Commentary on the Recent Ban on Living in Your Vehicle in Colorado Springs, CO.

When I read about the recent vehicle camping ban in Colorado Springs, one thing stood out immediately, and it wasn’t just the policy itself. (This is not the image.)

It was the image used to represent people living in their vehicles.

This commentary is based on a recent article about Colorado Springs ban on public parking.

👉 Read the original article →

For many of us out here, that picture doesn’t reflect reality. It reinforces a very specific stereotype, one that suggests everyone living in a vehicle is in the same situation, facing the same struggles, and living the same way.

But that’s not the full picture.

Policies like this are often framed as solutions to visible problems, and I understand the concerns around safety and community impact. The city’s decision to make vehicle camping illegal on public property is meant to address those issues.

But what gets lost in that conversation is the wide range of people quietly living in their vehicles who don’t fit that narrative at all.

There are people working full-time jobs, saving money, or simply trying to stay afloat in a housing market that no longer makes sense for them. There are students choosing a vehicle over unaffordable dorms, individuals in transition between homes, and people who have intentionally chosen a mobile lifestyle.

When all of these experiences are grouped together under one label, it becomes harder to create solutions that actually work for everyone.

What concerns me most, and what I think matters to you if you’re living this life, is that policies like this tend to address the most visible part of the issue while overlooking the quieter majority. And when that happens, people who are already doing their best to live responsibly and respectfully can find themselves affected in ways that don’t feel fair or accurate.

This isn’t about dismissing the challenges communities are facing. It’s about recognizing that vehicle living is not one-size-fits-all, and the conversation around it

shouldn’t be either.