Driving Home: Surviving the Housing Crisis
Thanks to the support of the Kresge Foundation and The GroundTruth Project, CatchLight Local Fellow and local vehicle resident, Yesica Prado looks at the culture of vehicular living in the Bay Area, examining how policies and regulations such as overnight parking bans are affecting people living in their cars and RVs in Berkeley and San Francisco. Developed in partnership with the San Francisco Public Press, the project has also been featured by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and become part of the Artists Against an #Infodemic Campaign, which aims to improve access to locally relevant public health information. In a region where the cost of living has spiraled upward in the last decade, some who find themselves without housing opt for living in vehicles. Many view it as a temporary fix — an affordable shelter or intermediate stop they hope will put them on a path to stable, permanent housing.
No Address, No Rest: Berkeley Forces Vehicle Dwellers to Keep Rolling
The Berkeley point-in-time count, a census of the city’s homeless residents conducted every other year, found for the first time that people living in vehicles made up the largest portion of the city’s unhoused population — 29%. In 2019, the homeless census found 161 residents living in recreational vehicles, up from 59 two years earlier, while 157 people were living in vans and cars, up from 133. In response to an increase in the use of recreational vehicles, cars and trucks as shelter, cities throughout the Bay Area are enacting policies that sometimes support but often restrict the lives of unhoused residents who make their homes on four wheels.
Last year, CatchLight Local Fellow and local vehicle resident Yesica Prado documented a Berkeley-based community group, which calls itself Friends on Wheels, who once represented the largest assembly of vehicle residents in the city. They came together out of need, cooperating to support each other as they faced common challenges. They shared resources and fostered a safe environment for their families — often breaking municipal laws in the process. Berkeley’s new regulations have dispersed many of the group members across the city, where they continue to face the same obstacles, but on their own.
In the City, Off the Map: San Franciscans Hustle to Keep Mobile Shelters
San Francisco has seen an increase in the number of vehicles as homes. City staff this January counted 814, up from 432 in October 2018. Separate biennial counts of the city’s homeless population have tracked a rise in people living in vehicles since 2015 when 13% of people tallied by one method were living in vehicles. In 2017, that population increased to 28%, and in 2019, vehicle dwellers represented 35% of San Francisco’s unhoused population.
In San Francisco, stringent and widespread parking restrictions are a fact of life. But to the hundreds of city residents who live in their vehicles, these regulations can also be an obstacle to maintaining stability and getting off the streets. Vehicle dwellers play cat-and-mouse with the government’s enforcement apparatus, violating local laws to survive outdoors.
Driving Home Part II
Earlier this year, CatchLight Local Fellow Yesica Prado in partnership with the San Francisco Public Press documented the experiences of people living in vehicles in the Bay Area. Prado followed up with two of the characters — Tantay Tolbert and Greg Nelson — to find out how their lives have changed in recent months.
See the Impact
COVID-19 VISUAL CAMPAIGN & RESOURCE GUIDE FOR VEHICLE DWELLERS IN SAN FRANCISCO & BERKELEY
As part the international ARTISTS AGAINST AN #INFODEMIC Coronavirus response campaign in collaboration with Dysturb and The EveryDay Projects, CatchLight and the San Francisco Public Press worked together to distribute hyper-local resources and safety tips specifically for vehicle dwellers in San Francisco and Berkeley. Approximately 1,000 informational flyers and posters were distributed to vehicular community residents, nearby businesses, and community service distribution sites with information available in English and Spanish. The printed resources also provided a link to an up-to-date resource guide for vehicle dwellers published on San Francisco Public Press’ website.
Hear from vehicle resident Robert P. McCormick III
LOCAL exhibition: come to your census
In Spring 2020, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts with Art + Action curated selections from the project as part of a public group exhibition titled, Come to Your Census: Who Counts In America?. Recognizing the role of artists as first responders to any social crisis, and in response to the potential of COVID-19 to dampen Census turnout, the physical opening of the exhibition was reimagined into an online art and civic experience. Every ten years, the Census count determines the population in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories. This count of our national population determines national representation and federal funding allocations for essential programs for affordable housing, healthy food, healthcare, public schools, foster care, free meals, job training, emergency services, roads, preschools, and more. The goal of the Come to Your Census exhibition is to galvanize Bay Area communities to participate in the 2020 Census to receive their fair share of resources and political representation.
RELATED STORIES
From an RV to Four Walls and a Pantry: One New Mom’s Story | San Francisco Public Press
Pandemic Makes Ride-Hailing Gig Untenable for S.F. Man Living in His Car | San Francisco Public Press
Driving Home: Surviving the Housing Crisis | San Francisco Public Press
Visual Essay: No Address, No Rest: Berkeley Forces Vehicle Dwellers to Keep Rolling| San Francisco Public Press
Full Article: No Address, No Rest: Berkeley Forces Vehicle Dwellers to Keep Rolling, Spanish edition | San Francisco Public Press
Visual Essay: In the City Off the Map: San Franciscans Struggle to Keep Their Mobile Residences | San Francisco Public Press
Full Article: In the City Off the Map: San Franciscans Struggle to Keep Their Mobile Residences, Spanish edition | San Francisco Public Press
Tent Counts Fluctuate, Vehicle Dweller Numbers Grow in SF | San Francisco Public Press
Spotlight: Bay Area’s Housing Crisis Rolls on for UC Berkeley Grad Living in a Van | SF Chronicle
From an RV to Four Walls and a Pantry: One New Mom’s Story | San Francisco Public Press
Pandemic Makes Ride-Hailing Gig Untenable for S.F. Man Living in His Car | San Francisco Public Press
Driving Home: Surviving the Housing Crisis | San Francisco Public Press
Visual Essay: No Address, No Rest: Berkeley Forces Vehicle Dwellers to Keep Rolling| San Francisco Public Press
Full Article: No Address, No Rest: Berkeley Forces Vehicle Dwellers to Keep Rolling, Spanish edition | San Francisco Public Press
Visual Essay: In the City Off the Map: San Franciscans Struggle to Keep Their Mobile Residences | San Francisco Public Press
Full Article: In the City Off the Map: San Franciscans Struggle to Keep Their Mobile Residences, Spanish edition | San Francisco Public Press
Tent Counts Fluctuate, Vehicle Dweller Numbers Grow in SF | San Francisco Public Press
Spotlight: Bay Area’s Housing Crisis Rolls on for UC Berkeley Grad Living in a Van | SF Chronicle