
Homeless population doubles in Mountain View - nkzednan
http://mv-voice.com/news/2015/06/30/homeless-population-doubles-in-mountain-view
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icanhackit
_The city now has 271 people with no access to an emergency shelter or
transitional housing who are stuck on the street, living in cars or living in
encampments around the city._

Slight tangent, but when I walk down the street at night I see car after empty
car and think, why can't it also be a bed? If all of the seats could fold down
flat and the car's engine could idle in a fuel efficient way, providing
heating/cooling/climate control, it'd be a comfortable double bed. If the
windows could have opaque blinds that slide over the windows when the car is
set to camp mode for privacy and additional security from delinquents.

It just seems like a wasted opportunity not to make cars that can become a bed
when they're using all of this space already - it could reduce drink driving,
make staying closer to work easier, provide shelter for people low on funds
etc. Perhaps with the advent of driverless cars we could have this and be
delivered to our destination upon getting out of bed. Perhaps a family of
vehicles, one for each family member, could cart each individual to their
destinations, pick them up, then at the end of the day merge the vehicles
together to transform into the family home.

~~~
dev-da0
I live in a compact-width van conversion (which fits in the tightest parking
garages) with absolute privacy (curtains) in Mountain View (illegal to sleep
in a car on the street, so stay on private property like parking lots) & Palo
Alto (where it's currently legal to sleep in a car on the street). It's very
comfortable and sleeps 3 adults or 2 adults and 2 kids.

Living in a car (when it's obvioua) is unfortunately an invitation for
continual police harassment. Been there, done that. Police in Mountain View
bang on car windows if you were to sleep in any of the downtown municipal
parking lots OR even on private property. They have zero tolerance for poor
people and show no compassion whatsoever. There is even this one female
officer whom enjoys Schadenfreude to such a degree that it is well past
hubris; (she will tow your car even if it's on private property.)

Better to live in a car or van where it's _not obvious,_ (tint, curtains,
etc.) because the junked-up cars and people obviously sleeping draw the most
attention.

Also, ask me anything.

PS: During the day, it's impossible to tell that I live in my vehicle because
it's very clean and everything's put away.

~~~
fwn
I know it's off topic but that it's illegal to sleep in a car appears to me to
impose the most cynical incentive structure I encountered in a while.

I already did that several times in the past because I was seriously drunken.

Edit: Also as a follow up question on your further writing:

How do you handle very high or low temperature in a car? First I thought it's
not a problem due to ACs, but as you pointed out that you've to hide your
presence I can't really see that working. Very interesting post!

~~~
dev-da0
The Ninth Circuit effectively struck down Venice's enforcement of giving
tickets to people whom appeared to be living in their vehicles. That case is
why Palo Alto backed off on its towing and ticketing campaign. LA hates
homeless people more so than Silicon Valley.

But it's part of larger issue of subtle, shameful discrimination based on
economics and status akin but different how African Americans were treated in
the 1950's South. The homeless and poor need a Civil Rights movement. Even if
it won't change attitudes of snobs and bigots, there is room for additional
protections and tighter limits on police harassment. (There should be federal
protections to providing food for the poor because it is illegal to feed the
homeless in parts of Florida. In other parts of Florida, it is also illegal to
use blankets or any other materials to protect yourself from the elements.
Basically, these laws make it illegal for some people to be alive, and those
types of laws have no place in America.)

~~~
steve19
Where do you personally draw the line between harassment and police enforcing
the law?

For example, if homeless folks cannot procreate without having sex in public
locations, such as behind a bush in a public park, and we accept that banning
procreation is unjust, does banning public sexual acts count as an unjust law?

~~~
dev-da0
Actually, since this is a pseudonym, I've had sex in public a several times
and never had a problem. In fact, it was in one of (Saratoga, Los Gatos, Los
Altos) wealthy communities of mostly residences that have little real crime,
and locations were even suggested by the police (no they weren't filming). We
even asked what they would do, they indicated there would generally not be a
ticket unless it were somehow indecent (visible to others) and they just make
sure it is consensual. It might've been the luxury sportscar at the time or
the hot girl might've had something to do with police being extra helpful.
(Btw the hot girl broached the questions, hilariously.)

It would be different, for say two shabby-looking folks going at it in Venice,
CA in front of a street during the daytime. But a hot couple, at night, in
some remote location in a safe area isn't going to raise eyebrows, especially
if no one notices. It just goes to show there are layers of socioeconomic
biases, plus not all homeless people are given feedback, care or are aware of
what's considered acceptable by others.

Perhaps the core issue is should necessary biological functions (and common,
strongly desired needs that others are able to fulfill) be disproportionally
criminalized based on socioeconomic and other biases? (For most men, sex is a
strong motivating drive... which is why the Netherlands includes it in public
benefits.). There might be a "time and a place," but people whom have nothing
need equal access to water, food, sanitation and whatever else can be afforded
to make their lives a little more comfortable. (A society is judged on how it
treats...)

------
geff82
After visiting the USA in December 2014 I cannot help but wonder why the
matter of homeless people is not one of the biggest issues in the country.
While you see homeless people occasionally here in Europe, streets seemed to
be flooded by the homeless. I really wonder why a country so wonderful in many
areas can be so agnostic to the problem of homeless people. A developed
society should not have that situation nowadays. And while taxes are not the
highest in the US, they are not that low that problems like this can't be
addressed.

~~~
mixmastamyk
Because all the money is spent on corruption of various sorts, which is mostly
ignored--those folks like getting their money. The media make it clear that
any such money spent on humanitarian grounds is not only unavailable but would
be wasted even if it was.

Indeed, I don't believe in hand-outs, but some investment would be welcome.
You can only walk by people shitting in the street or laying face-down on the
sidewalk so long before wanting to kill.

~~~
geff82
yes... while I also rather like economy friendly governments, it is pure logic
that if you ignore the poor, they will come knocking on your door in one way
or the other... Some kind of welfare is good for the rich (they can enjoy
their money more without fearing being robbed or kidnapped) and the poor (they
can eat and have somewhere to live).

~~~
mixmastamyk
Yes agreed, I learned this lesson on a backpacking trip thru South America,
cheers.

------
Animats
I'm seeing a few more homeless people lately in Palo Alto and Redwood City.
I'm also seeing a lot more "Help Wanted" signs for low end jobs. Housing has
become so expensive, though, that there are now homeless people with day jobs.

There's one homeless guy with a long beard who's been panhandling on
University Avenue since at least the 1990s.

