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Comment by yowayb | Hacker News Reader

Funny you mentioned Wal-Mart because they've already been providing support to an effective housing solution in the form of letting RVs stay in their parking lot.

I've come across many people that this type of housing seems to work quite well for. Of course, I wonder what might be the repercussions? Might require some oversight to prevent devolving into tent cities? But then again, I'm not personally aware of tent cities causing much harm (to anyone outside of the tent city)

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RVs in the parking lot of Walmart is an effective housing solution? I think not.

Why not? It increases supply

It increases the supply of blight, perhaps.

I mean would you rather have RVs or tents on sidewalks?

Many of those in lower quality housing have jobs. The service workers and whatnot in every community have to live somewhere.

Neither. Raise taxes and have the government build decent houses.

that has zero realistic chance of happening in the US. Even repealing the Faircloth amendment that limits public housing stock is not broadly popular.

And these days all housing providers, whether for-profit, non-profit, or public, are running into the same issues with zoning, financing, rising costs, etc.

An RV is better than nothing but they are not built for continuous use. An RV that is being lived in full time will start falling apart in a few years.

RVs can be repaired or replaced. And if the alternative is expensive enough, it's financially worthwhile to do so.

It's just the least insane option in an insane world.

The wal-mart RV parking thing is intended for one night, for people who are on a journey.

It is not in any way shape or form a 'housing solution'

Plenty of Walmarts have signs posted that prohibit overnight parking

It’s typically due to local laws. Sometimes it is straight up zoning, but often projects on the scale of a Walmart have to be negotiated.

18 wheelers on the parking lot fringes are a good indication that parking overnight is ok even if the signs say no.

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