Parked alongside industrial streets, tucked behind warehouses and clustered in residential neighborhoods, hundreds of Bay Area residents live in one of many solely types of housing they will afford: RVs, according to a CNBC report.
Across California, the variety of individuals residing in automobiles has surged in recent times, as hovering rents and a power housing scarcity have pushed even full-time staff out of conventional properties and into makeshift ones on wheels.
Booming tech wealth, hovering homelessness
In Santa Clara County — house to Apple, Google and eight of America’s 50 most expensive ZIP codes — the variety of individuals residing in leisure automobiles full time has surged. County data reveals that the portion of homeless people sleeping in automobiles has more than doubled because the pandemic, from 18% in 2019 to 37% in 2025.
California accounts for almost 1 / 4 of the nation’s homeless residents, regardless of being house to 12% of its whole inhabitants, in accordance with federal housing data. Experts say the state faces a massive housing shortage, with one estimate by McKinsey suggesting California wants as many as 3.5 million extra properties to fulfill demand.
And at the same time as officers have expanded shelter capability, federal data reveals far fewer shelter beds out there than individuals experiencing homelessness, leaving a major share of unhoused residents with out enough entry to shelter.
“In California, you’re more likely to become homeless than almost any other state,” mentioned Adrian Covert, senior vp of public coverage for the Bay Area Council, a nonpartisan suppose tank. “And when you do, you’re more likely to become homeless on the streets rather than in the shelter than almost any other state.”
Why RVs?
Advocates say many individuals flip to RVs as a result of they provide a level of autonomy that shelters and the road don’t.
“The RV was a lot better,” mentioned Salena Alvarez, who has lived in an RV together with her boyfriend for a 12 months and a half. Before residing of their RV, the couple lived in a automotive.
“The car is smaller … you can’t cook, you can’t wash your dishes, you can’t take a shower, you can’t go to the bathroom. You’ve got to go somewhere.”