Tenements on Wheels - More Low-income Americans Forced into RV Living

I considered being a snowbird, and living in one of these back home in PA in the summertime, when it's so stinkin' hot here in FL.

However, Orange Asshole foiled that plan, so I'm going to go to Panama instead.

Honestly, I've always enjoyed being in small dark places (like the bedroom I'm in right now), so living in an RV or trailer isn't as bad as you'd think, as long as you're not cheek-by-jowl with other trailer dwellers. These things aren't exactly what you'd call "soundproof."

The Accountant would feel right at home.

Please, keep posting from Panama, SL. A family member is planning to retire to Spain, where is wife is eligible for citizenship. Trumpism sucks.

[quote]living in an RV or trailer isn't as bad as you'd think, as long as you're not cheek-by-jowl with other trailer dwellers.

And you don't have any tornadoes coming through.

That article depicts a really shitty downturn for the 40-year-old, single woman and her "two" kids, 11 and 6, though they only show the 11-year-old.

Then you discover she was a teen mom who'd had three kids by her early 20s...and that she's actually a mother of FIVE kids total.

I don't understand why straight women don't use birth control; I just don't.

More G4P porn actors with torn rectums are now low-income Americans forced into RV Living

fixed for OP

Those poor torn rectums!

Birth control doesn't just drop from the skies.

Birth control requires a doctor's visit, and if you stay on it, follow-up visits. What if you don't have health insurance, or have health insurance that is exempt from covering it?. Birth control also requires you to find a doctor or clinic, and get there at least annually (or depending on your provider). That takes time and effort and the ability to get there during your own working hours, if you have a job. You may or may not get paid for those absences. If you're a poor woman with no transportation, it's not that easy. If you were raised in ignorance, you really may not know any better in the first place. You may have been raised to think you'll go to hell if you don't let Gawd control your womb. What if your partner told you he's sterile (he's not) or refuses to use a condom and guilts or pressures you into having sex anyway?

I'm not saying people don't have responsibility for their own actions. They absolutely do. I'm just saying there are many reasons why some women don't use birth control. I wouldn't think getting stuck with a bunch of kids to support is less onerous than overcoming the reasons. But so many women have been indoctrinated (by male-dominated religious belief systems and political leaders) to think that way. Unfortunately, we live in a country where education is less and less valued. Sex education has always been an uphill battle.

I get what you're saying, R7. It's just frustrating to witness (as an outsider).

Birth control pills cost about $15 for a month’s supply. Condoms can be had for free. If a man is insisting on fucking a woman without condoms, then get up and walk away.

Maybe she was in love. Maybe he was a hot dusky soldier who swept her off her feet at the paper-bag factory in the gloomy Pacific Northwest, and then died or went gay after giving her five kids.

I lived in a trailer for around 9 months with 2 other adults, 2 children, a large dog and my smaller dog. It was a 5th wheel parked in an RV park, and it was because all of us couldn't afford the monumentally high rent in our area. I believe the monthly rent (which included water, electricity, internet) was $1295.

This was in 2018. It wasn't as bad as you'd think, but it certainly wasn't a walk in the park.

I was born 38 years ago today, and our home at the time was a trailer.

Don’t let Wall Street know. The hedge funds will start buying trailer parks and jacking up the rents.

Happy Birthday r12!

Lot rents are already pretty high. At my dad's 55+ park in St. Pete, it's $775 a month, and believe me when I tell you, that park is nothing special like some of those (I know, I know) more upscale 55+ parks. That's why I bought my trailer on a patch of land that I own outright.

I wish he would GTFO of there. He rode out the last two hurricanes in that tiny little trailer, but I don't know how. The trailer behind his had a tree fall on it in the last hurricane that completely bisected the trailer. Luckily, the inhabitants weren't harmed, but they were out a place to live, and they had to pay to have the trailer hauled away and discarded.

OTOH, a "real" house is not much protection from hurricanes, tornadoes, or floods either -- ask the people in North Carolina or Sanibel Island (remember DeSatan's go-go boots?).

And, as for birth control, I got sent to HR some years ago for something I said referring to a survey I was working on. The county middle schools asked me to write a shorter survey based on the YRBS (Youth Risk Behavior Survey); some questions were supposed to measure abstinence in teens, which was a big thing back then. I commented to two female colleagues (this was in 2006), "I don't understand what the big deal is about birth control. Didn't you straight people ever hear of oral sex? I mean, that's all I do and I'm perfectly happy." Boy, did I got my ass reamed over that!! Lots of straight women don't have a sense of humor, either. I mean, I didn't say, "Give the guy a blow job, why doncha?"

And not to worry, R2 -- I could never leave my beloved DL! I plan to keep you all posted every step of the way and (hopefully) find a place to live with a good internet connection.

People who use effective methods of birth control and delay having kids until they can afford them tend to be affluent, highly educated, and not followers of Catholic or evangelical religions that forbid it. They do know about blow jobs and anal sex, but for most straight people, sooner or later that socket just needs to go in the plug.

R13, they already have. I live in a seasonal resort community and most of the RV parks are now corporate owned. They've more than doubled the seasonal fee. Mobile home parks are experiencing the same thing all across the country. Mobile homes are not so "mobile" once in place - it can cost 10s of thousands to move - IF - you can find a place to move it to.

And they wonder why Luigi has so much support?

John Oliver's piece on vulture capitalist cocksuckers taking over the mobile home industry - America's largest source of affordable housing.

OP To me it's a preferable option to living in a tenement in an urban area with all the crime noise poll. And it's an easy move if you have to change locations for work or if you don't like the area you live in. You literally have more mobility

^ pollution.

It would be just like The Long, Long Trailer in the sense that you’d quickly come to despise your family or whomever you’re living with in such close quarters. If Lucy and Desi could barely make it work, I have pretty low expectations for Jethro and Tiffani-Lynn.

Straight from Divine’s, um I mean Babs Johnson’s, trailer!

Some nostalgia for R12

I know that mobile home parks have monthly fees of $800+ but I have no idea how poor people can afford them. I'm in AZ and there are areas where you own the land your mobile is on those go between $350-$450k then the park model homes where you don't own the land but pay the land lease of $800+. How much are they in the filthy South or Midwest?

My partner and I discussed the possibility of an RV retirement last night.

Between SSI, pension, investments and proceeds from the sale of our house we could retire comfortably and travel the country.

The downside is being away from my kids and my granddaughter.

I guess we’ll see where we are financially in a couple of years.

I know my town in Maine (via town referendum) as well as the State of Maine (through legislature) have passed rent control laws for tenants in mobile home parks. I hear the new for-profit owners are pissed and spent a fortune trying to fight the measures unsuccessfully. The problem is pervasive across the country and there are organizations out there that are helping park owners purchase the parks themselves to be self-owned.

R2 happy birthday

I know they say Wal-Mart allows overnight parking on their lots. That sounds a lot cheaper than $750/month. No electric or water, but maybe you can get that during the day elsewhere.

It’s tough raising kids in a Winnebago when their father won’t get a job.

R22 - You make me laugh out loud often! You should write comedy professionally.

You can thank the Republican Party for this. Bastard fucks have been chipping away at quality of life for well over 40 years.

My objection to these RVs is the same as I have with a studio apartment. Odors. Bathroom, kitchen, food orders. etc. They stink. And how can you sleep soundly when you have no idea what's out there? I started watching You Tube videos of people who live in RVs or even vans etc. Truckers who live in the cabs. These people belong to fitness clubs so they can take showers. Their quaters are cramped so they are either sitting or stooping or rolling around reclining unless they get out and walk around. They spend half their time on the move and half looking for a spot to spend the night. It is not glamorous. It's a dismal existence and very lonely. The videos they make are their only contact with the outside. They talk as if we are their friends. No. I don't think I could ever handle it. You'd have to be "special." And not in a good way.

Some of these vans are really nice and they're cheaper than a studio apartment. you don't have to be an isolated lone wolf

R7 Exactly. It’s a whole process in America because every aspect of life is somehow politicized through some type of Judeo Christian lens. It’s idiotic. And I’m Catholic and believe in Jesus. But contraception and birth control can’t be a thing you can easily like bullets at Walmart because JESUS. This country is dysfunctional as fuck for a regular first world nation.

They don't at the Walmart about 20 miles down the road from me, R29. I guess they're afraid of the people who might stay there (as any sane person would be).

And for years, I've had the fantasy of being an OTR trucker. After all, I trained as a truck driver in the Army, but I never got my CDL when I got back to the US. In those days (late 70s), women didn't drive trucks; they would have laughed me out of their offices if I had even tried.

But there's something about the romance of the open road, just the traveling itself, I don't know. It calls out to me. I know it's not "romantic" per se; I've done motorcycle trips of thousands of miles, and it was exhausting. But it's the adventure, just going somewhere, moving down the road -- it doesn't even really matter where or what I'm driving/riding. It's meeting new people. Seeing the sights.

Many bikers like to take back roads because of the scenery. Not me. I love being on the interstate, just doing 80mph for miles on end, until I have to stop or I'll run out of gas. Talking to folks at rest stops. Stretching my legs. And like I've said many times, not once did I feel afraid. People were always very nice to me when I was on the road.

Sorry -- I'm waxing nostalgic. My bike will be in the shop for at least two months getting a refurbished engine (they fucked mine up) and I really miss it.

Carry on.

R33 "I started watching You Tube videos of people who live in RVs"

More spacious than a NYC railroad flat

[quote]I know they say Wal-Mart allows overnight parking on their lots.

I think they stopped allowing that.

Hey, R37, it is very enlightening to watch some of the videos and get some sense of the people who are into this "lifestyle." I've also learned a lot from their tips about life on the road. A lot of the vans and RV's have power sources like generators and they have water tanks that are used for bathroom and kitchen. But that's another aspect: Maintenance. You have to monitor your supplies of water and fuel and maintain your equipment.

We and my large rocks loved ours! 💕

Mother of 5 seeking stable RV situation. Must have jacuzzi, back-lit closets and maid service.

If things keep going this way, I'll be shitting in a bucket just like Frances McDormand.

I probably have a two year supply of dried beans in t he pantry.

could I create a trailer park and charge a low price just to run it at cost? Could municipal governments do the same?

A trailer park powered by solar energy might be worth looking in to.

If you were to try to build a big neighborhood of nice tiny homes, people would object, because there are always people objecting to everything that is worthwhile.

R47 Tiny home communities are springing up all over the country.

OP tenements! Where are the rats, the broken windows, the elevators that have been broken for 6 months, Legionnaires disease and the drug dealers hanging out in front?

Cunts like these live in cars, vans and RV’s all over WeHo. They are the creeps of the universe. It’s 90 degrees and they are inside sweating rivers and feeling good about not paying rent while they make it unbearable to live here. I fucking hate them.

There is talk here of using mobile units for "unhoused" in a decommissioned hippodrome area. But mobile units, their plumbing without some heat in a basement or crawlspace, doesn't do well in our cold winters.

The area is supposed to be redeveloped for all kinds of housing but the city has been slow in developing infrastructure like water and sewage.

Potentially several thousand people could live there with a mix of single family homes and apartment complexes. Shopping close by. Some subsidized housing for seniors and welfare recipients has been set aside.

The biggest problem is the current city administration's hatred of automobiles. Even electric ones.

One advantage is if there are any threats of a wildfire they can easily move to another area

I used to drive past a few clusters of RVs on my way to work each day, and I thought "Well that's pretty smart! They're five minutes from the interstate and can be right in the breeze whenever the weather gets pretty." I 100% misunderstood.

Is Tori's smallest kid growth challenged ??? That kid never looks any older or bigger. My god,what are the odds of turning out such a pack of ugly kids ? The little one might be okay looking if he ever grows. The rest ,Peeyew !

If you look at this RV park, there is a plot of land with trailers on it that just kind of sprung up out of nowhere. I used to go by there every couple of months using a shortcut to get on I-75, and this land started out having a trailer or three parked on it. Someone must have bought the land, because now it has electrical hookups, and it's expanded to become a "resort." Not two or three years ago, there was nothing but open fields.

Interesting.

Wow Tori Spelling really is an influencer. She was living in an RV with her children last summer!

This would be fun alone if you were working a job where you had to be in a fixed location

Only an asshole sees this as “fun”.

I could like this. It's cozy and well equipped.