On Oleksandr Iaremko’s Facebook page is a poster of an old brown camper van draped in clothes and parked in the middle of nowhere with a saying underneath by Foster Hunting: “Home is where you park it.” It’s a message Iaremko, and others in Metro Vancouver, are taking to heart, by living in vans, trailers and RVs, as a cheaper alternative to paying high-priced rents across the region. The vehicles can be spotted in almost every municipality — in clusters on industrial lots, on residential side streets or in parking lots of big-box stores. For some, the truly homeless, vehicles are the only option in this overheated housing market, which has resulted in record low vacancy rates and high rents. For others, they are a choice, a way to buck conventional society, save money and avoid paying for someone else’s investment. In some cases, the vans or RVs have out-of-town licence plates, suggesting they are also serving as cheaper forms of accommodation for travellers to B.C. “It has its pluses and minuses,” said Iaremko, a 26-year-old roofer who has been living in a cargo van for more than a month. “There are some conveniences. You don’t have to go home after work and it forces you out more. You’re not staying in your apartment.” Iaremko’s van is a tidy, cosy home, with a raised bed under which he has tucked his belongings, tools and food. An electric piano is strapped to the side panel behind the driver’s seat, while sheets of plywood are tucked in beside the bed, waiting to cover the insulation he’s installing to make his home warmer for the winter. He doesn’t have the luxury of his own shower, toilet, or even a sink, but Iaremko has creative ways to make up for such shortfalls by being creative. A raw foodie who occasionally eats cooked foods, Iaremko uses a gas-powered camp stove to make coffee and the odd fried egg, while he always parks near all-night coffee shops for those late night pit stops or to wash out his mug. A pass to Vancouver swimming pools provides him with swims and showers, while big-box stores have high-speed and super-fast Internet, especially at night when no one is using it. “I’m flexible with this life,” he said, but noted it’s not for everyone. “You’re stepping outside your comfort zone and that’s how you grow.” City officials say they have no idea how many people are living in their vehicles, either by necessity or choice. In the annual homeless count in Vancouver, such people are lumped in with the so-called “hidden homeless” — people who do not have a rented place of their own, but stay in “other” places, such as jail, hostels, hotels, or a friend’s place, rather than shelters. Ethel Whitty, a director at the Carnegie Centre who oversees Vancouver’s homeless services, said there’s no way to pinpoint how many people are truly homeless, as many don’t want to be found. But the city will reach out to them, she said, in an attempt to get them housing and income assistance. Those who live in vehicles do not qualify for welfare. “There are just more people struggling with poverty and homelessness,” she said. “There are probably places you can park where you won’t be noticed and can stay for quite awhile.”

But Judy Graves, a longtime advocate for the homeless in Vancouver, said people have been living in vehicles across the city for decades for many reasons. Some are “homeless in the classic sense,” she acknowledged, but noted many others are like Iaremko — young people who are apprenticing in the trades and travel around the region every day — or are older retired, or semi-retired, men who don’t want to pay rent in their golden years. The movement, she said, harks back to the 1960s when people were shedding societal norms. “There are some guys who don’t like to pay rent,” Graves said. “With the cost of housing, it’s probably increasing a little bit gradually over time but I don’t think we’ve seen an explosion of people living in their cars.” Living in a van is a slightly watered down dream for Iaremko, a budding musician who had grand schemes last year of driving an RV across Canada and busking along the way. When the RV kept breaking down, he scoured Craigslist, jumping at the chance to buy his current home, a cargo van, for $1,680. His annual expenses include insurance, which is about $1,200, along with gas and his pass for Vancouver recreation centres. Before moving to a vehicle, Iaremko was paying about $600 a month in rent. These days, he will often park his van for the night in Surrey or Squamish, or wherever his roofing job happens to be that week to save on gas. “I can go anywhere,” he said. “My house moves.” There are trade-offs, though, to living in a vehicle. Iaremko said he was hurt when his boss suggested he was living off the backs of his friends, whom he sometimes joins for dinner or get-togethers. And with no shower or bathroom, he has to plan his parking stops. And if someone steals his van, they’re taking his entire home. Although his van is insured, the Insurance Corp. of B.C. said it doesn’t have specific coverage for people living in their vehicles, which are licensed for their specific uses on the road. In order to be covered for a stolen vehicle, a person would need comprehensive coverage or specified perils, spokeswoman Lindsay Olson said in an email, but noted these coverages don’t apply to the contents of a vehicle. But Iaremko isn’t daunted. He intends to stick it out in his van, if only to prove to his boss he can be self-sufficient, until he can get himself a tiny house or an RV that is roadworthy enough to get him across Canada. Since adopting his new lifestyle, he’s made a lot of new friends, he said, who offer tips for easier and cheaper living, such as converting vehicles to run on vegetable oil and how to wash dishes with vinegar and water spray. “We’re not tied to one spot,” said Iaremko, originally from Ukraine. “I’ve been travelling all my life. Everyone I’ve met who lives in a van has something they can do. It saves time and money. While the other guys are travelling back home, I’m playing the piano in my van. I don’t have a shower but I have music. That’s very important to me.”

Nathanael Lauster, associate professor of sociology with the University of B.C., blames the region’s housing crisis for the rising number of people living in vehicles, noting cities have been built in such a way that they’re amenable to cars. Proponents say the movement is not much different from the early 2000s when people were living in boats in False Creek before the police cracked down, saying the anchored boats were a pollution problem and a navigation hazard. The police don’t seem to be as strict with people living in vehicles; the city says in many cases, they will find out if the people are OK and need housing but not much else if they aren’t breaking a bylaw. “These vans and RVs can be a relatively warm and dry place to stay and rest your head,” Lauster said. “It’s an adaptable way people are facing this housing crisis.” One fellow, who we will call Jack because he didn’t want The Vancouver Sun to reveal his real name, is a relative newcomer to mobile living. Semi-retired, he spends his winters running a restaurant in the Philippines and the rest of the year here, where he works as a drywaller. When he returned to Vancouver this year, Jack was astounded at the high rents, which were $800 or more for a room in a house, and didn’t even include a bed. When he spotted a trailer on Craigslist for $2,900 he jumped at it, calling the seller three times in 30 minutes until he got him on the phone, and then drove out immediately to get it. “It’s a steal,” he said, looking around his home on wheels. “I couldn’t get out there fast enough.” The trailer, which was snug and dry on a recent rainy night, is lived-in but not messy, stuffed with running gear, a couple of DVDs and boxes of cereal. With a fridge, stove and toilet, Jack, 60, said the trailer has all the amenities of a real home, where he can have his son over for dinner and watch rented DVDs after he’s gone. He doesn’t have a shower, but what Jack saves in rent, he spends at the local recreation centre, where he can work out, swim and shower for the price of admission. He’s also started frequenting the public library, where he can rent DVDs. The biggest expense, he said, is to service the trailer every month and pay the monthly data plan on his phone, but it’s nothing compared to what he’s saving. “Every time at the end of the month, I think ‘oh I have to get rent money together.’ But then I realize I don’t have to,” he said. He’s not the only one. Social media site Pinterest has a “van living” page, which offers tips on “How to stay warm in the winter when you live in a van or trailer (and some alternatives to toughing out the cold weather).”