Car campers in beach parking lots

Yes that will really help those of us who can't read English.

Believe I'm Shadow banned (kinda like NYIBY's?), but here goes.

1. I guarantee Lilly has zero social/emotional/financial help.

In the article, she claimed she didn't want to give out her last name due to family embarrassment. If true, I have seen homless individuals whom come from means, but those family members never help.

I knew one lady who let her 65 year old mother live in the crawl space of her daughters house. Yes--three feet high. And she wondered why her mother drank a few beers before climbing in the sleeping bag.

Another guy, I knew was homless for a decade. He was actually one of the key developers onnthe original Word Star. He died on the streets. He had nine brothers, and sisters. On Facebook, they claimed they face him 10's of thousands of dollars over the years. They were lying.

I could go on, and on.

1. When your living in a vechicle, with limited funds; it's hard to think as logically as you.

2. They have a saying, homless for a year, brain damaged for life. No--Psychologists don't use the term, but the homless do. It's not a lofty concept. It's just the daily stress that comes with no shelter, no money, logical people who look at you like excrement, anxiety, depression; and an colon that isn't on a logical time plan. (Hell--I can't find a bathroom in many cities, and I'm doing ok.)

3. I'm loosing track if what I'm saying, but every homless person I have know had no real support. Their families don't help. Their friends stop returning calls. Society turns their back on them. And once you get a few tickets, you end up with a record, and worse off. Oh yea, if we don't do something about homelessness; I have a weird feeling we will see individuals breaking the law just to get into prison.

4. The the Logical guy whom I'm responding too, spend a few weeks on the streets, and see just how logical you become.

Why are some of these people staying in California? These people have cars and jobs. Why would they stay in a place they can’t afford to live? There are plenty of places in the US that have lower costs of living or better services for the impoverished and disabled.

Not to mention the mother was going to college for acting while her 3 kids were living in a cockroach and bugbed infested car. Talk about priorities, there are plenty of majors people can take that actually have the prospect of a positive income.

I lived in a van I converted for about 18 months, purely by choice. I had been living in luxury high rises in SF for many years before , excepting the 6 months I spent living in a house in South Bay while converting the van, and afterwards in on campus housing when I went back to graduate school afterwards.

My van was nicer than may of the places one could rent around the bay area. Oak floors, oak countertops, modern high end sink and faucet, designer light switches, high gloss push open cabinets (with electromagnetic locks when in motion).

I did it because I wanted to build something and I had the time to do it nights and weekends while working. There's nothing like learning multiple disciplines from woodworking to electrical, from insulation to plumbing, and applying it all to create something physical and comprehensive.

I parked mostly in my company parking lot during the weekdays. On the weekends, I parked in the Mission, where many others in vans did as well. In SF, it was clear that I was abusing a public good, but couldn't easily find a way around it. I would have happily paid for a monthly parking spot if there was one around the area, but there was no monthly surface parking available in the area.

I don't think van life is an answer to the untenable housing situation in california. It's a niche lifestyle, unsuitable and undesirable for most. However, I do think we need to get over this obsession with space. Space efficiency is something so entirely foreign to most Americans. Having excess space is culturally desired and fetishized. This is a cultural phenomenon, not necessarily good or bad. In a less densely populated region, having extra space is not a luxury. However, when space is so sparse, I do think we could, as a culture, benefit from a shift towards loving space efficiency more.

It's been a bit of a problem in parts of Sydney too. A lot of it is just backpackers camping or car-camping in parks. It's one thing to not want to crack down on the homeless or destitute but when it's tourists it seems like plain old freeloading - especially when we're talking about residential neighborhoods not remote areas.