Housing the Homeless, Pissing Off the Government

by Josie Raymond · 2010-01-13 10:06:00 UTC
Topics:

San Luis Obispo County, California has an estimated 3,500 homeless people. Its shelters have 125 beds. This is simple math. So why would a senior citizen named Dan de Vaul be sent to jail for housing 30 homeless people in a farmhouse and some trailers on his ranch? Well, that's not so simple.

The strange saga, chronicled in the New York Times, pits de Vaul against local authorities. He says he's doing good work; they say he charges people $300 a month plus hours of manual labor to live on his 72-acre property, which has safety multiple code violations -- including a dozen wooden sheds with bunk beds that officials have condemned.

"I believe he truly does care for the people he takes in. And there's only one thing he cares more about. And that's fighting with the county," San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors chairman Bruce Gibson told the Times. De Vaul was sentenced in November to 90 days in jail, a ruling that is currently being appealed.

Though courts have previously intervened against private landowners who house the homeless, there are people who live on de Vaul's property who wouldn't feel at home anywhere else. One man wasn't suited for a shelter, so a clinical social worker referred him to the ranch. Another, a schizophrenic Vietnam vet, has finally found a place to park his trailer without being bothered. What do you think: safe haven or tragedy waiting to happen?

Photo credit: Josh Haner/The New York Times

Josie Raymond is a Change.org editor who has reported from the streets of the South Bronx, written for several magazines that folded (not her fault) and fixed thousands of typos.
PREVIOUS STORY:
NYPD Stupidly Destroys Tons of Clothing
NEXT STORY:
Sallie Mae Blinks!

COMMENTS (12)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.