Van Life & the Housing Crisis | Internet Analysis

#internetanalysis #VanLife

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time stamps:
0:00 - intro
3:04 - shout out to sponsor
4:08 - historically nomadic groups such as the Romani
6:00 - what's cute and trendy if you're rich, but stigmatized if you're poor?
8:45 - the realities of van life
9:40 - Nomadland
11:04 - the cost of van life
14:30 - what kind of jobs do van-lifers have?
15:47 - homelessness and the housing crisis
19:16 - structural BS
20:32 - criminalizing homelessness
22:51 - final thoughts?
23:50 - is van life really a rejection of capitalism & modern living?
27:39 - small channel shout out to Bryony Claire!
28:48 - thank u Patrons!

Tiffany Ferguson (she/her), 25 years old, currently in NYC. Here on Tiffanyferg, my main series is called Internet Analysis, where I research and discuss topics related to social issues and media.


FTC: This video is sponsored by Blueland. Links with * are affiliate, meaning I am compensated monetarily if you join or make a purchase.

[tiffanyferg]

I honestly feel bad posting a video about van life right now, in light of Gabby Petito's disappearance -- this topic and posting date were approved by my sponsor over a month ago, I've been writing it for weeks, and today's my deadline. If I had any more wiggle room I would have waited longer to post this, but unfortunately I can't. Hope you all understand ❤️

[thefrancophilereader]

I watched an episode of Tiny House Nation in which a couple wanted to live in a glorified mobile home. One of the individual's mothers was disappointed that her daughter wanted to live in a mobile home. The shows' hosts kept objecting that this was a tiny house, NOT a mobile home. They were insulted by the suggestion that their tiny homes were mobile homes. That episode revealed how privileged the tiny house movement is. Poor people live in mobile homes, but rich people live in "tiny houses". When poor people do it, it's trashy. When rich people do it, it's trendy.

[CassCo]

I had to live out of my car because of the housing crisis. My city had made it illegal to live out of one's care which added way more stress. This law was passed during COVID so it felt like a personal attack to poor people who were impacted by the pandemic.

[rasputozen]

"It costs less to house people than to police the unhoused." Can we all just ask ourselves what we're doing?

[mossryan]

I do understand the concern around "van life" people making a distinction that they aren't homeless and how it could be classist and anti-homeless but as someone who's been homeless (as well as being very interested in van life/nomadic living) it is very different to opt into that instead of it being your only choice and I'd be wayyy more upset if they were to say they know what it's like to be homeless or talk for people who've been homeless while living in the fancy vans they chose to be travelling the country in.

[brandycandy]

Literally saw an episode of Unsolved Mysteries where decades ago, a couple had their 6 kids taken away and were briefly incarcerated because they couldn't afford a house and were living out of a school bus. Now, you see people on social media living out of vans and school buses like it's fun and trendy...

[LindsayDaly]

Ironically I am watching this while sitting in the Chevy Express cargo van that I am building out right now. Honestly before I started looking for a van, I was so confused by a lot of the van life channels on youtube, they made it seem like you could grab a good, reliable used van for like $4000. Hell. No. Let me tell you, there is NO such thing as a reliable used van in good condition for under like 10k. When people say they bought a '96 van for 4k?? It's literally about to die, it's on its last legs! That's crazy. It'll either die on you after putting a bunch of work into it, or it'll need constant pricy repairs.

Cost of the van itself notwithstanding, it's incredibly expensive to make a van like the 'aesthetic' ones you see. I'm already coming up on about $20k, including the van itself, mechanic costs, and building materials and tools. It's a rewarding experience building something like this, but I won't pretend like it's accessible to everyone! Quite the opposite. It's extremely inaccessible.

[ItsAsparageese]

Obviously haven't gotten to watch the whole thing yet, but as someone who's still living in a truck because carlife originally chose me years ago, thank you for discussing this topic! It's been downright surreal to see the less-poor version of my lifestyle that I've had to work _up_ to become slowly normalized. It's gotten to the point where I identify as homeless in almost a defensive way, like being a youngish woman and a student doesn't make me any less homeless than I was a few years ago just because it's getting trendy to live in vehicles now, it's not okay to otherify my unhoused peers of less doteable demographics. I'm really looking forward to seeing vanlife and the housing crisis analyzed TOGETHER instead of just the usual examples I see of most of society treating the two things as very separate and romanticizing one and stigmatizing the other.

[michellemarie]

That janitor was working, and was in an unused lot, not bothering anyone, and he gets it taken away, that's so sad.

[ambitionkey]

the distinction between "van life" and "homeless" really vibes the same as the distinction between "ex-pat" and "immigrant". Mostly those who are van-life and ex-pat make a point to seperate themselves from being called homeless or an immigrant as though those labels simply don't apply to them. they "chose" this life they weren't forced into it. the attempt to seperate themselves and paint a beautiful, aspirational and whiter picture really doesn't sit well with me.

[reiinon]

blueland reminds me of when my hispanic mother would tell me "don't throw away the soap bottle, it's not empty, just fill it with water". they should hire her

[foreverhilaryy]

I find that a lot of the top van lifers start it to travel and start social media to get the platform and career boost. After a couple of years, they buy a house and buy a bunch of expensive stuff that’s completely against what was once their ‘minimalist’ lifestyle.

[noer]

I struggle to understand the "van life is a rejection of capitalism" when willful van life, especially the one carried out to by influencers is just neoliberalism, the new form of capitalism. It is just a way to market yourself, and your brand, and, more than anything, remove yourself from social groups and seek the solution to your problems through individuality.
Like I'm not saying this people shouldn't do what makes them happy, but that they are doing it inside of a capitalist framework, just a different one.

[anika]

This was such an interesting topic for me to think about. In my country, the Netherlands, it's pretty much illegal to 'camp' in parking lots. Which would be problematic for homeless people, but we do have social housing here. There is a second problem though, a lack of houses. What we see in bigger cities, Amsterdam, Utrecht, etc., is that people who in theory could afford housing, so people who have regular and decent income, simply cannot find housing. This is partially an economic and population density problem. But there is another really important cause: tourism. Since the invention of renting websites like Airbnb a lot of regular housing has been turned into tourist housing. This is a huge problem in many cities, not just in the Netherlands. The regular population of these cities gets pushed out of their city to make room for tourists. Governments are trying to regulate this phenomenon, but it's really complicated.

Tourism is necessary in many of these cities. It's a huge part of many economies around the world and many individuals make their income from it. The introduction of airbnb and such is partially good, because it leads to more people being able to make money off of tourism. The downside is huge, though. It leads to inhabitants of these cities being forced to leave their hometown. If this process continues, these cities are destined to turn into tourist attractions, like some sort of themepark, instead of actual cities with people and stories and lives.

If you want to make more videos about housing, I think this might be an interesting topic to consider. I don't know how applicable this phenomenon is to America, but it's at least a huge problem in Europe. Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Londen, etc. are all dealing with huge housing crises but growing tourist sectors. Instead of investing in proper hotels and hostels, people are now using regular housing to house tourists. A good but scary example is Venice, in Italy. The population has shrunk from 175.000 to 53.000 in the last couple of decades, mostly due to tourism. While the population is 53.000, they get about 82.000 tourists a day. Tourists are literally pushing Venitians out of their amazing city. The city is literally dying to make room for people who want to take a pretty instagram picture and make a trip with a gondola.

Tourism isn't bad, it's inherently good. But it's also destroying the world in many ways. Climate-wise (please take trains when possible, flying is awful), but also culture-wise. The cultures of these amazing cities are disappearing because people from these cities are disappearing. These cities hold enormous and complicated histories, stories and architecture, which is mostly kept alive by its inhabitants. At the one hand, I understand Airbnb. It's cheaper and hotels are kinda cultureless, in my opinion. But I will continue to boycott Airbnb because it's destroying our cities, and that's a hill I will die on.

Maybe you could consider this topic for a video. From the perspective of housing and the division of wealth, or from the perspective of tourism and its pros and cons, but it's a huge issue in many 'touristy' cities and countries at the moment. Van-life could be a partial solution for this, but that is actually not (yet) a phenomenon here. It's also more a temporary solution than a permanent one, I think regulations in tourist housing is more useful. Maybe something to think about.

[_noctivagus_]

The van life appeals to me because I've just finished being a student, rent is becoming harder to afford, and my parents' house is such a lovely LGBT welcoming place 🙄. But then I realise I can't afford the van either

[Author.Noelle.Alexandria]

From someone forced there:

We ended up homeless when our landlord decided on short notice to not renew our lease as she was moving her daughter and son-in-law into the house after they were evicted for not paying their own rent. My husband, our toddler, and I ended up in a cramped little old RV, and it was miserable. We also had two cats and two golden retrievers. It was a tin can in summer, and in the winter, freezing. We went through so, so much propane in a week, and more than once I woke up in tears since it was so cold and I was so worried about our daughter. It was hard buying food when we couldn’t store much. Gallons of milk because quarts at a time for only about 50 cents less than the gallon. We couldn’t take advantage of sales. Since our RV was so old, we couldn’t stay at any campground for more than a few weeks. (Most campgrounds limit RVs over a certain age to three weeks, and only in a designated part of the campground, while newer ones are in prime areas away from the old ones.). It hurt not being able to let our daughter have more than a few toys. Where were we going to put them? She didn’t have a lot of what she needed. We had to tell her no significantly more than we could tell her yes. Birthdays became single cupcakes from the bakery counter at the grocery store since we didn’t have the space to keep a regular cake. Christmas trees became those things make to decorate the tops of tables around the house. The year she asked where Christmas was fucking killed us. We didn’t have the money to get her anything, not even a tree.

Thing is, it’s more expensive when you didn’t choose this. Propane in winter was up to $400 per WEEK. Campgrounds, which we needed for the bathroom access and showers, were another $250-350 every week of the year. Our food costs were higher than ever. My husband worked for Apple the entire time, which is why we didn’t literally starve to death. But here’s the big thing—when you don’t choose this, it’s not so easy getting a place afterward. If you don’t have a landlord to list as a reference, few places will look twice at you. When it’s a choice, that’s not looked down upon so much, even if you weren’t actually working while you were prancing around in a fancy conversion. We only got out of it, after a few years, when we found an apartment willing to give us a $500-deposit and the first month’s rent free. It was a fucking miracle, and the managers ended up loving us (and overlooked that I wasn’t on the lease and that we had more animals than the lease actually allowed), and we were there a few years.  

The kicker? The first month we had rent we actually saved about $500.

That’s right, it was less to live in an apartment. We didn’t have propane. We could buy in bulk. Our rent was about $300 more than a month of campgrounds, but the other expenses came down so much! When we left, it was because we bought a house. My husband’s asshole grandfather who no one liked died, and we got enough money for a down payment, which is just still mind blowing to me. Homeless to homeowners in under three years, by two massive strokes of luck.

We’ve been in our house now going on six years, and we all still deal with trauma from our time having to live in that little old RV. Our daughter is a hoarder who constantly worries about what if we end up back there (she was 1-4 when we were in that, and she still remembers—kids remember more than we think), and she worries about money in a way no child should. I have severe anxiety about losing this house, and struggle to eat sometimes because I get too stressed, and other times I’ll want to eat all I can because what if there’s not enough next week? My husband has to handle all the bills. I have no clue how many we have, to be honest, and it has to be that way or else I will get anxiety that will spiral dangerously out of control. As long as I don’t know, we’re okay. My heart’s racing just thinking about it. It’s awful. My daughter spends her birthday in December passing out meals to homeless people. This is how she chooses to spend her day because she remembers.

(For those curious, in the RV we all shared the bed, and RV Queen which is smaller than a regular queen, and there were no adult-times since there couldn’t be, and though we briefly considered rehoming our animals, we managed to keep them all. Three are now gone, buried in our backyard, and the last, a golden retriever, is almost 15.)

[laureno]

Thank you for mentioning hostile architecture. I truly think it’s one of the cruelest things in society. Preventing people from resting is a form of torture imo

[foxbuns]

something id like to see discussed is why its so hard to get into a shelter. at least where i live. when i had nowhere else to go but to a shelter, they continually turned me away. i eventually found someone at the state housing association who would advocate for me. she made one phone call and got me into the shelter the same night. the workers of the shelter were apparently irritated and asked me how i managed to get an advocate. i noticed during my stay of weeks time that there were about 10 empty beds and yet i watched the staff turn every person away saying "we have no beds". i also distinctly remember the staff going thru donations that were dropped off and claiming the nicest things they wanted for themselves. the remainder was shoved into a storage shed and i never saw any person outside of the staff being given those things. the same thing seemed to happen with food; we were given stale cereal once a day, while there was a huge pantry full of a variety of food.

[vwjqtoe]

Thanks for bringing up the Romani, since “g*psy culture” is often appropriated by rich white “bohemian” types. (In fact, even the phrase “bohemian” derived from the Romani, since there was once a belief they originated from the region of Bohemia, and privledged artsy free spirited people appropriated the word).

Just one nitpick — their written history wasn’t “lost” but rather this group historically never had a written literary language to record their own history so it was never written down in the first place (instead recorded by oral history).

[tabularasa]

As someone currently living in a small, worn-out trailer, off-grid, up a mountain side, with limited cellular and no financial safety net (and it's pouring down rain today), I like the direction you took with this video. It seems like you struggled with it, which is understandable, because affordable housing in the 21st century is a crazy topic, but *it might also be one of the most socially important topics I've ever watched you cover.* This goes way beyond internet analysis. Well done. 👍

I relate to the mindset of the woman at 24:00 so thank you for including that clip. I've fortunately been parked in one place for about two years now (don't know how to be safely mobile during a viral pandemic 😳) but every day is still a challenge. I don't have Instagram, so I'm unfamiliar with the mobile lifestyle influencers, but it is interesting how life in capitalist society has pushed us to this point, in which some people live like this out of necessity, and some do it by choice, for aesthetics or environmentalism or attempting to leave behind corporate culture. This society isn't working for a lot of people...

I hope you keep it up with the meaningful topics that go beyond the internet, encouraging critical thinking and real organizing from your audience ✊