Housing charity Crisis estimates that more than 18,000 people in England live in vehicles or tents due to the high cost of renting traditional homes. Bristol is a hotspot for campervans, with an estimated 800 people living in vans in the city. The city has some of the most expensive private rents outside London, with an average monthly rent of £1,734. The number of van dwellers in Bristol has been increasing, with some estimates suggesting there could be as many as 2,000 people living in vans in the city.
Many of these van dwellers are not doing so out of choice, but out of necessity. One example is an online maths tutor named Callum, who bought a van for £11,000 and spent another £10,000 converting it into accommodation. Callum left his rented room in a shared house after facing health problems and high costs. Despite the challenges of living in a van, Callum finds the costs minimal compared to traditional housing. Other van dwellers, like 41-year-old Helen Laing, have also chosen van life to reduce living expenses, with Helen running her business from her van.
Bristol mayor Marvin Rees attributes the rise in van living to the city’s housing crisis, which has made traditional housing unaffordable for many residents. Homeless charity St Mungo’s has seen a surge in people living in vehicles due to high rents and a lack of affordable housing options. The hidden crisis of van living is not limited to Bristol, with estimates of van dwellers in other hotspots around the country, such as Brighton, Glastonbury, and Falmouth. Housing charity Crisis emphasizes that cars, vans, and sheds are not suitable homes, and no one should be forced to live in such conditions.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner highlighted the issue by sharing a story of a family from Wiltshire living in a van after facing two no-fault evictions. The family had rented a house for 15 years before being evicted twice due to landlords’ decisions. Rayner pledged that Labour would abolish no-fault evictions to address the housing crisis. The increasing living costs, high rents, and lack of affordable housing continue to push more people to the brink of homelessness. The city of Bristol and other areas in the UK are facing a growing crisis of people living in vans due to skyrocketing rents and housing unaffordability.
