Homeless but not car-less in Ventura can be costly
Even if a car is a home, it is still illegal to sleep in it overnight
By David Michael Courtland 12/18/2008
Unemployed Web designer Mike Adams, who had been homeless and living in his truck for two months, visited a friend in Ventura in September. After he left his friend’s house, he pulled to the curb to rest briefly near the intersection of Ocean and Seaward avenues.
“I closed my eyes for about 20 minutes, I hear a rapping at the window and there’s two cops,” Adams recalled. “They said it’s illegal to sleep in your vehicle in the City of Ventura.”
Discovering Adams’ driver’s license had expired, the officers ordered Adams not to drive the truck any more, explaining he would have to lock it up and walk to wherever he was going.
“I waited 15 minutes,” said Adams, before returning to the truck and starting south on Seaward Avenue again. “They were waiting for me and impounded my vehicle.”
Adams said he begged the officers not to impound the truck, where everything he owned was stored.
“I pleaded with them that I was homeless, that all my possessions, clothes and food were in that truck, could they please not impound it?” said Adams. “They said no.”
Literally left with nothing but the clothes on his back, Adams managed to borrow $125 and got a ride to the police station to pay the impound fee.
But when he called the salvage yard that was storing the truck, Adams said, “They wanted $400. I explained I didn’t have any money, I’m homeless. They said ‘We’re sorry,’ there’s nothing they could do.”
Sgt. Jack Richards, Ventura Police Department’s public information officer, confirmed thatVentura’s municipal code forbids sleeping in a vehicle for more than four hours.
Richards said officers haven’t reported a significant increase in nuisance calls about people sleeping in cars, explaining that it’s left to each officer’s discretion how to deal with such reports.
“It’s really a judgment call for the officer if the person’s not a habitual offender,” who has been warned before or is committing a clear-cut violation as Adams.
“For that, I’ve got to move a little and just listen, to help the person” acknowledged Richards.
The number of homeless living out of their vehicles is going up, but nobody is sure by how much, say Ventura County social workers.
“Frankly, we don’t know,” said Cathy Brudnicki, director of the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition (VCHHC). “We know the problem is growing.”
In a survey taken earlier this year of people staying in winter shelters, 31 of 225 people said they stayed in their cars or trucks when the shelter wasn’t open.
Brudnicki noted that number is probably much higher since many people don’t know where to go for help or won’t ask, and so don’t get counted in the coalition’s annual survey.
“A lot of people are living on the edge, a little glitch will put them over,” said Brudnicki, adding that people will often give the car priority, going without food themselves but making sure their children get fed.
Brudnicki said that whenever VCHHC is mentioned in the press, she is inundated with calls, but when she refers them to other agencies for help, it often proves to be pointless.
“I find 99 percent of the people have already been there,” said Brudnicki. “We just don’t have enough services.”
Chad Ropes, a lawyer who advises homeless clients at Community Action of Ventura County, said many of them have legal and other problems, thanks to living in their cars or trucks.
“These residents must confront many dangers while using their vehicles as their homes,” Ropes said, including street crime, harassment, physical violence and law enforcement.
“In Ventura County, to my knowledge, there is not a designated public area where residents can park a vehicle for sleeping purposes at night,” Ropes said.
Being unemployed makes it difficult to pay tickets or other expenses related to vehicles, creating a Catch-22 for people faced with driving a car illegally versus having no way to get to a job.
“It is common for people who sleep in their vehicles to get tickets for having no auto insurance and expired registration tags,” said Ropes. “Many of them are cited for drinking or urination in a public area.”
After a car or truck is ticketed, it may be impounded and forever lost — not only costing them their only shelter and transportation, but racking up more fees they can’t pay.
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Comments
Ventura’s municipal code forbids sleeping in a vehicle for more than four hours.
Are those not the key words; 4 hours. But since his license was expired and he tried to drive the car. oops.
He should have asked his friend to drive for him till he got his license renewed. But do you need an address for your drivers license to be sent to?
I can't believe that this is happening in one of California's most affluent counties. The tow truck companies and storage yards have such a racket. Shameful, completely shameful!