'Affordable Housing'--Theory vs. Reality

Sitting in a Sacramento Starbucks for respite from the cold--my RV generator not working and no electricity available at the moment--I'm forced to listen to holiday music. "Baby, it's cold outside..." which makes me think that it's cold inside too, especially for those in my temporary neighborhood this past weekend.

A 6' chain-link fence separated my RV from a pseudo-neighborhood. I've adapted to my fairly modest 27' mobile home/office/vehicle, adequate for my purposes, although claustrophobia strikes many visitors. I noticed that the "mobile home park" on the other side of the fence was comprised of dozens of camper-trailers even smaller, and much older, than my rig, with sounds of kids playing after school, meaning families live there. I could only shake my head, film and blog.

Here in California, trendsetter for soaring housing costs nationwide, I don't know how people cope. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition,

[CA's] Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,291. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities, without paying more than 30% of income on housing, a household must earn $4,305 monthly or $51,654 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into a Housing Wage of $24.83.

So, lacking fair wages, desperate families do whatever they can to stay together, and I do mean TOGETHER, by renting/buying a worn out RV or camper and finding a mobile home park that charges for the lot or pad, where this mini-house can sit. This park charges about $280 a month, not including utilities. Yes, it's home, by some strange definition, but is it adequate? I'd offer a knowledgeable NO! Take a look at a 90-second video I did to see for yourself.

To its credit/for what it's worth, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors issued a mobile home report that, among other things would

Encourage staff and the Yolo County Housing Authority in planning the County
Housing Element to acknowledge that mobile home parks provide a significant portion
of Yolo County’s affordable housing (my emphasis) and to promote measures intended to ensure the preservation of mobile home parks within the County.

It strikes me as pathetic that little campers are considered a "significant portion" of any county's affordable housing solution.

Campers/RVs are fine vacation vehicles. When families crowd in and travel across the country to visit relatives, parking in driveways to avoid disrupting the host household, nerves usually get frayed. And that's a vacation. Day-to-day living is entirely another story. By the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education law, these would, for the most part, be homeless families.

Seems to me that we need to send our policymakers on "vacation" in tiny little campers. Put the Dems and Reps together under those leaky roofs, buffet them with the normal dust, wind and cold, and then suggest that they prioritize revamping our shredded housing safety net. Let's start with fully funding the National Housing Trust Fund. But don't look in your stocking just yet....

photos by the author