What happens next? The ever-dreaded “knock” and mobile access instability for vehicle residents

Abstract

This high-exposure study explores information-seeking via mobile phone usage among a specific unstably housed population. There exists a population referred to as “vehicle residents” who are people earning wages, who have chosen to move into their vehicles as a survival strategy during a time when housing expenses account for more than half of lower-income Americans’ monthly income, and whose situation varies from traditional homelessness in that they sustain some stability in maintaining ownership of the vehicle in which they are residing. Building on previous studies of homeless people and their mobile phone usage, while using mobilism as the frame, this study investigates the ways that access instability, an underexamined facet of digital inequality, impacts vehicle residents’ ability to search for information via their mobile phones to support their daily lives. This study is based on two rounds of semi-structured interviews with the same participants, complemented by a virtual guided tour of participant's vehicles. Among the key findings is that mobility creates and resolves access instability for vehicle residents, introducing the concept of mobile access instability. Overall, understanding the unique features and information needs of this particular group results in a more thorough comprehension of the contemporary housing crisis, which is necessary to improve policy by developing mitigation strategies and resolutions.

Mapping the road ahead: understanding social factors that shape vehicle residents’ information grounds

“…This study aims to add to this nascent group of research by investigating vehicle residents' information practices in Santa Cruz, California (CA), a coastal community with a historically large vehicle residency population, that recently passed a law to banish oversized vehicles from city limits. Understanding vehicle residents from an information access perspective is an innovative concept (Montague, 2023) and it can shift the development of social policy by offering research-based assistance to highlight the information resources that this population uses most while also identifying gaps where services can be created.…”