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Not Sheltered, Not Homeless

RVs as Makeshifts

University of California-Santa Barbara

Since its recognition as a social problem in the 1980s, homelessness has not abated. A signature feature of contemporary homelessness is a life in public. Sociological research on the relationship between "sheltered" and "street" homeless populations emphasize their overlapping nature. Yet many homeless people who create "makeshift" housing solutions actively resist shelterization and contest the view that they are in fact homeless. Examining the resources and risks associated with makeshift housing suggests that it provides increased social and structural opportunities yet comes with risks that threaten community longevity. Vehicles are a type of makeshift housing that offer the potential for privacy, ownership, and mobility, unique resources among makeshifts. Using the case of otherwise homeless people living in their vehicles in Santa Barbara, California, this article examines how they acquire and maintain their vehicles and explores the conditions that provide for or threaten their status as a semipermanent housing solution.

Key Words: homelessness • makeshifts • RVs • shelterization • vehicle dwelling

American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 48, No. 8, 1013-1032 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0002764204274197


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