As housing becomes increasingly unaffordable to more people, many are forced out of housing to live in vehicles. Are these the rejects of society who spend their time using drugs or impaired by untreated mental health issues and as a result cannot find a job? Definitely NOT. Living in a vehicle requires a level of social functioning that might be difficult to muster for those dealing with substance abuse or some types of mental health issues.
We live in a complicated society. A very complicated society. And living in a road-worthy vehicle is actually a surprisingly complicated human endeavor. Especially if economic realities force you into vehicle dwelling as a necessity rather than a recreational road trip of only a few days or weeks. Successfully living in a vehicle, which is typically a much smaller space than a tiny home, requires organization and discipline in many ways.
Let’s meet a few of these amazing people, although this is not a scientific sample and circumstances vary much more widely than just these few examples.
ZeZe
Forced to move out of her apartment, now she lives in her car. Meet ZeZe a young working professional who can no longer afford the high rent costs here in New Jersey. She self converted a Chevy Cavalier into a car dwelling for full time living. She recently reached 5,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel and is planning for more living space in a van.
Here is her story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXKmGgR0I2o
Here is a 30-second preview from Zeze: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5ojkgeBsZTE
Elizabeth
Elizabeth is a California attorney who lives and travels in her Subaru Forester. Here is her law firm website: https://www.elizabethpottsweinstein.com/
In this video she explains why she decided to live in a Forester instead of a larger vehicle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOCqqo3d6TI
Her YouTube Channel is Elizabeth Off Grid
In this next video, she explains why she lives in a car – not a van or RV or house or apartment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs79l4v5Pec&t=0s
Arslan
Arslan decided to live in a vehicle because he was fed up paying rent and felt he could save money living in a vehicle. He overcame the complexities and distractions of vehicle dwelling while also completing nursing school. He is now a registered nurse and still lives in a customized Chevy Suburban while publishing a YouTube channel titled Solar Camper Car with over 243,000 subscribers!
We don’t know how many people live in vehicles full-time in this country. But it appears the number is growing. Just look at Reddit.com. There is a group established just for folks who live in Prius vehicles that has over 19,000 members. The Reddit group UrbanCarLiving has over 74,000 members. The Reddit group VanDwellers has over 2.5 MILLION members!
YouTube has numerous channels published by nomads who collectively attract millions of subscribers.
The movie Nomadland even won several Academy Awards in 2021 including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director and featured dozens of real-life nomads (people who live in vehicles) who were not actors including Bob Wells.
That same Bob Wells from the movie also has a YouTube channel called CheapRVLiving that has over 736,000 subscribers. He has published over 1,000 videos on the topic.
And each year there is a huge migration of at least 1-2 MILLION vehicle dwellers (including cars, vans and RVs) to the tiny desert town of Quartzite, Arizona to enjoy the mild winter weather and the cheap $25/month rent to camp out in a BLM Long Term Visitor Area!
So what does this have to do with luxury housing projects such as Belmar Park West?
These folks such as Zeze, Elizabeth, Arslan and Bob Wells represent hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of vehicle-dwelling cultural creatives in this country who may not aspire to ever live in luxury rental housing such as BPW. Even though their numbers include many accomplished individuals and many who could even afford luxury rental housing, they prefer a different life style and prefer to retain the potential cost savings in the bargain.
At the same time, the absorption rate of new, market-rate multifamily apartments continues to fall as the national glut of vacant unaffordable new apartments grows.
So we are seeing not only the growing lack of affordable housing in the US, but also a possible shift in attitude among some of those who would typically be expected to be busting their butts to pay the extreme rent to live in luxury rental housing such as BPW.
We salute those in Nomadland who are driving this trend.
Now is the time for cities such as Lakewood to increase support for the trend. For example, we need even more Safe Parking locations or other ways to support vehicle dwellers. And when Lakewood gives away $millions as a ‘loan’ to help clean up a failed for-profit land development in the city, any such parcel should be available at least during transition for vehicle dwellers (especially vehicles without wastewater storage tanks) to at least park overnight with regular security patrols.
For example, 10785 West Colfax Ave, the latest failed commercial venture to be gifted with Lakewood’s corporate welfare program via an interest-free loan.
Lakewood, can we at least park overnight there?
Lakewood, with all your talk about affordable housing, can you up your game to help car dwellers even more? While they may not need the extensive corporate welfare that some of our poor, downtrodden millionaires apparently need, can you at least show car dwellers some more love and more Safe Parking? Is that too much to ask? Thank You!
