[dropcap size=big]D[/dropcap]arren Gannon, 50, grew up in Woodland Hills, in the southern end of the Valley, in a five-bedroom house on half an acre. When his parents passed away, and after a series of mishaps with his inheritance, he ended up on the street. He never really got the opportunity to develop job skills to support himself. Gannon has a stutter; he has struggled with alcoholism for much of his adult life.
About five years ago, he saw a motorhome parked on the street with a for-sale sign and decided it was a great option to get off the street. “It's an older one, but he [the man who owned it] wasn't living in it,” he says of his '89 Ford Mallard Sprinter. “So the inside is basically brand new. It has low, low miles on the engine. So I was hoping to buy it and travel.”
He bought it for $6,000.
Five years later, the motorhome has no electricity, no functioning kitchen, and hasn't been running, but Gannon has been living in it anyway.
The San Fernando Valley native is one of the many homeless individuals seeking refuge in a vehicle on the clogged streets of Los Angeles. According to a study by the Economic Roundtable released in April, roughly a third of unsheltered homeless individuals in Los Angeles County live in a vehicle. Many are constantly feeling the pressure to move their vehicles under backlash from homeowners and business owners over where semi-housed RV-dwellers can park.