I'm intrigued with the engineering, cleverness, and decisions about what is really necessary as folks build tiny homes. I watch the YouTube videos which led me into boondocking videos - living in a van "down by the river" or overnight in the WalMart parking lot. (many allow that).

These folks are super clever in the ways they decide what's needed, fix up a mini-van or even a sedan on the cheap, and have no expenses other than gas to move around and food.

The homeless situation is a vicous cycle because they don't have transportation to get to a job and a phone to be contacted for work.

So here's my (simplistic) suggestion:

GIVE the homeless person a used $1000 minivan, a cooler, a 0 degree sleeping bag, and a mattress to throw in the back.

They can now boondock at Walmart AND drive to job interviews/work.

Solves 2 problems: housing and transportation.

All this would be cheaper than a homeless shelter AND help them get around for their food stamp appointments, medical care, etc.

Add a free govt phone and they are set for working!

There, I just solved homelessness. Now on to world peace!

I've done that. Lived in my VW van for awhile. Enabled me to save over $1,000 a month, which is what gave me my next egg to get started in RE in FL back in the 80's.

It's not so bad if you are in your 20's. We have been ogling motor homes lately - but they are like $400,000. I could rough it for a weekend, but not long term.

Later I lived in the back of my pickup (the one I still have) on several jobs rather than paying for hotels. I built the interior of a hotel on Ocracoke Island in NC and camped in the truck shell on the beach. Wonderful time. Took showers at the KOA. Again saved a bundle of money.

One time we built 9 homes in North Palm Beach. Again I camped in my truck on the job site and took showers at the beach. Once we got the first place roughed in with plumbing I showered in the shower pan and parked my truck inside the garage. It was actually pretty sweet - I ran a power cord and had AC, and TV.

And another time we did a job and I found a hidden spot in kind of a forested area and boondocked there for about three months. You had to drive through a stream to get to my little clearing, so nobody ever came back there and bothered me.

I know this idea is semi-tongue-in-cheek, but just for kicks I'll address what I see as the major challenge anyway: scaling and long-term lifestyle issues.

Boondocking...works okay for a few. Not a big deal if one homeless guy pees out by the lamppost farthest away from Wal-Mart front doors at night when no one is around looking. But what if 10-20 are regularly using the shrubbery (what few there are) as their "dumping" ground? In full view of children. Also, I can only imagine what would happen when someone decides it's a good idea to start an all out BBQ/drinking party. Plus, where do they go on the weekends/downtime? Even the "people of Wal-Mart" (visit the website if you've never been there!) might raise an eyebrow seeing 20 van-dwellers in a circle out on the parking lot.

Do I have a better solution? Sort of. I try to fix the small corner of the world I can by providing affordable, functional, clean housing so that anyone who is willing and able to earn minimum wage and work 40 hours a week should be able to rent from me. $7.85 * 168 hours per month = $1320 which is right at the income must equal 3x rent for one of my cheapest $400 - $450/month abodes. Pick up a few hours OT now and then or get a 2nd job...and you've got it!

I acknowledge the vicious cycle...no home = no job = no income = no home. So I see the merit of Brad's idea for short term. That's the trick...keeping it from becoming a lifestyle.

Sounds like trying to dump the problem on someone else's private property

The first time one of the mentally challenged kill or injure or mug a customer guess who is guilty of harboring the miscreants.

When the vehicle dies or leaks all over who gets to beat the costs of removal.

I too did this in Cambridge MA in JANUARY and FEBRUARY. Temp in the single digits - froze my xxx off.

I was a mainframe Cobol programmer who was hit with the magic wand and assigned to be a UNIX sys admin overnight. No training, nothing! Totally over my head and drowning!! I lived in my van in the parking lot in order to put in enough hours to even remotely come up the drastic learning curve.

Perseverence can overcome most things, but this was totally absurd and I didn't realize it till later.

Historically, the homeless and the indigents were often supported in almshouses, poor farms, or workhouses. Anyone who's read Dickens knows that it's not the sunniest prospect...

By the 1920's, people were moving away from that model. The first public housing was constructed in the 1930's. We all know how it looked by the 1970's... yeah, not so awesome.

In the 1970's, the government started dabbling with housing vouchers. Instead of "the projects", let's mainstream our people in government housing...

In the last ten or so years that I've been paying attention, I've noticed an uptick in social engineering programs. LL's with S8 vouchers were not letting people on the program into "good enough" neighborhoods. Minorities were being excluded, not on the basis of race, but on the basis of economics...

So, let's go ahead and do "integrated housing". Build a skyscraper luxury apartment building, and designate x number of units for low-income families, and you get a tax break. People are developing low-income housing in places that are already full of minorities, so not enough tax credits are being allocated to white suburban locales, so you get the Supreme Court weighing in on Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. That sort of thing.

??? AK 47 ???

"but we're remarkably lacking in making any progress against generational poverty. But it makes for good talking-points in the meantime."

Bingo.

I wish I had a magic wand that could fix it all, but I don't. The bottom line is "Govt" money is easy to be generous with since we can just print up whatever we want and/or "soak the rich"...a very popular idea among some political groups.

In my town a few die now and then due to extreme cold but based on news that is not a major concern to many people, or else we'd see the people who vote for more programs open their own wallets instead of financing a $40,000 SUV for 84 months. Not picking on luxury SUVs...fill in your pleasure. Vacations, private colleges, $1/4 million motor homes, etc.

My main question is how long can it go on? I would've thought implosion was inevitable by now, yet we lumber on. Wealth redistribution hasn't solved it. Multiple overlapping Govt programs don't solve it. Private charity hasn't solved it.

"The poor will be with you always..." true words.

I'm not sure I have a cure for the homeless, that may be more of a societal/mental health/cultural problem. Like the many lottery winners, even if you gave them a million dollars each, they would be back to their current status within a very short time.

There was a time when my heart was softer and my ideals were stronger, and I volunteered, even stayed overnight, at a homeless shelter. To this day, when the chance is presented, I still volunteer to do the, "serve the homeless", at our local shelter, but my heart isn't in it anymore. Now all I see are bad decisions and a culture determined to keep anyone from crawling out. Don't even get me started on the trap of the sec 8 program....Don't work...all bills paid....work hard (like the rest of us)....lose your benefits. It's a trap, that few would escape, and if it were truly "helping" people, we would see those success stories, splashed across the media spectrum....but we don't.

My personal belief is that we, as a society, have become so prosperous that even our "poor", live remarkably well.(side note...all of my sec. 8 tenants have flat screen tvs and smart phones...all of them.)

As a lifetime tent camper,and former gypsy, I think I could easily boondock. I often reflect on when my kids were younger, the neighborhood where we lived would have frequent blackouts. We spent most of our time outdoors. Met neighbors we had never met,and picnicked at every new park we discovered. I knew what the inside of a library looked like then....Those were good days.

My personal choice is to scale back my life, building myself a "micro mansion", and trying to own as little as possible. (investments not included ;) ) I often see the question here "what is enough". I have asked it myself. I have come to believe that the answer can be found in what you owe, not what you own. I believe "wealth" can be cyclical and you can intentionally "pause the quest", to enjoy some of the moments that will never return. My current status is 'Collector of memories'. I may change my status, once again, to "Monopoly master" in the future. Who knows.

Just my two cents (okay...more like a buck and a quarter.... :)

Wal Mart allows people in campers to park in there lot overnight,that way they will buy stuff since they are already in the lot.My parents sometimes stay in Wal Mart with there camper when they are traveling,they have told me they have seen as many as a dozen in the lot at night,these are mainly self contained campers with there own bathrooms though.

The problem with AllyM's suggestion is that if people don't have a secure, lockable fixture of some kind that will secure their meager possessions, they will be ripped off by someone the minute after the owner leaves the area. Campers I can see, vans I can see, tents will not work. However I can make a workable suggestion.

We should put the homeless on cruise ships and sail them around the world. If they get off the boat on the ports of call, miss the departure time, then they're in another country by choice. When the boat empties due to irresponsibility, go back home for another batch. You could load the ship up with free booze, drugs, food, etc. Make it one heck of a party.

Those who have spent any time volunteering at a homeless shelter are well aware the overwhelming majority of homeless suffer from mental illness, addiction, cognitive challenges or some combination thereof.

Those with cognitive issues often had a mother who drank or did drugs while pregnant. There is often absolutely NOTHING that can be done to help the now adult child - they are impulsive, don't understand consequences, usually can't do math, don't have a good concept of time, etc.

Changing the cultural acceptance for alcohol, and wide availability of addiction recovery and support programs to help those who are or might become pregnant, or if your religion allows, birth control, would be the most impactful things to reduce homelessness in the next generation.

Or maybe more liberals need to get elected and make laws so that us mean landlords have to help support the homeless even if they don't pay.

LOL - Ally - I used to take my boat out to the Dry Tortugas. Definitely not a place for homeless or anyone without a substantial ocean going boat.

A new use for empty big box stores, esp with Amazon forcing more out of business:

Overnight boondock parking. Gate opens at 9 pm, out by 8 am. No access to the buildings, multiple dumpsters easily accessible, maybe Porta potties, but most have systems to cover this need.

And a two layer go kart track inside the empty big box store!

A new use for empty big box stores, esp with Amazon forcing more out of business:

Overnight boondock parking. Gate opens at 9 pm, out by 8 am. No access to the buildings, multiple dumpsters easily accessible, maybe Porta potties, but most have systems to cover this need.

And a two layer go kart track inside the empty big box store!

GA (GA) is spot on in saying that most homeless are mentally ill, addicted, or have other serious mental and emotional problems. I worked in a soup kitchen for a year after I got out of college and noticed the same thing then.

A lot of young homeless people are runaways who were trying to escape abuse at home, or foster children who have aged out of the system and have nowhere to go.

"by David [MI]) Posted on: Apr 24, 2017 10:14 AM

Message:

Is there a difference between walmart's parking lot and street parking in residential areas? Let's let these van-dwellers park on residential streets and knock on random doors and ask to use the bathroom!"

In my town it's illegal to sleep in your car or RV unless you are in an approved areas such as a rest stop, RV park, campground, or WalMart...so no street boondocking.

On CL you can find folks who will rent out their driveway for boondockers.

Another help: SSI and disability checks are direct deposited and they just carry a debit card.

Free wi-fi at MacDonalds and more.

Give them coupons for a shower at the truck stop.

If you are interested there are lots of videos online by people with good jobs and careers who do this. Think of the money you'd save!

BRAD

From the intergoogles:

"While we do not offer electrical service or accommodations typically necessary for RV customers, Walmart values RV travelers and considers them among our best customers. Consequently, we do permit RV parking on our store lots as we are able. Permission to park is extended by individual store managers, based on availability of parking space and local laws. Please contact management in each store to ensure accommodations before parking your RV."

An RV writer states that 90% of Wally stores allow this.

My town has 2 Walmarts so the boobdocker could alternate nights.

BRAD

BOONdockers! The N is next to the B.

I think true homelessness (people living in tent cities or sleeping on park benches) is probably 99% a mental health/substance abuse issue and 1% a housing issue.

Poor people in our area find housing. It may be awful. It may be on a friends couch. But they find it. Truly homeless people, who stay homeless, most likely have a secondary issue.

We have a fairly well know homeless guy everyone calls Santa. The police removed him from where he had been staying and a bunch of people on social media were in an uproar. I guess if he wasn't pooping in your back yard, you don't see the problem. People were saying how they bought wood and built him a shed and were angry that the police made them tear it down. As if an appropriate housing situation for the guy was to be living in a lean-to and pooping in the creek. whilw good hearted, I don't think that is helping him. I think getting him the mental help he needs and living somewhere with heat and hot water is probably the right thing to do.

hehehehehehehe....

One in every crowd.