A year ago I drove past two RV parks near me that were loaded with Motorhomes and travel trailers. The pool was filled with kids in the first one and the other featured a riverfront setting with canoe rentals. Families on vacation!
This morning I drove past them again and the change was drastic. Living only 70 miles from DC means that a lot of government workers live in my area. Now those workers have discovered the local RV parks and using them as permanent residences. The pool was packed this morning but it looked different and the canoes were gone from the other.
One look at the RV pads was all it took to realize these were not vacationers.
For those who suddenly can’t afford to rent a house or an apartment, is to move into an RV, a van, or even a tent. Some end up in campgrounds, some on public lands, and some on city streets. That migration creates a host of social problems, from health and safety issues having to do with inadequate sanitation and increased fire hazards, to societal instability and environmental degradation.
But it also amounts to an invasion of a public sphere that most people still regard as essentially recreational rather than residential. Increasingly, RVers report they can’t find a camping site, or the sites that they can find have been trashed or are in close proximity to “campers” who make them uncomfortable.
While RVIA and others insist that RVs are not intended for year-round occupancy, the reality is that’s how they’re being used.
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Gary Fleisher is the Editor in Chief of Modular Home Source and Offsite Builder. Email at [email protected]
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