Cars as Housing: Vehicular Homelessness in Los Angeles County

2020 | Access to Opportunities, Housing Initiative

Project Description

Thousands of people shelter in vehicles as makeshift housing every night in Los Angeles. Vehicle living is not ideal for those who live in vehicles nor for cities, many of which have responded by enacting ordinances to make it illegal or difficult to sleep in vehicles. This project uses homeless count and survey data from the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority to analyze and understand the people who make up the vehicular homeless population. How has this population changed over time, across neighborhoods, and what makes this group similar or different from other unsheltered homeless individuals? As a complementary component of the project, we assemble and analyze the transportation regulations directed towards vehicular homeless for the 88 cities in Los Angeles County. Finally, we interview diverse public agency and service provider stakeholders to better understand their perspectives on and responses to vehicular homelessness. This project provides valuable knowledge of an understudied population group. In so doing, it will allow planners and homeless advocates to develop evidence-based strategies to address the issue, hopefully with a path toward transitioning the vehicular homeless into permanent housing.