Arizona City Allows Workers to Sleep in Their Cars

Monday, March 18, 2024

After nearly seven hours of heated debate, Sedona City Council voted 6-1 to approve a program that will provide a safe place to park for workers in the city who are living in their cars.

Posted by censored at 10:30 AM | 24 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Buy your dream car, because you never know when you'll be living in it.

#1 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2024-03-17 10:58 PM | Reply

This is just how low the american dream has sunken under corporate america.

The greed of wall street and c-suites has replaced single earner households with leisure time, vacations and means to send kids to college without massive crushing debt into a hellscape where people die in their cars sleeping between three jobs, people begging for food because they cannot afford to eat and now workers with jobs living in their cars.

Right now I am rooting for the giant asteroid.

#2 | Posted by Nixon at 2024-03-18 07:50 AM | Reply

Council members acknowledged the program is not ideal and is not the permanent solution to the area's affordable housing crisis. But they said it is something that can be done immediately to help alleviate the situation for those who would otherwise be illegally sleeping in their cars on city streets or nearby National Forest land.

"I don't think there's anybody up here or staff that are extremely proud of this. This is a last-ditch effort," Mayor Scott Jablow said. "No one's really proud because this isn't really the answer. It's one of many answers."

They need to take further steps to provide housing for these workers.

No doubt they consulted with business owners who employ these people and said, "WTF do you want us to to? arrest your employees for sleeping in their cars because they can't afford to live here. They are YOUR employees!"

So this is a bandaid...but not a solution.

#3 | Posted by eberly at 2024-03-18 09:01 AM | Reply

They need to take further steps to provide housing for these workers.
- eberly

It's interesting watching this play out.

I am not sure why the government doesn't build dormitories.

But everywhere I look the government is spending it on really expensive tiny homes.

#4 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-03-18 10:46 AM | Reply

The government is $33 trillion in debt.

Raise taxes on the elite pukes in Sedona and build infrastructure for the working man.

#5 | Posted by lee_the_agent at 2024-03-18 10:53 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 5

I had better see the doctor.
Because I am agreeing with ONEIRONAUT.
Oh the Ironauty!

#6 | Posted by e1g1 at 2024-03-18 10:59 AM | Reply | Funny: 1

Wow letting workers sleep in their cars is just so nice. How's about paying them enough so they can rent or buy a home?

#7 | Posted by Wildman62 at 2024-03-18 11:47 AM | Reply

It's government regulation that's the issue. I'm not talking about basic safety stuff. Rather all those rules communities make to render low cost housing impossible.

For instance, SROs used to help immensely in housing workers. But we got rid of them over the years. en.wikipedia.org

#8 | Posted by censored at 2024-03-18 12:31 PM | Reply

#3 | POSTED BY EBERLY

The article says that this is a temporary solution until 30 units of worker housing is completed in 2026. But I'd be surprised if 30 units will be enough. They also need to find a way to keep so much housing from being converted to vacation rentals.

#9 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2024-03-18 12:45 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Sedona is a great place for the well-to-do to repair to, to get out of the bustle and dust of Phoenix. Too bad that all the support people needed can't go along...

#10 | Posted by catdog at 2024-03-18 02:02 PM | Reply

www.youtube.com

You work three jobs? How uniquely American.

Dumbya to a divorced mother of three.

#11 | Posted by Nixon at 2024-03-18 02:11 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

"a safe place to park for workers in the city who are living in their cars."

Do the people who aren't working get a safe place to sleep in their cars, or is that Socialism?

#12 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-03-18 02:15 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

I just checked AirBnB and find over 800 locations available in Sedona and the surrounding communities. Arizona enacted a in 2022 that allows local governments to regulate short-term rentals. Perhaps the leadership of the community could take some action on that front to address their local housing need before attempting to accommodate out of towners who hold no stake in the future of the area.

#13 | Posted by johnny_hotsauce at 2024-03-18 02:37 PM | Reply

#13 | Posted by johnny_hotsauce

That is a great place to start. Honestly, I kind of wish short term rentals would just be outlawed period. It would take a lot of pressure off people living in these areas trying to buy homes because they are competing with private equity all too often.

#14 | Posted by GalaxiePete at 2024-03-18 03:39 PM | Reply

"Too bad that all the support people needed can't go along..."

They can.

If Sedona wants Baristas and Yoga instructors, they'll need to pay them well enough to entice them in over some other job. Sedona is an area popular with outdoor enthusiasts who may only be working during the night so they can climb or bike during the day. In which case sleeping in a car isn't that strange. Lots of my friends and family did that in Oregon and California while in their late teens and early 20s.

#15 | Posted by madbomber at 2024-03-18 04:55 PM | Reply

What could go wrong in the Arizona heat, and baking car temos up to 120+, and people living in them...

#16 | Posted by earthmuse at 2024-03-18 08:52 PM | Reply

Sorry temps

#17 | Posted by earthmuse at 2024-03-18 08:52 PM | Reply

Lots of my friends and family did that in Oregon and California while in their late teens and early 20s.

#15 | POSTED BY MADBOMBER

When?

I know a A&P mechanic at United that bought a Van and does #vanlife for the week he is at work, then commutes back to his home in Eureka for long weekends.

PaloAlto, MountainView, Sunnyvale is full of RV's, but not the nice ones ... all FANG workers trying to avoid and high rents. and property taxes. Most are part of the retire early crowd.

#18 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-03-18 08:56 PM | Reply

#16 | POSTED BY EARTHMUSE

This was my thinking too. Night has to be a bear when it doesn't get below 90.

#19 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-03-18 08:57 PM | Reply

Do the people who aren't working get a safe place to sleep in their cars, or is that Socialism?
#12 | POSTED BY SNOOFY

Depends upon where the car is parked, in this case its socialism.

#20 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-03-18 08:59 PM | Reply

#18

This was like Smith Rock and J-Tree kind of stuff. My sister amd her husband lived out of a van for a while, climbing around various places in Oregon and CA. Same thing with Snowboarders at Mt. Bachelor. They don't need enough money for a house-just for the next day's lift ticket. That's why the market rate for their labor is still so low.

Although, I'm sure the snowboarders would love nothing more than for the government to provide free housing. Coming back to a rent-free apartment would be far better than a van after a day on the slopes.

#21 | Posted by madbomber at 2024-03-19 02:38 AM | Reply

Do the people who aren't working get a safe place to sleep in their cars, or is that Socialism?
#12 | POSTED BY SNOOFY
Depends upon where the car is parked, in this case its socialism.
#20 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-03-18 08:59 PM

Barely humanity.

#22 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2024-03-19 06:53 PM | Reply

And you clowns wonder why Biden is polling so poorly.

The economy is booming! Record low unemployment! Inflation is transitory!

#23 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2024-03-19 09:53 PM | Reply

And you clowns wonder why Biden is polling so poorly. The economy is booming! Record low unemployment! Inflation is transitory! #23 | Posted by lfthndthrds

What do you want Biden to do about local land use restrictions homeowners institute to inflate their own home values?

#24 | Posted by censored at 2024-03-20 09:56 AM | Reply