As many of you know, my living situation troubles me. I have never liked Merced. I have never felt at home here. I traveled across country to live in a more liberal and accepting area and landed in one of the more conservative parts of California. The place is also much too dry and hot for a tree hugger like me.
My apartment isn’t the best, and I’ve had some maintenance and neighbor issues, but no place is going to be perfect. I could deal with the apartment if it were in a better location. However, I worry that I could be suddenly forced out. Last summer the owners decided to put the burden of paying the electricity on the tenants. The electric company demanded a huge deposit. (Or at least it was huge to me.) And this all took place right at the beginning of summer. The electric bill here isn’t so high from October to May, but once the temperature heads toward and exceeds 100, the cost of electricity can become astronomical. I was blindsided by all of this, and if not for the help of friends, I could have been forced to choose between rent or air conditioning. Something like that could easily lead to me becoming homeless. My lease and rent subsidy are reviewed yearly, too. There is never any guarantee that either will be renewed.
I know I’m not alone. Lately, I’ve come across a few stories (some fiction and some nonfiction) about people who have been forced to live in their cars, vans and RVs. A lot of these people are older, and many are loners, like me. If you prefer to live alone (or need to live alone for the sake of your mental health) and don’t have much money, you don’t have a lot of options. Many have learned to adapt to the nomadic lifestyle, but sadly, it can be difficult to find places where it is safe and legal to camp in your car. There are public lands where you can do it, but they don’t have any facilities, so finding water and an electrical outlet can be difficult. And if you don’t have much money, you can’t afford a lot of gas. You can take a chance on parking lots and side streets, but there’s always a possibility that someone will notice and call the cops on you or harass you.
I know that housing can be expensive, and you can’t count on government to increase funding given our current political situation. So I was wondering how you could provide a place for someone to live on the cheap. I personally wouldn’t mind living in a campground. I know there are plenty of campgrounds around already, but they generally charge by the night. Existing campgrounds are mainly getaways for the middle class. I’m thinking of a campground where you can live for a low monthly fee. The tenants could supply their own cars, vans or camp trailers. Maybe you could encourage people to donate old vans and camp trailers. Maybe there would be some handy people around who would volunteer to fix them up. There could be a bathhouse for those who don’t have a bathroom and coin washing machines and dryers. There could be a clubhouse with free wifi so residents could stay connected. And it could have one of those post office box rental places so residents could have an official address. I’m wondering if you could provide a service like this for less than 200 per site a month. I know you wouldn’t make money, but could someone with the funds to invest at least break even? If I won the lottery, I would do it even if I lost money. A lot of us, the poor loners of the world, need someplace where we can live and just be.
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