History Main / LivesInAVan

TruthInTelevision for people, especially in costly urban areas. Sometimes a person who could get an apartment will choose to live in a van, to have more flexibility about where they work and to save money, such as a carpenter who drives from town to town seeking work. More commonly, it is due to a combination of poverty, housing shortages, and high housing costs. One of the challenges that RealLife van residents face is getting rousted by bylaw officers and parking officials, as many jurisdictions have laws against living in your van.[[note]]Residents in posh, high-rent neighborhoods tend to call authorities when they detect a person is living in a van parked on their street. Homeowners claim that they are facing challenges with van residents urinating and defecating, leaving garbage, and partying. As well, the homeowners may not want poor people in their fancy area, and they likely resent that they, the homeowners, are paying thousands a year in property taxes while the van residents park on the same street for free.[[/note]] The cliché joke about parking the van "down by the river" is partly TruthInTelevision, because van residents who find an "off-the-radar" location in a limnal region (an "in-between" space) such as an [[AbandonedArea abandoned, weed-encrusted lot by a river]] are less likely to get in trouble with authorities.

* In the late 2010s, living in a van became somewhat trendy. The hashtag [=#vanlife=] trended on Instagram and [[https://gnomadhome.com/vanlife-how-to/ lifestyle magazines extolled the freedom involved]], portraying it as a fun and carefree beachy lifestyle. While often portrayed positively in media, this coincided with record low homeownership and skyrocketing housing prices in places like California, and has often been criticized as amounting to Main/PovertyPorn from people rich enough to afford the perks of such a lifestyle (freedom of movement) without any of the downsides (the usually resultant economic instability).

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TruthInTelevision for people, especially in costly urban areas. Sometimes a person who could get an apartment will choose to live in a van, to have more flexibility about where they work and to save money, such as a carpenter who drives from town to town seeking work. More commonly, it is due to a combination of poverty, housing shortages, and high housing costs. One of the challenges that RealLife van residents face is getting rousted by bylaw officers and parking officials, as many jurisdictions have laws against living in your van.[[note]]Residents in posh, high-rent neighborhoods tend to call authorities when they detect a person is living in a van parked on their street. Homeowners claim that they are facing challenges with van residents urinating and defecating, leaving garbage, and partying. As well, the homeowners may not want poor people in their fancy area, and they likely resent that they, the homeowners, are paying thousands a year in property taxes while the van residents park on the same street for free.[[/note]] The cliché joke about parking the van "down by the river" is partly TruthInTelevision, because van residents who find an "off-the-radar" location in a limnal region (an "in-between" space) such as an [[AbandonedArea abandoned, weed-encrusted lot by a river]].

Note that this trope doesn't apply to actual BaseOnWheels, since they've been designed with a kitchen, bathroom and sleeping quarters for a person or several to live in for an extended period. Nor does it apply to a large recreational vehicle that has a kitchen, bathroom and bed. This trope applies to regular cars, van, small boats, and recreational planes that the owner resides in in lieu of a permanent residence.

TruthInTelevision for people, especially in costly urban areas. Sometimes a person who could get an apartment will choose to live in a van, to have more flexibility about where they work and to save money, such as a carpenter who drives from town to town seeking work. More commonly, it is due to a combination of poverty, housing shortages, and high housing costs. One of the challenges that RealLife van residents face is getting rousted by bylaw officers and parking officials, as many jurisdictions have laws against living in your van.[[note]]Residents in high-rent neighborhoods tend to call authorities when they detect a person is living in a van parked on their street. Homeowners claim that they are facing challenges with van residents urinating and defecating and leaving garbage. As well, the homeowners may not want poor people in their area, and they likely resent that they, the homeowners, are paying thousands a year in property taxes while the van residents park on the same street for free.[[/note]]

TruthInTelevision for people, especially in costly urban areas. Sometimes a person who could get an apartment will choose to live in a van, to have more flexibility about where they work and to save money, such as a carpenter who drives from town to town seeking work. More commonly, it is due to a combination of poverty, housing shortages, and high housing costs.

A BaseOnWheels for the less fortunate, this is when a character has no actual house or apartment to return to at the end of the day, and are forced to eat, sleep, and live inside a vehicle they own, such as a van or car. While an upgrade from a CardboardBoxHome and offering more protection from inclement weather and assault than sleeping on the sidewalk, it still has a lot of problems. There's no kitchen or bathroom, so you can't cook or clean yourself. As well, unless you have a huge van, your sleeping space will be cramped and you'll be crammed in along with all your possessions, which isn't relaxing. As well, your social life will suffer, as you can't exactly bring a friend over to watch TV, let alone invite a date back to your place.

TruthInTelevision for people, especially in costly urban areas. Sometimes a person who could get an apartment will choose to live in a van, to have more flexibility about where they work and to save money, such as a traveling trades professional who drives from town to town seeking work. More commonly, it is due to a combination of poverty, housing shortages, and high housing costs.

TruthInTelevision for people, especially in costly urban areas. Sometimes a person who could get an apartment will choose to live in a van, to have more flexibility about where they work and to save money, such as a traveling trades professional. More commonly, it is due to a combination of poverty, housing shortages, and high housing costs.

A BaseOnWheels for the less fortunate, this is when a character has no actual house to return to at the end of the day, and are forced to eat, sleep, and live inside a vehicle they own. While a slight upgrade from a CardboardBoxHome or simply living in the streets, it still has a lot of difficulties. After all, you can't exactly bring a date back to your place if you drove it to the restaurant. If the trope is played for laughs, expect many jokes about someone's house being towed.

Note that this trope doesn't apply to actual BaseOnWheels, since they've been designed for a person or several to live in for an extended period. This trope applies to regular cars, boats, and planes that the owner resides in in lieu of a permanent residence. {{Hippie Van}}s and other small campers that are designed for sleeping in but not actually ''living'' in are somewhere in between.

TruthInTelevision for some, sometimes by choice but often due to poverty.

* In the late 2010s, living in a van became somewhat trendy. The hashtag [=#vanlife=] trended on Instagram and [[https://gnomadhome.com/vanlife-how-to/ lifestyle magazines extolled the freedom involved]], portraying it as a fun and carefree beachy lifestyle. While often portrayed positively in media, this coincided with record low homeownership and skyrocketing housing prices in places like California.

A Western version appears in ''Film/Emperor2020''. When a {{Posse}} shoots up bank robber Rufus Kelly's wagon, he complains that they're ruining his house.

* In ''Film/{{Americathon}}'', a permanent 70s-style fuel shortage has left ''everybody'' living in their cars. If you have an actual van to live in, you're ''well off''.

* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'': After they both run away from home, Ryuji and Nagisa live in an abandoned bus in a field. Eikichi and Saegusa help them furnish it with furniture stolen from the school, and Yasuo hooks it up to a power line.

* ''Film/TheLadyInTheVan]]'' is a 2015 dramatization of the real-life case where Mary Shepherd parked her van in playwright Creator/AlanBennett's driveway and proceeded to live there for the next 15 years until her death.

* ''[[http://www.npr.org/2015/12/12/459212329/for-15-years-the-real-lady-in-the-van-lived-in-this-playwrights-driveway The Lady in the Van]]'' is a 2015 dramatization of the real-life case where Mary Shepherd parked her van in playwright Creator/AlanBennett's driveway and proceeded to live there for the next 15 years until her death.

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* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s Matt Foley (played by Creator/ChrisFarley) is a motivational speaker often hired by parents to motivate their young teens to do better in life. Foley's main motivational tack seems to be talking about how terrible his own life is, culminating with his CatchPhrase "I live in a VAN down by THE RIVER!"

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* Franchise/ScoobyDoo and the rest of Mystery Inc. all have families with houses they can stay in, but they effectively live in the Mystery Machine in the series. In ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', the gang all still live with their parents, but Fred, after finding out that [[spoiler: his father isn't really his father, and that his real parents are no better]], ends up living in the Mystery Machine parked by a lake.

* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'': After they both run away from home, Ryuji and Nagisa live in an abandoned bus in a field. Eikichi and Saegusa help them furnish it with furniture stolen from the school, and they hook it up to a power line.

* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'': After they both run away from home, Ryuji and Nagisa live in an abandoned bus in a field. Eikichi and Saegusa help them furnish it with furniture stolen from the school, while Kamata hooks them up to a power line.