The epidemic of “houseless” people who live on the streets in mostly old or dilapidated RVs continues to grow. In this case, they line a stretch just off U.S. 101 in Novato, California, for two miles in one of the wealthiest counties in America, where the average home price last year exceeded $1.4 million.
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Like many other communities around the USA, the price to buy or even rent a home or apartment is out of reach for many residents. An RV is increasingly the best option, short of pitching a tent alongside a freeway or on a city street.
Low-income residents in Marin County say that they have been left with nowhere to go as a cost-of-living crisis grips the region.
Officials have speculated that because the encampment along Binford Road gets support from the community, it has a reputation as one of the last remaining areas where people sleeping in their cars won’t get hassled by law enforcement.
Information for the article and photos is from the Daily Mail.
Watch the video below to learn more.
##RVT1104b
Once a week free groceries are passed out, along with other services. Stop doing that and see what happens. Maybe set up a commission and study the root causes. Kamala to run it, it’s her old district. She can do it when she’s finished with root causes in Central America. Bad choices are not bad luck. Consequences change behavior.
Truth is, I just don’t even care about this mess going on in Cali. More specifically, in the cesspool by the bay. I am at the point where this stuff has become absolutely laughable. You just can’t even make this kind of stuff up. States and cities that dig a hole and then invest money into more shovels because Shangri-la is just a little deeper down. You get what you vote for and this is an example of exactly that, in almost all of the results oriented, social experiment, race to the bottom cities. Seattle, Chicago, Portland, LA, NYC, Philly, Baltimore, Cleveland, plus plus plus. Don’t like the cake? Get a new recipe.
You said what most people don’t want to hear and its the truth. I agree 100%.
AGREED ! Well Stated..
Spot on!
Cancelproof, Perfect!
Absolutely spot on!
We moved out of Marin (and CA) 35 years ago because we couldn’t afford to buy anything back THEN!
Over 40 years ago with two military incomes we couldn’t afford to buy in Santa Barbara (Lompoc) area.
Absolutely agree with you Cancelproof !!
Ditto
“I just don’t even care about this mess going on in Cali. More specifically, in the cesspool by the bay” – Really? Then why did you make FIVE comments about it?
The comedy of it, actually. Just like I stated, it is so laughable. So much comedy is found in the absurd and I love laughing. It’s funny watching failure beget failure so libs order up a 3rd and 4th helping of failure to offset the hysterically funny failures of portions 1 and 2. Liberals with their hair on fire make me laugh uncontrollably. I just pee’d a little writing this. LOL 🤣😅🤣😅. I love hearing from the virtue signalers about how uncompationate people like me are. You know, results oriented doers hearing from talkers, talking about what the doers are doing wrong.
In a word, Entertainment. Like watching arsonists scramble for a hose while blaming the guy who sells hoses because his hoses are not free. BTW: 1 Comment!!!! 5 or 6 replies though and maybe more coming depending on how many signallers chime in professing copious amounts of virtue.
Free hoses for all!
Free hoses for all!
Free hoses for all!
I don’t t care about Harry and Meagan either but that train wreck is worth pausing for a chuckle once in a while too. Don’t care about the Climate Change either but OMG, laughing at climate alarmists is a favorite of mine too.
And you care that they care, interesting 🤔
He didn’t say that….
He didn’t have to
I only care that you care and it appears you do care about what I care about except we have differing solutions to the same problems. Now that’s caring.
😁 😉
I care they spend tax payer money on failed government handouts.Go ahead and pat yourself on the back for all this compassion you and your like show.It won’t and don’t solve the issue but you can feel good about yourself.How stupid and hypocritical you save the world people are.
Well, I don’t have children so should I not pay for schools?
I’m pretty healthy so should I not pay for the fire department?
My father was a veteran but since he’s gone now should I not pay for the VA?
No. Of course not. It’s a necessary part of being in society. I’m happy that my taxes support the things listed above but there’s always going to be something spent that I don’t agree with. Even the homeless pay taxes on the items that they buy. There’s many people who are homeless who work every day but can’t afford housing. There’s something wrong with that.
Most of us pay taxes, and usually our fair share unless you’re wealthy enough to pay the lawyers and then you can pay less taxes than a lower middle class American.
It seems like everyone is just in it for themselves. That’s not how society works. Remember the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life?” Too many people want to live the role of Potter instead of being Jimmy Stewart. I know that I may seem idealistic (or a “save the world” type to use your words) but I live in hope that both sides of the aisle will come to their senses and understand that compromise isn’t a dirty word. It’s what gets things done and it’s what our founders did.
That’s why I say end the tribalism.
However, I won’t be putting down my Tomahawk until I see the other tribe’s war paint is removed. I’m not a fool. I fight for freedoms only, nothing personal to gain, just something to protect.
Absolutely ridiculous!!!!!!!
What’s that? The destruction of our once great country and cities by the Marxist left?
Just yesterday I saw a sign by the road in my semi rural area of Pennsylvania.
“We buy RV’s any condition”. I thought why would someone be buying broken down RV’s in today’s economy. Now I know!
And they rent them out to these people. If they get towed away they just go to the impound auctions and buy them again and put them back out on the street. It is disgusting. If they are dilapidated when they are impounded they should be crushed.
Where is the dump station ?
Along the curb…
I was looking at the water next to the road thinking that it has got to be e-coli to numerous to count.
I live nearby to this. Marin’s “virtue signalers” opened the door and in they came. And now, they are stuck with it. The “Nature preserve” wetlands that these rolling hobos now poach next to and pollute can no longer be enjoyed by the taxpayers who fund it. There was a murder there recently, too. I’m afraid to drive down that road now. Funny- Marin is a VERY expensive county to live in and these transients CHOOSE to squat here when there are so many areas that are FAR cheaper that they could go. But it makes the Marin “Virtue signalers” NIMBYs feel all warm and fuzzy, living safely away from this mess in their million dollar++ pads. So much so that $500,000 was just allocated to provide “additional services” to this situation. That will only attract more to come…the word is out. Marin is a “soft touch”.
Not just your location, sad to say, Bend Oregon is also suffering the same fate. Politicians do not care about the tax payers it would seem. Stop the enabling of vagrancy. Adding to this problem Oregon’s governor has decriminalized hard core drugs.
Crime rates go down when you decriminalize crime.
Crime rates go down because the actions are no longer called crimes😂
Exactly, different words but exactly correct.
I wonder if any of these people are actually employed. Or do they wake up every day thinking…”hmm, where’s my free stuff?”
Exactly. I’m pretty sure it is not a proximity to work thing.
Really? They get their maids and gardeners from the other multimillion dollar homes?
Really? The service staff live in those RVs? WOW. Disconnected from reality. They are making beds, raking leaves and preparing meals for the rich while the latest batch of crystal meth is cooling?
They should all go to Sacremento and line up in front of the Gov’s Mansion!
It is always easiest to blame the poor, and marginal members of society for our country’s problems, as they are the least able to defend themselves. The “American Dream” has always included home/land ownership as a core value, and for the majority of those fortunate enough to participate, their home is their most valuable financial asset. The rate of occupant home ownership is about the same at 66% as it was in 1980. However; during that same 40+ year period the median house price has increased 66%, whereas the median wage has only increased by 33% (inflation adjusted values). So it is easy to see why house costs are beyond the reach of the poor (the young, lower skilled, and elderly). We are told this is due to the market forces of supply, and demand. But what is driving the demand if occupant home ownership is stagnant? There are several reasons, but the most troubling to me is the dramatic increases in the investment housing market.
To be continued.
These include traditional investment entities (banking, hedge funds, wealth management, etc…), which includes a significant amount of foreign capital. Another increasing trend is single owner, multiple property ownership (which skews the occupant home ownership number). There is an ongoing transfer of tangible wealth (physical property) in this country (and world), which is NOT to the benefit, nor caused by the poor.
The rich get richer.
Sven, thank you for the fresh air. Lay out the facts rather than placing the blame on the closest person or group of people.
Well Sven, the poor should get richer, that’s the American Dream. Redistribute your own wealth. Home ownership is a byproduct of that American dream, it is NOT the American dream. The people living in those old RVs are not homeless, they live in the homes they choose in conditions they choose. They can move elsewhere, maybe find home prices of $100k but oh yeah, no Free sandwich Fridays, free syringe handouts, or open air drug markets. Why do we not see this anywhere near this level in cities with red mayor’s, red D.A.s, red city councils, red school boards and red voters. Oh yeah right, the results don’t matter as much as symbolism and feel good virtue signaling. Name a red city this bad. Can’t huh?
It takes multiple years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to pull a building permit in some California communities. Any chance SOME of the high cost of homeownership falls on govt agencies?
Yep.
Cancelproof, Given the opportunity many do work their way out of poverty, but a very wise man once said “the poor will always be with you”.
Did you even bother to read the original article? (there is a link to it above). 78% of the homeless residents of this encampment were local residents BEFORE moving there. And you’re solution is for them to move somewhere where housing is more affordable? BRILLIANT!
Unfortunately the poor are easily displaced, which is a big part of the reason for our Southern Boarder crisis (that aught’a git’cha go’in)!
And thank you for enlightening me to the fact that all poor people are blue team freeloading druggies, and that the red team has all the answers. Perhaps you should inform the mayors of Oklahoma City, Ft Worth, Colorado Springs, Jacksonville, and Miami that they don’t have a homeless problem (because they’re on the red team).
I certainly don’t disagree with you, Sven. I have been a volunteer at the LA Mission for almost 20 years now. It makes one feel completely hopeless when you’re in the trenches with these individuals on a regular basis. I’ve given up on the idea that anyone will solve this problem. Red, blue… they’re ALL full of it and only speak in soundbites to get re-elected. The number of homeless people out there who suffer from legitimate mental illness is heart breaking. And it is so hard to get them the services they really need. On the days when I work the evening shelter duties, I can’t describe the feeling of having to turn away people once we reach capacity for the evening. It’s so much worse now than it was even just 10 years ago. Despite the billions of dollars that are spent on “solving” the homeless crisis here in LA County, it just keeps getting exponentially worse. To make matters worse, we’re experiencing what I like to call homeless tourism here in CA. The state and county governments have made it so easy for homeless individuals to get cash and food assistance that homeless people from out of state actually travel here to be homeless in CA. I’ve met these folks and speak to them weekly. Meanwhile, the most vulnerable ones (those with mental illness, single women, etc) are dying and being violently assaulted on a regular basis and nobody has a solution. The experience has made me loathe politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well as many of the “nonprofit” organizations who claim to want to solve this problem, but only line their pockets just like the politicians.
Thank you for your thought-provoking comment, Kyle. And thank you for assisting all of those unfortunate people. We need more compassionate people like you. Take care. 🙂 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Incentives for bad behavior breeds more bad behavior. Want more of something, reward it. Want less of something, deter it.
Examples: Want more drugs in circulation? legalize it and create open air market places for drugs.
Want more prostitution, create a red light district.
Want more homelessness, make it more comfortable.
Want lower crime rates for reelection campaigns, decriminalize crime.
Want less felony burglaries, make them into misdemeanors.
Want fewer housed inmates, stop prosecuting crimes.
It’s pretty simple once we decide to save our country and moreover, our civilization but we will have to act like grown ups first and identify real solutions instead if just feelings.
You mean Miami Florida where they had fewer than 50 murders average in each of the last 2 year. Lower than 1964 with a 100,000 more residents. Miami is the best example so truly, thank you for making my point. By fewer, I mean totals, not even per capita versus 1964. Less than 1 murder per week. How is Chicago and your other blue utopia towns doing?
You sound like Myorkas on Immigration. “No problem here folks”, “keep it moving nothing to see here”.
One would have to be deluded to think the southern border is caused by homelessness in Nicaragua. Our homeless remain homeless and the illegals get 4 star hotels. Your team is doing a great job down south. You can’t name 1 thing that is objectively successful on the border in the last 28 months. DELUSIONAL.
Thanks again for choosing Miami as an example of your own brilliant mind.
Cont.
To be clear tho Sven, I did not say team blue were poor people. YOU SAID THAT. Both teams have rich and poor.
I said team blue mismanages communities into dystopian hellholes. That they identify problems and the solutions implemented make things worse.
Next time, try not to put words in my mouth.
On the 78% being local residents point, yes, Thanks for making my point AGAIN. Mismanagement by the blue team leaders for decades did that.
To easy Sven.
Stop thinking so small. In 1960 housing was 22 to 25% of a person’s income! Today that number is 80% in some places, it’s not the region or local politicians or politics. It’s Capitalism! Capitalism IS NOT SUSTAINABLE PERIOD. Like the board game monopoly it ends with one winner, it’s a process of growth and failure. With a no rules system of real estate your eventually going to see an ENDGAME and that is where some regions of the nation are now. It’s simple evonomics. It will happen anywhere economic growth is, collectivistic systems are sustainable somewhat, individualistic systems not so much. The wealthy will always sell capitalism because it benefited them in the past, NEWSCAST ! We are not living in the past. Imperialism and capitalism have run the USA right to the final rolls of the dice in the monopoly game. It’s not brain surgery, it’s elementary economics and I am a economist working on my grad school stuff. WOKE is right you must get those billions out of the pockets of the greedy and back into the market….. STAT
Perhaps you can name any other country using any other system than capitalism that has been a success for the long term? Let’s make 50 years the marker to measure for your inevitable answer. Venezuela? Cuba? Russia? The old USSR?
There is not one.
If you want the billionaires money back in the market, sell them something like they sell you something. Produce a product people want and then send it to market.
If you confiscate every dollar in the USA and then give every American $100k, guess what happens. The same people that are homeless now are homeless agin in 5 years and same people that are rich now, are rich in 2 years.
Actually Russians are doing pretty good.
Finland and the other Scandinavian countries have a socialist-democratic model and in survey after survey they come in at the top as the happiest countries in the world. They are a democracy but they have a number of social programs that they are willing to pay for in exchange for knowing that they are covered for medical, education and old age. They’re hard-working people too.
Yes, when surveyed they are without question, among the happiest people in the world. Please take a look at the diversity those countries lack and a look at the immigration policies compared to the USA. Especially our current model in place that includes 5,000,000 illegals in the past 28 months.
You cannot get into any of those scandavian countries and just stay forever. They have closed borders because they know they can’t afford free stuff for millions of illegals.
Maybe if we close our borders to mass migration, we can once again afford to house, feed, cloth and educate our own citizens. Use Canada as an example similar to Finland. Do you think they will openly take a few million non English or French speaking immigrants that have no discernable secondary skills?
Thank you for pointing out Scandinavian countries. Apples and ribeyes comparrrison.
Kelly B. Cont.
So now that we have a civil dialogue open, every Scandinavian country, plus Canada have a defense budget lower than USA, combined. Here we are. Maybe if they all pay their fair share into UN or NATO, we can reduce our own military budget and feed/house our own people. They’re quality of life may go down a little if they pay another 10% in taxes for defense spending but that is just a guess. Add in another 10% increase in taxes to take in 1,000,000 immigrants each year that receive free Healthcare, housing and education.
So you see Kelly B. it is about nationalism, just like Finland. It is about populism, just like Hungary. Take care of our people first and our national unity first.
Problem solved? Nope, but it’s a start.
Keep in mind, Finland has 5.5 million people so 2% of the USA. Population of Phoenix Area.
Apples and Ribeyes comparison.
Then the cherry on top was counties insisting they install solar which added another $30,000 to the house price. BTW you can’t even find a mobile home in CA for under $100k and if you do the land rent is over $600/month.
Are you serious? Have you ever been to Florida? Just as many homeless people and not living in RV’s…and last time I checked Florida was as red as Trump’s face.
Which 2 mile long street in Florida looks like the street in that article? Let’s not conflate homelessness in general to what is happening in that video. Read my reply to Sven on Miami re: murders. Miami has fewer murders in a year than my list of cities to you have in a month. Please keep making my point for me. Unemployment in Florida, lowest in the land. Inflation in Florida is measurably lower than the national rate.
Batter up.
Cont. To Bobby G.
BTW: We are discussing local, not state but hey, thanks again for using Florida. I gave a list of cities and you put in a State for comparison. Typical tactic of a Marxist mind.
I live in South Dakota and I will put our conservative state up against your conservative state and we are both are winners
Who in their right mind would live in SD?
I’d rather wake to a blue sky than a red one.
What’s wrong with rainbows?
They are drug addicts. They are homeless as a side effect. Please call it what it is and there will be better clarity for everyone as to what is really the root problem.
Lol
My converted bus cost me almost 120k to build prob nicer than your house or your mothers house. Not a drug addict lol so funny
If you need to encamp on streets, no matter how fancy your rig, you are still a transient, likely breaking the law.
I agree with your facts but I do not believe it is the investment market creating this. Back in the 1980’s many things were still made in America and it wasn’t hard to find work. Now almost everything is made elsewhere. Also, I had friends that were migrant lettuce pickers. They were Caucasian just like me. Nowadays many Americans feel it is beneath them to do that kind of work. Also, building restrictions drive housing and rental markets. It leaves people with nowhere to go and rents are ridiculous.
Excellent response
Thanks for that in depth analysis. I don’t think these people care about your social economic babble, they want to live and survive.
👍 Definition of virtue signaling right there folks. Talkers not doers.
Let them park on some industrial street or such, not along the oceanfront. That fair enough?
I used to live in Novato and this was a great hiking place, so beautiful you’d see all people walking , young families, young and old. Now it’s a complete mess. Since Gavin Newsom has taken over California it’s lost it’s shine. This place is now littered with crap.
Recall Newsom! Marin is a strange place to be from, especially when you don’t have a trust fund. Haha.
In our SoCal beach town the City passed a quality of life ordinance that empowered us to tow these RVs if they parked overnight. Ended the invasion over night as the RV folks saw the huge tow trucks hitching up the first one…word travels fast.
It’s one thing to have people like my parents who are in 80s pulling over for a rest overnight and people living in their RV’s
So now they have to sleep in the street and can have only what they can carry? Brilliant! 😡
We need to start stacking these RVs vertically to save space.
Hey! If you are going to live in a vehicle; come drive trucks like me! You’ll get paid to do it! I have a fridge and freezer.
Wow ! I just did that last yr. Moved from Cali to Las Vegas Nv and rent here went up three times in two yrs. Got My CDL and now in a truck with two beds, frig and refrigerator and portable washer & dryer etc. Making 2k to 3k weekly🤑. When take off work, I get a Airbnb for a week and write that off for taxes too.
👍🇺🇸
I wouldn’t have a problem with it but the fact no waste disposal and cramped quarters will lead to an outbreak of diseases especially ones we usually don’t see in this country
If they are Living in RVs, they are NOT homeless!
Yes they are. When they go to work they don’t know it will still be there when they come “home.” And they don’t hold much water and break down. When they break down what do you do about the toilet tank?
America has changed, people like it or not, are not in demand for the jobs we used to have. We don’t manufacturer most of the stuff we have, so all the one time factory jobs that thousands of people used to file into and out of daily are gone. Replaced by fast food restaurants, and coffee shops, that are not sustainable living jobs. We don’t have hundreds of farmers working independent family farms. Now tractors and migrants do that. A college degree in the wrong field, costs you time, and all the money you don’t have when your young trying to start out. Profits go to CEOs and board of directors, and let’s not forget ROI for the stock holders, not company building , or employees.
Other countries OWN US, not the other way around today.
In short, one word that defines the homeless problem in the US today is GREED ! Working hard used to be enough. Today it’s more who you know, not what. Say what you will, California is a product of their own free stupid ideas.
I agree 100%
I’m hiring. Hard work is enough, it’s the expectations for the price that one expects for the labor they barter that needs to change. My non English speaking staff make $80k -$100k/year. Maybe it’s our soft soft touch we continue to use on our college educated English speaking social warrior children that work in coffee shops.
Are the RVs provided? I wouldn’t mind sending some homeless from my neighborhood there.
Steal an RV, remove the plates and live in it along the best coast line in the world with government assistance. Where’s the lack of incentive.
Homeless doesn’t mean harmless. There is mental illness and rampant drug abuse, and many of them are armed. Most of these folks aren’t just down on their luck, they are there by choice. Everyone and everywhere is hiring right now and yet they choose not to work. There is no work ethic or ethical standards among them.
I’m homeless due to disability. I don’t steal or lie, can’t work but do what I can. My check wouldn’t pay rent anywhere. There is no low cost housing, too many people, not enough housing. I have good references to boot. But no available housing, been on waiting list for 6 years. Not all homeless people are bad or due to lack of not working. It’s too costly just to feed yourself. And everyone know it or not is one step from where I am. Don’t judge people it ain’t ur job!
You may be the exception but it is a proven statistical fact that basic crime rates go up when this population moves in. You can look this stat up in ANY metropolitan city statistic. As I have a daughter who is living in a shelter I know the situation. Mental illness, drug use and rampant abuse of the free governmental benefits are all very common place. You would be amazed at how many people when shown the possible programs refuse to get the help they need. For many, they Choose this life!!
I was in this group for over 3 years. I Fing hated every minute. Got help, counseling, an advocate, training, a job , self worth and will never go back. Because I was there I have understanding but no pity for them.
Good for you, Buddy!👍 Keep up the good work. Have a great day! 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Kudos Buddy. You Rock.
Yes, your a normal person who probably went through a hard time hit rock bottom.
I congratulate you for the process of bettering yourself.
That’s right and I agree with you, what has happened to humanity that there is no longer any compassion? What would you say if it were your son, your daughter, or best friend in this situation and had nowhere to turn? I highly doubt you’d be putting them down and passing judgement upon them now would you! And as far as calling out judgement on those who are using drugs, I’ll bet you they hit a breaking point and wanted to escape from their circumstances that were likely bleak.. can you determine your own breaking point or what you would be doing at that point? I can’t and like he said who are you to pass judgement, are you trying to help solve the issue of rent becoming sky high or food being unobtainable? These circumstances can happen to anyone, no one is exempt, immune, it could happen to anyone.. think of how a avalanche forms and now think of that as happening to a person. Can you imagine how you might feel or what you might do if that were to happen to you or someone you loved?
You’re talking about a minority group of people. The vast majority of the folks have been squeezed out of the housing marked because lack of vision from our elected officials who have allowed the “not in my back yard” people to have too much say in what happens in their communities as well as the unrealistic cost of housing and fact that low cost housing projects don’t ever seem to get built. Also, some of these folks are mentally Ill and can’t work. Good paying jobs that pay a living wage aren’t available. Many of these unemployed folks would work if good living wage jobs were available. This is a nationwide problem that needs to be solved on a national level. If our elected officials won’t legislate laws to make this happen, it’s time to vote them out in favor of people that will.
Take the job that’s available, start their. Take a second one and then start the upward trajectory. Get clean, get better jobs. Get the mentally ill into facilities and by force on a judges order when nessesary. It is not compationate to let our fellow citizens rot in homelessness. Stop pretending that more money is the answer. Low expectations is the problem. NIMBY is the problem, out of sight, out of mind. Why do you think Biden had the homeless and imigrants on the streets of El Paso moved before showing up and declaring “what problem? I don’t see a problem” If you can’t admit to even having a problem, how do you solve it? and CNN showed those pristine El Paso streets to its viewers.
Your last sentence, spot on.
i really appreciate all the comments here but yours especially ( and I
enjoy your handle.) I might need some help with:an inherited RV.. is this a place for that or can you suggest a forum for problem solving leaking RV, not as a homeless discossion?
Cool. Try RVtrader.com.
jb, try irv2.com you can find the answer to just about any question on mainrenence/repair for any RV, brand specific. Good luck!
People shouldn’t have to work 16 hours a day to have a roof over their head.
How about this, start with one $12.00/hour job x 8 hours a day. Subsidize that work ethic with my taxes, no problem, but work one freaking job.
Your premise is such that if someone can’t survive on an 8 hour/day job at $12.00/hour, no point in working at all? Just live on streets. Shoplift. Get High. Poop on the street.
A Child’s perspective:
If I can’t get a fultime job for $50.00/hour, 12 weeks maternal leave, 4 weeks paid vacation and health care, I’m just not going to work at all. Oh yeah, and I need to work from home 3 out of 5 days or I’ll have bring my emotional support goat to work with me. That’s part of the problem, duh.
You hit the nail on the head!
of course, spot savers are provided for when the need to use a dump station occur… or does the town provide a honey wagon, water and gas service?
I often hike in the open space areas near where the picture was taken. I have never had any problems doing that and the areas are somewhat separate. There is also a park and ride nearby.
I’ve seen the RV encampment grow as cities passed ordinances like the one in nearby San Rafael: “RVs may not park on public streets citywide (except when a temporary permit has been issued by the Parking Services office).” That would make it hard if I were RVing and wanted to stop at a favorite restaurant, get a donut, or look at the mission site. Would they rather people camp in a tent somewhere?
I don’t have a solution. I used to manage a food program in a more rural area of Marin and even then most of the clients were locals who were being squeezed out by rising costs.
In California, Reagan closed many mental health programs which sparked one of the first of the homeless on the street.
Failure to comply with low income housing mandates, treatment, and other issues combine.
Yes! Reagan did close down the federal/state hospital systems while I was working in them. Now the group home situation is much worse than any hospital I worked in ID or NV.
Now we have mentally low, mentally ill, criminal, drug, alcohol abuse all rolled into the dirty littered homeless encampments.
Many drug addicts recieve a SSI check via direct deposit to bank.
yeah but if you park a semi tractor trailer you get a ticket 502.00 as the police told me when l called them they don’t get towed because if they did (rvs) they would just sit in the impound yard unclaimed and take up space as opposed to a working individual who pays taxes and fuels the economy, gets screwed over because counties know that a tractor trailer is working vehicle and that the owner or owners will pay whatever amount to have it returned…the response from authorities is that RVs are not commercial vehicles and therefore not subject to being towed or penalties 🙄🤔🙄🤔
Yes! This is also true with theft. If they steal from you and its under a $1000.00 nothing happens to them. But if a responsible person pick up to find a persons phone well maybe think about it 🤔 first.
We found the person who stole my husband’s phone right in front of him and nothing happened.
Overnight parking generally is not allowed in public scenic areas. Makes sense to me, unless we want our scenic areas to look not so scenic.
Find a back street somewhere and no one will care much.
Try parking your RVs in Beverly Hills or Malibu..the compassionate virtue signaling elite there would have you towed in minutes..if you could even get through there gates.
Hey Mr. Woodbury, as long as they have an RV they are NOT homeless!
Maby some are challenged as to means for lot rental. But then again that is why any RV can be used where there arent any utilities. That is what there were made for.
Maby it would have been a great thing if the ‘Grid’ would have crashed in the year 2000.
At least we would all be useto being back to the basics by now. We are too spoiled, becouse this IS the greatest COUNTRY in the WORLD! But the people running it act like a bunch of spoiled kids.
I know for myself I would definitely be living there as well in my van. It’s safer, and being a single homeless woman living in my van, I would feel much safer there.
How are you homeless if you are commenting on the article? Are you on a phone? A computer? Are you paying for that phone or are we the tax payers paying for your phone? The tax payers are all paying the brunt of your cost in California. Are you sitting there on a street corner getting $10 or $20 dollars every 3rd or 4th car passing like I see frequently? $200 to $300 a day in some cases all tax free? Give me a break with the pity party.
How are they homeless?
It’s funny that the narrator making comments about the new possessions some people have. It’s not funny the bias she holds for the homeless. Not everyone homeless is a drug addict, chose to become homeless because of laziness, or has mental health issues.
I cared for two ailing parents : one with muscular dystrophy and the other with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I gave up working full time to care for them so they could stay in their home. They died two months apart. Odor those 10 years I didn’t contribute to my Social Security . Our oldest sibling , 11 years older than myself inherited the muscular dystrophy. His home burned down in a fire, I moved to care for him, and when he passed, I couldn’t afford rent on my own, gave up all my possessions , and became homeless. I also gave up a work from home business that was just starting out. I put everything in the business and had no where to go. We are not all lazy and worthless.
Just hopes this opens one’s eyes about the homeless.,
Absolutely correct. The system’s safety net needs to catch people like your parents, your sibling and yourself. Unfortunately it catches everyone in the same net and puts them into the same box. One size fits all is not the answer for the 5% that fit your homeless crisis. We can’t pay for the 95% that are drug addicts, lazy, mentally ill and unemployable in order to ensure the 5% like yourself are taken care of the same across the board. The mentally ill need to be institutionalized and get the help they need so they are not avthreat to themselves or others. What were doing now doesn’t work.
You have my truest respect and admiration for the path you chose with your parents and I wish you only blessings in the future.
Yes, this is so true. If it was not for my other children and my parents I could be homeless. Lost my house in fire 2018 that I bought for my disabled son. We went through that then COVID-19, then before the house was built my son passed. No social security and Medicare was taken out of my checks because I was Mom. I purchased life insurance to protect my children as single parent. I forgot about me. I could easily be out on the street….
It only takes a medical emergency in your family to break you….
❤️👏
I’m sure most of those folks are the poor servants who work at doing all the dirty deeds for those who own a house. Minimum wage will not pay the rent and buy food.
Really? That’s what your going with? That’s the new servants quarters for the SF rich. Got it.
Novato is ghetto, but I guess since it is in a rich county, the assumption is it is wealty as well. I live in Santa Clara County where you can rent a beautiful bedroom for 900. Crazy how rent is, food too.
Exactly. It is not a Right to live anywhere you want to whether you can afford it or not. I want to live with a harbor view in Newport beach but oh yeah, I also want to live in house not under a tarp.
We all have a right to live where we want to, as long as it falls within our means.
I have driven down that road. I see trailers with classic cars on them, an iroc z convertible, and a corvette amongst other things. Give me a break on the boo hoos for “homeless”. In the old days there was no help and if you needed to get ahead in life you sold your stuff and you moved to a different location or another state. Funny how 60% of the “homeless” in the US are in Cali. Go figure. A lot of them make $200 a day cash by sitting in front costco or somewhere similar. You think they pay any taxes to help with the homeless problem? Give me a break.
So your saying California is a magnet for the homeless. That people travel to California for the free lunch, syringes, drug availability, shoplifting without consequences up to $900. Oh yeah, and the weather. That California has 12% of America’s population and almost 60% of the countries homeless. Things are going pretty good in the Golden State. At least the taxpaying citizens aren’t moving out…. to say ….. maybe Florida, Tennessee, or Idaho? Maybe if they decide to pay that $1 million bucks each in reparations things should get better. What a joke. Comedy of the absurd. Laughing full throated at the bleeding hearts. 🤣 😅🤣😅🤣😅
How else does one get to live in the wealthiest county in California??
Besides, I don’t consider people who live in an RV homeless. I think it’s a perfectly fine home.
Lived in one myself for a number of years.
County may be wealthy, but Novato definitely isn’t, used to frequent it quite often. More like a dump, just like Central San Rafael
Look you close minded person my house burned and my insurance found a way to not pay..I went through hell and 1 camper..1960 model.. and a nice vintage RV …both destroyed by insured home/ car owner types, and got screwed by that institution all you homeowners swear by. But I have a 3rd RV now and used it for a year and a half then found a house to remodel to get of the curb..so to speak.. well I finished,the house sold so quickly I’m back in my RV in 12 days not the agreed on 30 days…all the time other than redoing that house..climbing trees for my living. Oh I’m 56.. and never asked anyone for money. And even got under payed because the Homeowners thought they could do that because….SO WHAT YOU WROTE…IS EXTREMELY INSULTING AND WILL DEEM YOU EXACTLY WHAT YOU SEEM TO LOOK DOWN ON..I look down on the poor people that haven’t been tested yet.. like yourself… and all the other people that think they are indistructable..I AM. MOSTLY..WE ARE INDESTRUCTIBLE AND PROVE THAT EVERYDAY….
People living in RVs are not homeless. To suggest such downplays homelessness.
Happy Mother’s Day to all mother’s! I was blessed to spend the day with my wife, our three children, and their families. I refuse to allow the negativity on this topic thread to cast a shadow on my day.
I read this newsletter for information, and entertainment about the RV hobby that I have enjoyed for 50+ years. Not to ridicule, or to be ridiculed by others.
The temperature of this discussion has gotten needlessly out of control, and I choose not to fan the flames any higher.
Now if you will excuse me. I have my REAL life to return to.
All the people in here with so much negative words, instead of this being a homeless bashing rally you could all use your very smart witty minds and brainstorm solutions. One of the main social changes over the last 50 years, we stopped loving thy neighbor, stopped helping people, we’ve grown insensitive to others…..
Actually, we’ve quit listening to others we disagree with. We try to silence them. We no longer discuss a variety of ideas and work pragmatically towards a result. We view others with different views as the enemy. It is wokeism, forcing people to believe what is not true. Only say approved things or be silenced.
Mostly,
It is tribalism and it has to end.
You seem to be the one trying to silence everyone. So focused on red vs blue. Sad.
Personally I think that Airb&b and VRBO is the reason that housing has increased so much. There’s been a strong surge in buyers from investment companies to turn houses into “hotel rooms”. You can rent them out for 1-2 weeks a month and be money ahead. So – where do all the service workers live? Where do the previously “middle-class” workers live who can’t “work virtually” like post office employees, bus drivers, etc? Where I live if someone has even a single rental house they are almost ALL turning them into Airb&b.
I agree. AirBnB, VRBO, part of the problem. A very large part of the problem is the businesses fleeing the crime and it is becoming circular like the chicken and egg. The more businesses that flee, the less jobs available. It has to start with crime. There is no other starting place than making the city safe again for business to thrive. It will take a backbone in leadership to put criminals on jail. Give police some power back and start prosecuting crimes.
I am all about solutions but unless the root of the problem is viewed without tribalism, no solution and a full collapse of our society is imminent. Maybe the other tribe can be heard because the singular tribe’s solutions don’t seem to be enough. BOTH WAYS.
Air B n b is ruining good neighborhoods. Who wants some big party loud noise moving into your neighborhood, or next door for a week or longer. Good hotels won’t put up with what’s going on nowadays, why should good homeowners..
But isn’t that what you’re doing? Slamming every thought that doesn’t align with your self-described “red” views? It seems as though you are just using those people’s views as fodder for your own personal enjoyment while using every cliche in the book (ie – virtue signalling, wokism, Marxists, etc). Just because someone has different views than you doesn’t mean that they are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum of views. Plenty of very good, prosperous, hard-working people share their views. It doesn’t make them the enemy.
Exactly and this is a contuation of the last 2 posts to you and Sven. My side are not the silencers. Canceling people that disagree with the Climate Change philosophies of the day. Canceling people that think only 2 genders exist. Canceling people that think criminals belong in prison. Canceling people that disagree with child castration. Deleting history we don’t like does not change history. History happened.
I try to silence no one. I would prefer civil conversations but unless both sides voices and opinions are welcome without demonization, it won’t happen.
I would prefer to engage productively but until I the woke Marxists that demand i use they/them pronouns and agree that men can really truly be women, it doesn’t change.
That is the silencing I fight against. What silencing do you fight against?
To be clear Kelly B, which red views do we or me force on others? We don’t care what your or anyone blue thinks or does as long as it has no negetive impact on us. We are just not going along with being forced to agree with “gender fluidity”, “Climate catastrophe”, “teachers rights greater than parents rights in schools”, electric vehicles, no gas stoves, solar for all, green new agenda, etc.
It is not the red forcing anything on the blue, it is the opposite. The lefts ideas are the ones pushed under threat of law or canceling. Ideas so good you need laws to make sure people go along.
Said the Chief.
Sven and Kelly B, yes, you are both correct but with one simple distinction. I and many people that agree with me are pushing back on 3 years of being Gaslighted. A time when the left shut down our posts on Facebook and twitter. Shut down the speech of the doctors we trusted. When the MSM told us that over $2 billion in damages in the summer of 2020 from burned down cities was a satisfactory response for the awful murder of druggie named George Floyd. Deplorable, and rascists to this day on ABC ‘s the View. BTW. You don’t know my skin color. Who cares what it is. I did not chose it.
When the federal Gov’t openly announced plans for its ministry of truth. When we are told more than 2 genders exist and we must agree or be labeled as transphobic.
As soon as the left stops silencing views they don’t like and accept people with different ideas and views are welcome again, my tribe will lower its Tomahawk.
I’m pushing back, and maybe your not left wing zealots, but it is a push back against big Gov’t and being silenced. Kind if like the civil libertarians if the 70s. ACLU ring a bell.
I respect your opinions but mine won’t take a back seat.
But the problem isn’t that you won’t be told how to live your life. It’s that you’re telling others how to live their lives.
Book banning….how about letting the parents decide instead of removing them?
Teaching about how the past treated blacks and indigenous people (and also Irish, Jews, etc) isn’t okay because it might make kids feel bad about how their ancestors (perhaps) treated them. So what? If kids can be proud of what their ancestors did why isn’t it okay if perhaps they feel sad about what their ancestors may have done? It’s the emotional equivalent of every kid needing a trophy so they feel good about themselves. Kids are resilient. Should kids of German and Italian descent not learn about the holocaust?
I can go on but I think that you get my point.
I totally agree with you about the crime. I’m tired of cities and states telling the police that they can’t do their jobs. My paternal grandfather, 2 uncles and 3 cousins were all Seattle cops. I do understand that side.
I think that there’s middle ground instead of both sides trying to dictate what is “allowed”.
Your a conservative and you just don’t know it.
In order:
I’m not telling anyone how to live their lives.
I disagree with banning books.
Every book in a library that is available to a child under 16 should have consent of the parents. Books with any sexual topic or religious elements should need a permission slip for kids to access them. Teachers are not the parents. They get no say, zero, in a child’s gender identity, period. Virginia is a good example of the justice department labeling parents terrorists for protecting their own kids from predators.
On history, our history is ugly at times and even the most unsavory of topics needs to be learned and discussed. I take no issue with teaching history and have no idea how you put that in my box. I see the left whitewashed history, not the right. IE: Columbus but moreover, why are we tearing down statues of our founding fathers. That’s censorship. That is canceling of history.
Obviously we mostly agree on the issues, just not who the truly agrieved party is.
Cont.
So again, give me a specific red idea or policy being forced on others by the right. You have it backwards, IMHO, the right didn’t force vaccines, the right didn’t shut down schools for an extra year for no need, the right didn’t shut off social media for disagreeable but factual posts. The right ain’t trying to make anyone use “they and them” pronouns. The right isn’t forcing people to say we have more than 2 genders. The right isn’t forcing school kids to learn about drag queens. My list for you goes on as well yiurs did for me but im sure you get my point.
Who exactly is censoring you ask? Maybe check with the doctors that were right about natural immunity but were silenced for a year.
Lol! You have more energy than me.
A very conservative guy from Louisiana that I met while metal detecting in England told me (add the accent it makes it better):
“Kelly, I don’t think that you’re a liberal. I think that you think that you’re a liberal but I don’t think that you’re a liberal.” I realized that he didn’t really know any “liberals” and he knew that he didn’t like liberals but he liked me so, ergo, I’m not a liberal. Lol! I really like him and hopefully he’ll be on the tour again. The 3 guys that I had breakfast with each morning, him included, were all Vietnam vets and had interesting stories.
I consider myself a moderate. I’m center-left as are most of the people I know. We just don’t make good newsfeed on the conservative channels.
I’ve never heard about any school kids being forced to hear from drag queens. I’ve only heard of voluntary storytelling in libraries, or bookstores, etc. Where did any school force that? It’s a lie if you heard that. Parents are the ones who take the kids to those. When I grew up we had a kid show with a guy dressed as a clown (J.P.Patches) who lived at the town dump. His next door neighbor was Gertrude, who was played by a guy wearing a wig. It was a great show and much beloved. With some of the laws being passed by the social police in Red areas he would be arrested today.
Red idea? How about making abortion illegal including allowing anyone who wants to the ability to sue anyone who helped a woman obtain one by going to another state, even if they just drove them to the airport.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Abortion. Not sure about the airport drop-off part of your statement. It is abortion that gives the left its foothold and is an issue that will galvanize leftside voters. It will fail the Rs everytime if they can’t put a cohesive policy and message together.
I’m center right but have pretty big helping of libertarianism in the old sence of the label. Civil libertarianism more likely depicts me. The Crazies on both sides make me crazy.
I moved to the USA 34 years ago. Got my citizenship in a ceremony of 113 with 42 countries represented. Proudest day of my life.
Came here with dirt in pockets. Made my path with lots of sweat. What a country this is.
Where did you emigrate from? So do you have dual citizenship? I often wish that I had dual citizenship. Besides this country there’s other countries that I would love to have the option of moving to. England (because of metal detecting) and Finland because of my heritage.
God Save The King!
Moved here from Canada at a time when when a medical full body inspection was still required to get residency. Times have changed on that matter. Grew up in Saskatchewan, then some time Alberta. My American wife’s tomatoes got snowed on in August and that was it, we packed up everything we owned (it fit in the trunk of an Oldsmobile) and left for greener/warmer pastures. Heritage, Poland/England.
Here’s a solution: Prosecute crime, businesses won’t flee taking jobs with them when they go. Creating a safe business community thus filling up some of the 40% commercial vacancy rate, thus creating more jobs and a safe place to raise a family.
Problem solved. It will take time and a spine, any takers?
What we have been doing: Leave the mentally ill and drug addicted to fend for themselves and make $950.00 shoplifting a misdemeanor because it is compationate to not punish crime. Compationate to who? The CVS that locks toothpaste behind glass now?
I wish I had a camper so I can be “homeless,” I don’t even have a vehicle
Fyi they are not homeless if they are living In campers ijs
They’re not homeless. They’re full timers!
JUST KIDDING!
Jeeze people. Get a sense of humor!
That was funny. LOL. My sense of humor is intact, thank God for that.
Hope your evening with the real stuff, the important stuff, was perfect.
The amount of hate here and the lack of compassion is disheartening. I have got to stop reading comments on the articles. It is making me want to unsubscribe from rvtravel.com
I for one enjoy the discourse in these comments. As a matter of fact, I’m gonna throw in another 20 bucks to rvtravel, it’s well worth the entertainment.
I know. I love this forum and will toss another payment into the receptacle soon.
I dont choose the subject matter but if it is possibly on the fringe of current societal issues, I won’t nod in agreement any longer like a bobblehead.
I agree with as many reader posts as I disagree with. I’m just more entertained by the lunacy. The LOL stuff. 😅🤣😅🤣
they not homeless they got a car or a mobile home they receive help of the government 🤔🤔
They don’t pay taxes. Don’t deserve help. Why help those that don’t help themselves. Free loaders.
If you buy a soda, gas, a bottle of water then you are paying taxes…
Or, if you shoplift a soda, gas and a bottle of water, you are not paying taxes. In fact shoplift $949.00 twice a day sell it on the street for 20 cents on the dollar to finance your drug habit. Welcome to sanfranfreaksho.
Oh come on! While I’m certain that not all homeless are upstanding citizens neither are they all terrible thieves. Many people who can’t afford the housing are working and living in RVs. It’s certainly easier to make them all be villains. That way it’s all their fault and no one needs to think of solutions.
I’m not blaming them. I’m blaming the system that puts them there and whose only solution is to moly coddle them. Possibly, 20% need help mentally but can’t get it. 20% need to be forcibly committed to a hospital. 20% just need a job and will acheive some upward mobility and like it or not 30% need to go to jail for few years and the last 10%….. well who knows but I’m willing to invest in that model.
Just sayin Kelly.
BTW, I answered, very respectfully I might add, your Finland example which is actually one of the examples I thought would come back.
Have a good evening.
Yeah, I’ve not had time. I just reacted when you responded to someone who mentioned that if they buy soda, etc that they pay taxes, by basically insinuating that a common scenario was shoplifting so they weren’t paying taxes.
I’m all for spending more money to help the mentally ill and to get them into mental hospitals to get them help and then releasing them after they are stabilized, or keeping them if they can’t stabilized or aren’t willing to take their meds.
Since many people who are mentally ill try to self-medicate by drinking or by abusing drugs getting them into treatment in addition to psych meds is important. For those who don’t have any mental illness but have drug issues I’m all for getting them into treatment but not repeatedly.
The problem is that there’s not a lot of open beds in mental hospitals and treatment centers. There’s also a need for outpatient mental health support. All of this takes money. Tax dollars. Call your representative and senator. Otherwise it doesn’t get better.
Raise awareness here: I’m born and raised just outside of Marin. I’ve worked in real estate, health, and education around the greater bay area. There is a systematic issue here somewhere, stop blaming, start observing and asking question, start thinking compassionately creative.
I was also a landlord. I cared that people had a home. I didn’t raise rents even if I “could have” because that makes people struggle. I kept a spare room open in my own home, for helping others get on thier feet. I never charged over $300. Often I simply wanted some help in the kitchen or garden and maybe $100 to help with bills.
I don’t use drugs. I lost homes and businesses to fires and covid. Some injuries and health issues as side effects of sudden losses have left me disabled. Being suddenly homeless makes it near impossible to get mail to even start to get back on my feet. One needs a mailing address to recieve help or get a job.
This camp looks clean, like these people are doing thier best.
Sounds like mismanagement to me. Real Estate, Education, Health Care, Landlord? No fire insurance? No health insurance?
I too have done and continue to do a lot to help elevate others and will continue to do so but where and how remains my personal choice. Anyone who says more taxes will help solve the problem, is the problem.
Have you no compassion man? Do you not realize your day of reckoning is near, when you will cry out to God, begging for his compassion and mercy?
I prepare my soul daily for judgement. Compassion is not linear.
I see no compassion in our open border policy while others believe it is open as a sign of compassion. I believe it is govt subsidized human trafficking. I believe it is akin to slavery. I believe it will make the scenes in the video/article worse.
Your compassion could be my fools journey. My kind of compassion may not suit you. You do not know my journey, you do not know my story. You do not know where or how I give.
We both identify a problem but more of the same is not the solution. More gold corrupts this fools errand further. Like dung on tomatoes, the weeds grow faster too.
love the smell of urine in the morning