San Francisco counted 1,794 people living out of their vehicles in 2019, a 45% increase from the last homeless count in 2017. Across the bay in Alameda county, home of Oakland, officials counted 2,817 individuals living out of vehicles – more than double the 1,259 they counted in 2017.
Other parts of California have seen similar increases. Los Angeles county had a 12% increase in the homeless population over the last year, with the numbers surging to nearly 59,000 across the county. Officials tallied 9,981 cars, vans, RVs and campers acting as shelters for a staggering 16,525 people in 2019 – 28% of the county’s entire unhoused population.
But in a recent survey, the department also found that 25% of people living out of their vehicles had homes elsewhere. They were what local economists call “super commuters” – individuals who drive up to hundreds of miles into the city for the work week, returning on the weekends to their homes areas where housing is more affordable. Some are Uber and Lyft drivers. Most are contractors, in some form.
— source theguardian.com | 5 Aug 2019