Nearly one in 500 Americans live in poverty, with roughly 570,000 experiencing homelessness, as indicated in a January 2019 gathering by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. According to a 2021 study by the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit urban research organization based in California, the pandemic's effects are predicted to result in a 49% increase in chronic homelessness over the next three years, peaking in 2023 when 603,000 more Americans will be without a roof over their heads.

Other projections portray even grimmer pictures, with far greater crowds taking to the streets in the coming months and years as the economy slips into recession. I don't want to sound negative, but living in a nation constantly struggling with a roller-coaster economy, high poverty levels, and substantial social gaps, I tend to concur with more dire projections.

"Mobile homelessness" is soaring.

The writing is on the wall, and in times of crisis, the fragility of the system is laid bare. As the economy collapses and thousands of people lose their homes, living in a car becomes an alternative for many. Estimates point to 30% of the homeless populace residing in cars, vans, R.V.s, campers, and other vehicles in both urban and rural regions.