Thousands of people are living in vans and cars because they can’t afford to rent a bricks and mortar home. Housing charity Crisis reckons more than 18,000 people in England alone kip in vehicles or tents. With no official figures, experts say numbers could be even higher.
The country’s van dwelling capital is Bristol – which has the most expensive private rents outside London. On average, residents pay £1,734 a month – compared to £762 in North Yorkshire and £536 in north-east Lincolnshire. A city council report found up to 150 people used vans and caravans as homes pre-pandemic – and 800 now. But those living in the city’s vans reckon their numbers are nearer 2,000. Contrary to the trendy #vanlife of “influencers” and digital nomads, these people are doing it out of necessity, not choice.
Callum said lots of people camping on his road don't have a choice (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)One, online maths tutor Callum, 39, quit his £900-a-month rented room in a shared house after a series of health problems. He persuaded his dad to give him his inheritance early and bought a van for £11,000, spending a further £10,000 converting it into accommodation. It includes a wood burner but he spends just £15 a week on heating during the coldest winter months.
He said: “Of course, there’s insurance and MOT but in comparison to living in a house the costs are minimal. We shouldn’t have to live in vans, though. I’d prefer to be in a house but I don’t want to pay £900 to line someone else’s pockets. A lot of people on this road don’t have another choice – it’s living in a van or living in a tent.”
Callum is one of many people who call home a parking spot on one side of Saville Road, a leafy half-mile long street in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, overlooking the Downs – a public open space that has become a sea of vehicles parked bumper to bumper.
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Callum swapped his rented room for a van (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)On the other side of the road are impressive detached Georgian houses, costing around £1million. Complaints from some residents have prompted the council to take out legal injunctions six times since 2018 to force vehicles to leave certain areas.
One van dwellers who has moved around a lot is 41-year-old Helen Laing. She reduced her £1,300 monthly expenses to £750 after swapping a house for wheels two years ago. The self-employed hospitality and marketing consultant runs Vanlife Hub, a free website offering various forms of advice on van living, from her VW Crafter van, which cost £15,000 and can sleep three.
Helen has a folding desk so she can work in the van, but often fails to reveal her housing situation in a professional context. She said: “I really wanted to reduce every cost to the minimum.” Helen, who enjoys the life, admitted: “I am always on the move,” but stressed: “I am careful to park in places that don’t cause an inconvenience or obstruction.“
Helen reduced her £1300 outgoings by swapping to van lifeBristol mayor Marvin Rees says van living was once seen as a “lifestyle choice” but blames the cost of living for the shocking rise. He told a council meeting: “There is a significant change in the demographic of vehicle dwellers and this has now directly become linked to the housing crisis, with older vehicles used as a last life resort.”
Homeless charity St Mungo’s says the city’s ballooning rents are causing the hidden crisis. Its outreach manager Emily Williams, 35, said: “The housing crisis is very acute. The availability of affordable housing is really difficult for people. It’s also the cost-of-living crisis causing people to leave their homes or be evicted.”
Now regularly dealing with people forced to live in cars and vans, she added: “They are the epitome of the hidden homeless.”
The Bristol report also estimated numbers in other van-dwelling hot spots around the country. These included 300 in Brighton and Hove, 150 in Glastonbury, and 50 in Falmouth in Cornwall.
The chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s housing committee Gill Williams said: “The housing crisis has had a devastating impact and it is shocking to see that some people are forced to sleep in vans and cars. This has resulted in an increase in vandwellers. Where appropriate, we refer them to our housing team for help with finding accommodation.”
The Downs, where some of the 800 people in Bristol who now live in vans (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)Francesca Albanese, director of policy and social change at housing charity Crisis, said: “It is shameful that people are being forced to sleep anywhere other than a stable home. Cars, vans and sheds are not homes, and no one should ever have to consider living in one. Sadly, this is indicative of the homelessness and housing crisis we’re faced with.”
She continued: “Increasing living costs, surging rents and a chronic lack of affordable housing continue to push more and more people to the brink.”
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The crisis was highlighted by Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner last week when she shared a heartbreaking story about a family of four from Wiltshire living in a van after two no-fault evictions. The first was from a house they had rented for 15 years, the second when the landlord decided to sell.
Pledging that Labour would abolish no-fault evictions, Ms Rayner said: “It’s been nearly five years since the Tories pledged to end no-fault evictions, yet they’ve sided with vested interests and failed to deliver."
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