed people who were being displaced within 7 days to be considered homeless. The proposed regulation also describes specific documentation requirements for this category.

Families with children or unaccompanied youth who are unstably housed and likely to continue in that state. This is a new category of homelessness, and it applies to families with children or unaccompanied youth who have not had a lease or ownership interest in a housing unit in the last 60 or more days, have had two or more moves in the last 60 days, and who are likely to continue to be unstably housed because of disability or multiple barriers to employment.

People who are fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, have no other residence, and lack the resources or support networks to obtain other permanent housing. This category is similar to the current practice regarding people who are fleeing domestic violence.
This document includes a table summarizing the changes to the definition of homelessness and provides analysis of its effects and the decisions that communities and individual programs will have to make.


IMAGINARY SOLUTIONS TO SOCIAL PROBLEMS, SUCH AS TOTAL DENIAL OF THE HUMAN SITUATION HERE IN THE USA, ARE SATISFYING TO SOME WHO JUST DON’T REALLY CARE, BUT THEY ARE VERY INEFFECTIVE. THAT DOESN’T JUST HAPPEN IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES, SO WE NEED TO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO IT, AND DO SOMETHING USEFUL.

IT’S TIME TO CONSIDER ADOPTING AN ANNUAL MINIMUM INCOME, AS SEVERAL PROGRESSIVE POLITICIANS HAVE BEEN RECOMMENDING IN THE LAST TWO YEARS OR SO. THAT WOULD FORM A “CUSHION” FOR THE INDIVIDUAL WHICH WOULD ALLOW A RENTAL SITUATION, PERHAPS IN A GROUP HOME. COMBINED WITH GROUP HOUSES AND APARTMENTS, IT WOULD REDUCE THE INCIDENCE OF “UNSHELTERED HOMELESSNESS” CONSIDERABLY.

THE HIGH COST OF HOUSING, IN CALIFORNIA SPECIFICALLY, HAS BEEN IN THE NEWS BEFORE. A NATIONAL LAW PROHIBITING THE RAISING OF RENTS BY HOUSING OWNERS -- JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT UNDER OUR CURRENT LAWS -- SHOULD ALSO BE ENACTED. LET’S CHANGE THOSE LAWS WHICH RESTRICT AID BY EXTREME MEANS TESTING. IN ADDITION TO A MEANINGFUL HIKE IN THE MINIMUM WAGE, A RAISING OF SOCIAL SERVICES TAXES OTHER THAN MERELY SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICAID, ON THE UPPER MIDDLE CLASS AND THE WEALTHY, WE NEED PRICE CONTROLS ON FOOD, HOUSING, GASOLINE, TRANSPORTATION, ETC.

AN EMERGENCY FUND, WOULD ALSO BE VERY HELPFUL. WHEN A MEDICAL BILL, DENTAL WORK, LOSS OF A JOB, A FIRE OR ROBBERY HAPPENS, WE NEED A BOOST OF PROBABLY SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS. THAT SIMPLY ISN’T IN EXISTENCE FOR MOST PEOPLE. IF WE GO TO THE STATE AID OFFICE, THERE WILL VERY LIKELY BE GIVEN A SMALL AMOUNT OF MONEY ON A ONE TIME BASIS FOR AN UNMARRIED INDIVIDUAL WHO IS NOT SUPPORTING A CHILD. THAT LEAVES MANY PEOPLE WHO DO NEED HELP OUT IN THE COLD. LET’S FACE IT, UNMARRIED PEOPLE NEED SHELTER, TOO.

ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE AT THIS TIME, TABOO, OF COURSE; THE RIGHT WILL SAY IT’S AGAINST THE “RIGHTS” OF THE PROPERTY OWNERS, AND THAT IT ISN’T CAPITALISM. THAT’S TRUE, IT ISN’T, BUT PURE CAPITALISM IS VERY EXPENSIVE FOR THE CULTURE, IF YOU CONSIDER BEING FORCED TO SLEEP IN YOUR CAR TO BE COSTLY FOR THE CULTURE. MAYBE IT’S YOUR MOTHER OR DAUGHTER WHO IS SLEEPING IN AN UNSAFE AND UNSHELTERED WAY. MOST THINKING AND CONCERNED INDIVIDUALS WILL AGREE THAT A PERSISTENTLY ABUSIVE SITUATION IS UNCONSCIONABLE. WE SHOULD ALSO BE AWARE THAT EVEN IN AMERICA, A BLOODY REVOLUTION COULD AND MAY HAPPEN.

IN THE LATE 1700S SUCH POVERTY PRODUCED, OVER TIME, A LARGER AND LARGER GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO, IN THE RUSSIAN AND FRENCH REVOLUTIONS, WERE VERY ANGRY AND READY TO DESTROY THE PRIVILEGE OF THE WEALTHY CLASSES PHYSICALLY. I PERSONALLY, DON’T WANT TO BRING BACK THE GUILLOTINE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE AMONG THE UBER-WEALTHY, THE SOCIALLY PRIVILEGED AND THE SIMPLY GREEDY; THOUGH IN MY EYES, FIGHTING LAWS THAT FORCE THEM TO GIVE A GREATER SHARE OF THEIR WEALTH AND INCOME TO THE NEEDY IS IMMORAL. IT ISN’T SURPRISING THAT WHILE FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT WAS CONSIDERED A HERO BY MOST, HE WAS CALLED A DICTATOR BY THE RIGHTISTS.

READ NOW, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT POEMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ON THAT SUBJECT:

https://www.gradesaver.com/donne-poems/study-guide/for-whom-the-bell-tolls

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."