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| On Venice Blvd 2012 |
There is a category of Urban Nomad which is serious and growing: the Mobile Homeless. No, this isn't a joke and it doesn't mean those who have no cell coverage. The Mobile Homeless are a group of nomads who have lost their homes and find shelter in RVs, campers and cars. Well, the lucky ones are in RVs and campers, parked where they can find space on the streets. The less-than-lucky are in their cars; the unlucky, on the streets. The victims of the housing crisis are mounting in numbers unprecedented in US history. Most of us, living in our houses, are unaware just how large this community has grown.
The Mobile Homeless need to move everyday. They are in an all-consuming and constant search for survival, dependent on the streets to provide electricity, water and a place to park. Society is not kind to them, as a general rule. They play a "cat and mouse" game with the police. Neighbors complain about RVs and unruly vagrants on their blocks. Police are called in to move and/or ticket them.
In Venice Beach, CA a federal lawsuit against the city and LAPD claimed that cops were not only rousting RV dwellers based on the kind of vehicle they were in but also that dilapidated motor homes were targeted for traffic stops and tickets.
This video was made in 2008, four years ago. At that time, they were claiming that "since the beginning of the mortgage crisis, one and a half million Americans have lost their homes."
According the the NY Times, all told, "roughly four million families lost their homes to foreclosure between the beginning of 2007 and early 2012." (April 2, 2012) Contrary to reports of economic revival, this situation has not gotten better. In California, it has worsened dramatically.
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Coming in Part 2: Mobile Parks?
