Americans Live In RVs Because They Can't Afford Homes Anymore

Median asking rent in America is $1,531 a month. The average annual RV site rent at the largest operator is $697. That trade has a cost nobody quotes. This is not a story about homelessness. The households moving into recreational vehicles are not counted as homeless, are not counted as cost-burdened renters, are not in the rent index, and in most cases are not counted at all. When they leave an apartment, the empty unit is recorded as improving supply. In this video: why the bottom 2.5 million rungs of the American rental ladder were deleted; why the payment on a median home rose 91% while the price rose 27%; what an SEC filing reveals about RV parks turning from vacation businesses into housing (annual rent revenue +4.2%, seasonal -14.8%, transient -6.9% in a single quarter); the 5.1% site rent increase that was locked in before the year started; why you are a "transient guest" and not a tenant; why federal law requires a label inside the unit stating it is not designed as a primary residence; and why America shipped 581,000 factory-built homes in 1973 and about 103,000 last year. The arithmetic works in year one. This is what happens in year five.