this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2024
499 points (100.0% liked)
196
16337 readers
1 users here now
Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.
Rule: You must post before you leave.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
As is being homeless. Basically you buy a house or rent and if you can't afford that, you're expected to die.
I find myself temporarily kind of sort of not really homeless. I bought five acres of land, with an agreement on file that the county would open the barrier upon purchase. Here I am 5 months later still struggling to even get them to answer my calls much less open my barrier. So while I have land, and an RV, I have nowhere to put it.
The majority of RV parks have no availability for long-term stay, even if they did they cost pretty much the same if not more than renting an apartment which is stupid. And most places are insanely hostile towards RVs staying anywhere else. I've been lucky in that I happen to be near a rest stop that is both usually not busy and absolutely huge. I've been sneaking under the radar staying here longer than I should occasionally hanging out at a wallmart or something during business hours to avoid being noticed.
But this is getting harder and harder as most public Waste stations have closed, and the ones that are open still have gotten rid of their potable water so I might be able to dump my Wastewater but I have nowhere to then refill water.
I built this RV to be great for 24/7 living, I have over 4 kilowatts of solar on the roof, I have over 15 KW hours of battery storage so I don't even need an electrical hookup. I have a full size heat pump hot water heater, two chest freezers one of which is to use as a fridge, and I have about 100 gallons freshwater capacity. On top of that I have enough filtration on my water system to make it so that I could probably just safely use stream water if I really wanted. I've got multiple levels of whole home size filtration right at the tank, and then for all my drinking and cooking water it goes through an additional 10 stage filter system that has reverse osmosis and alkaline remineralization. It's in good condition, clean, and it's hard to miss the solar lining the whole thing. It's obviously not a dilapidated homeless RV but people treat me like I'm some kind of homeless crack addict just because I'm in an RV.
My wife and I sold our house about two years ago to travel for her job, and we are on our second rv. Full time is difficult literally everywhere, and you are absolutely correct about the expense of a full time spot in an rv park. We currently pay $700/m for an absolute dump outside of a major city in ND. Thatโs literally what my mortgage was before we sold the house. Itโs $1000/m at the KOA up the street.
Itโs fucked out there if you didnโt already have a home and fixed rates 10 years ago. We arenโt quite struggling but plenty of others in every park we have stayed at are.
You're expected to go to prison where they can legally use you for slave labor
๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ
Or work for free in prison, after which you may be saddled with debt for your stay.
Criminalizing homelessness is basically Black Codes 2.0