Patrick Hand Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 OK... For the last twoish years I've been living in an unregistered RV..... No problem... I always thought it was an alternative lifestyle.... but according to the "County" (boo... hiss...) I have been living as a "squatter, and am homeless..... hey go figure .... I have a place to stay, and a door I can lock....I never thought of myself as homeless........ Anyway.... I now have an apartment... woh... within spittin range of the RV.... So now I have the apartment to fix up... and then I can start to work on the RV.... hey it's kinda difficult to renovate the bedroom (of the RV)... when you are sleeping in it..... It's a small apartment... maybe double the space of the RV (and that ain't saying much).... But it was so disshartining to find out that I was considered Homeless..... I never thought of myself that way...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Jim Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Hey, stupid county people. I was living in the loft of a barn once. Came home from work and it had been torn down by the county folks as "abandoned." Seems the person from whom I was renting didn't own it...after a short, very pointed discussion the "landlord" refunded the three months rent I had paid plus some for the stuff I had had in the loft. In the small town of Rockport Mass, he avoided me whenever he could, which got kind of funny after a while, watching this guy scramble out the back doors of bars and such. My occupational hazard bein' my occupation's just not around... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mission Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 Who cares what some government organization thinks? I always thought your dwelling choice was sort of cool. "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." -Friedrich Nietzsche Mycroft: "My brother has the brain of a scientist or a philosopher, yet he elects to be a detective. What might we deduce about his heart?" John: "I don't know." Mycroft: "Neither do I. But initially he wanted to be a pirate." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Jim Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 I agree with Mission; living as you were was as close to living on a boat as you can get without having to deal with falling overboard. A land yacht, that's what it is! My occupational hazard bein' my occupation's just not around... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callenish gunner Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 yeah it's always strange how the county/state can make these determinations without consulting you..... When I was first an undergrad student in the late 60's-70'sI lived in a teepee in the forest a half mile from campus. I could afford tuition but not room and board to go to university. We had state troopers come through one day and told us we had one hour to clear out because we were squatting on state land without permits. we just moved our camp a mile deeper into the forest and began using an old Coleman stove as opposed to an open fire for heat(the smoke was what had drawn attention to us) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathaniel Jameson Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 I'm just going to make this clear because it upsets me that they would try to squash you like that. Homelessness is not merely the lack of a home, it's a mindset. The fact that you lived in an unregistered RV means you had a "home" whether it was recognized by the local government is irrelevant. The fact that you didn't consider yourself homeless is major, since a lot of homeless people I have tried to work with in betterment programs have this mentality that they are homeless and nothing will change. They've given up on themselves. You on the other hand, are not living with that mentality. However, I congratulate you on your apartment and I hope things go well for you there. Oh Bill, I missed you... But I'll reload and try again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Brand Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Having spent the night with the racoons in Golden Gate Park, I have a hard time acquainting your RV with 'homelessness'. Â Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Signs, signs everywhere th' signs, blockin' out th' scenery, breakin' my mind, "Do this! Dont do that! Can'tchu read th' SIIIGGNNNSSS!" Hey, I once lived several months in a sleepin' bag in th' bushes around th' back of th' local public library, an' I didnt feel homeless.....it was a LIBRARY! Books, O'Joy, Joy! Home is where th' heart is, matey, an' th' County can take a leap at itself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red-Handed Jill Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 You provide a valuable service to them, as one of the local colourful characters and they call you a squatter? What's wrong with them??? Looking forward to seeing pics of your renovations to the RV, BTW... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silkie McDonough Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 If the RV was registered would you still have been homeless? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 If the RV was registered would you still have been homeless? That's the funny part of it.... The RV is parked behind Carol's restaurant (with her permission) But according to the County, I'm suppose to move it every two weeks..... (I think it can also be parked in the RV park... but that's different rules) But I'm still not 100% clear if that changes the County's definition of "Homeless"..... To make it "Official" I have to replace the front windshield (it has a crack in it), get a new battery (new tires would be a future project) and register it...(That's going to be fun...) My original plan was to fix it up before I moved into it.... Now that I have an apartment, I can tear off the roof and fix that.... and alla the other stuff that needs to be done..... well when the weather gets better.....(the roof is tarped right now, so that keeps the rain out.....) luckily the County never "caught" me... But the "Homeless" part is purely their definition of my living arrangement.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Hey, if'n ye gots t'gether say 3 or 4 strong 'bretheren', an' rolled it like over a slot or two ev'ry 2 weeks, would that count as "movin' it"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quartermaster James Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 If the RV was registered would you still have been homeless? Depends on the municipality. For a few years I lived in an old bread delivery van. Mind you, it was pretty nicely outfitted, albeit in very hippy gypsy style (complete with live plants*). A certain city in mid-Peninsula, California that shall go unnamed (but whose name loosely translates as Big Stick) kept a list of all the cars people were know to sleep/live in. I maintained a private postal box (Suite), but that didn't fly for the registrar of voters, so my official address was "downtown." Was I homeless? So far in my life, that's the only time I actually owned my home. *Which gave rise to the following little ditty: I don't care which religion you practice, 'Long as I have my psychoactive cactus Growing on the dashboard of my van. etc., etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 You know, as long as you call it home then it's home. You don't need a label to tell you that, to some people a lean to is home. I wish this state I live in was like Alaska, you can build yourself a home in the woods and have it be legit. I don't know what my point it really, just babbling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Hey... I had my pewter hooked up in the RV... wot more could anyone ask fer..... (well.... awh... nevermind...) Anyway, My internet,phone and cable TV are all part of the apartment (well actully they are in exchange for me doing renderings, but that's a much longer story...) So I moved the pewter down to the apartment tonight.... I can access the internet, but am having a heck of a time hooking up my e-mail account through Comcast.... (Carol gave me the wrong account information... so that should get fixed kinda soon...(hopefully)) in the mean-time, I can send e-mail through Hotmail, so it all kinda works.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commodore Swab Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Congrats on the move. About a month ago we moved out of the sofa bed and into the boat which still needs alot of work which I should be able to get started on after PiP. Its titled but unregistered and isnt in the current state of sinking unlike some other boats I know of. The ports keep out most of the water and I can grab wireless internet from inside. At least its all paid for and when I feel brave (the water is getting colder) I can usually jump in and pull out at least a lobster or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Alyx Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Patrick, a few months ago the news was doing a lot of stories of people who are living out on the road due to the economic crisis, and they were starting to look for peeps like this...I wonder if they only came across you now due to this type of situation becoming more and more predominant? I know the division I used to work used to let folks stay in their RV's in the corner of the parking lot by the employee park...due to some folks lived far away and let them live in the parking lot during the week and some would go home on the weekend...but I noticed they put a stop to that as well. You would think the government would see this situation and set up something with Government ran parks etc? ~~~~Sailing Westward Bound~~~~ Lady Alyx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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