The RVs began arriving on Continental Circle about 4 years in the past. Now they line one facet of the half-mile-long road on this Silicon Valley suburb.

Throughout the Western U.S., rising dwelling costs have pushed extra individuals who can't afford homes or flats to reside in automobiles, together with RVs. In Los Angeles, 16,500 individuals known as a car their dwelling final yr, in accordance with native counts. In San Francisco that determine was 1,800, up 45% from 2017, and in Santa Clara County, which incorporates Mountain View, the quantity practically tripled over that very same timeframe to 1,747. There aren't any dependable nationwide figures on the pattern.

"We're seeing that it's cheaper to reside in your automotive or RV than to hire," mentioned Candice Elder, govt director of East Oakland Collective, an area nonprofit in that metropolis the place about 1,400 individuals lived in leisure or different automobiles final yr.

An estimated half one million individuals are homeless within the U.S., with the issue most acute alongside the Northeastern seaboard and West Coast the place housing prices are highest, White Home officers mentioned in a 2019 report. If the issue has an epicenter, it's the San Francisco Bay Space, the nation's most expensive housing market, the place median housing costs have practically doubled to about $1 million over the previous eight years, in accordance with real-estate itemizing service Zillow.

As with homeless encampments that block sidewalks, RV residing is creating its personal tensions. Residents on the streets the place individuals park the big automobiles complain that sewage-tank dumping and drug use are widespread and that there aren't any parking spots left for them.