yachtsman living in tents

Living On A Houseboat: The Pros and Cons

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If you just recently purchased a houseboat or are in the market for one you have probably heard about people who live on their boat full time. The people who do this (often known as liveaboards) are a special breed. 

Living on board a boat certainly isn’t for everyone but if it’s something you have considered or simply want to know more about than this article is for you! In this article I will list the pros and cons that you will experience while living on your houseboat. 

Hopefully knowing some of the pros and cons will help you make a more informed decision or just help you have more information at your fingertips. 

Benefits Of Living On A Houseboat (The Pros) 

1.saving money.

Living on board a boat will often be far cheaper than renting or owning a traditional home. There will be less expenses and the original purchase price is often far cheaper than what you could ever purchase a house for. 

Not only will you save money on the purchase but you will also save money on the monthly expenses. That is of course assuming you aren’t paying a normal dock fee for every night. 

With a traditional home you will have to pay for gas, electricity, water, property taxes, homeowners insurance, and more. 

With a houseboat you will often only have to pay for the fuel for the boat/generator, the water (assuming you don’t have a system that will pull it from the lake or river) and boat insurance, and yearly registration. You can often save multiple hundreds of dollars a month by living on board than you would renting a home. 

2. Leisure At Your Fingertips

This one could be a pro and a con to be honest. If you are retired then being able to fish from your couch is probably an amazing benefit. If you are still working, whether from home or a normal 9-5, it will be difficult to have to tear yourself away when the fish are really biting or the scenery is particularly beautiful. 

Being able to enjoy amazing views from your windows and deck is one of the biggest pros of living on a houseboat . Having your everyday life feel like you are on vacation while also saving money? Who doesn’t want that?

That leisure does come at a cost however. You will certainly become quite spoiled with your daily views and visiting other people for the holidays will make you want to go back to your home on the water! 

All kidding aside being on vacation 365 days a year is one of the biggest attractions for people that choose the houseboat life. 

3. Less Upkeep

Now don’t get me wrong, of course things will break on your houseboat and need repaired just like with a traditional home. One of the big reasons a houseboat doesn’t require as much upkeep is that there are less things to break! 

With a house you have all sorts of integral systems that can be quite complex to repair. On a houseboat those systems are often quite simple. 

For example your septic system in a house can get tree roots that grow into it causing you to have to hire someone to dig up your yard. With the septic on a houseboat it all goes to one tank and then just has to be pumped out at a marina. 

Another thing that keeps the upkeep down on a houseboat is simply the size. With many houses running into the thousands of square feet and an average houseboat only being a few hundred it’s quite obvious that you won’t have to do as much work on a smaller property. 

Even if something needs painted or stained it’s only a small amount of square feet that needs it instead of thousands with a house!

4. Less Cleaning

Just as mentioned above with upkeep since there is a much smaller area that you will live in the cleaning that needs done will be much faster and easier too. Of course you will still have dishes, laundry, etc. to do but carpet vacuuming, window washing, and even dusting will be far easier with the smaller vessel. 

Since you are living on the water most of the items on board will probably be a lot easier to clean than traditional furniture pieces or kitchens. Nothing beats saving time on cleaning and watching the sunset or fishing instead! 

5. The Great Community 

If you’ve never been a part of a boating community you probably looked at this benefit and thought I ran out of things to write lol but this is actually a huge plus. Having a group of people that you regularly dock with means you can easily make friends no matter where you stop. 

Whether you are there for a few days or a few months you will be sure and find many like minded people who love boating and can help you with the best things to do and places to go in each new area you visit! 

The Negatives Of Living On A Houseboat (The Cons) 

1.the size .

Size really is everything nowadays and living aboard a houseboat means downsizing especially when compared to most modern sized homes. With many people’s homes running 2,000-3,000 sq foot and larger downsizing to a houseboat that is 5-600 sq ft can be quite a shock. 

If you are downsizing that much you will have to embrace the minimalist lifestyle. The last thing you will want to do is be mad or upset about getting rid of your stuff or to feel cramped in a houseboat. 

2. Only Live On The Water

This can certainly be a pro or a con but for the sake of argument I will put it in with the cons. Living in the water can certainly be amazing but one drawback is you almost HAVE to stay on the water or near it all of the time. 

Most people who live on a houseboat won’t have a car so every place they do will have to be close to the water or they will have to pay for a taxi or Uber. That will seriously limit the places you can visit in each town you dock at. 

Unfortunately it isn’t like an RV where you can tow your vehicle and unhook when you want to visit places away from shore. You either walk or pay for a ride. 

3. The Weather

Living on a houseboat you are susceptible to all of the whims of the weather where you are at. If you are planning on boating down the Mississippi but it is closed because of flooding, all you can do is wait. 

If there is a major storm headed to your location you will often have to leave the boat and find a safe shelter. Moving your houseboat to safety sometimes isn’t possible and even if it is possible it’s guaranteed to be quite a hassle. 

Another thing you have to deal with or plan around is the cold. Living on a houseboat when it is below freezing is absolutely NO fun so avoiding the cold is a great plan, but what if a cold front quickly blows in? You have to figure out how to deal with it or move your boat unnecessarily anytime a cold front might pass through. 

4. Holiday season 

Around the holidays people will often have family and friends come over for parties etc. When you live on a houseboat that is difficult if not impossible as there isn’t much room for family to gather and being on the move can make it difficult for people to plan to visit you. 

Granted being in a warmer location for the holidays can certainly be nice but having a bunch of people on a 500 sq ft boat isn’t many people’s idea of a good time. 

5. Doesn’t Work Well With Families 

Unless you are retired than living on a houseboat can be difficult for anyone with a family. Not only will you not have much space for your family to spread out but you will also have to worry about your kids getting wet all the time. 

Imagine trying to get the kids ready for school while having to worry about those that are already ready playing in the water! Not only is the kids playing in the water or getting dirty an issue but if there are still one or two adults working a 9-5 job that can also cause issues as there normally isn’t much parking nearby. 

Living on board a houseboat can be great for retirees or single people but living on board with a family won’t be ideal. It can quickly wear on everyone’s nerves and once everyone starts getting annoyed with each other it can go downhill fast! 

Living on a boat has many more pros and cons than just the ones mentioned here but I hope the ones I have listed will help you with making the decision for you and the ones you love. 

As Always, 

Happy Boating

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Matthew Robbs

I love the outdoors and especially spending time with my family. Whether on a boat or at the beach, my happy place is near the water.

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America's most wanted: doctor found living in tent on Mont Blanc

On 21 September 2004, Michelle Weinberger woke up on the 79ft powerboat that she and her husband, Mark, owned as it rocked gently in the waters of a marina on the Greek island of Mykonos.

"I put my hand on his side of the bed, and I remember feeling it empty," she later told the US television channel NBC. Weinberger leapt from bed in alarm to find that her husband had vanished, taking with him his passport and money he had stashed secretly on board.

It was the beginning of a five-year flight from justice that ended this week even more strangely than it began, almost 6,000 feet up in the Italian Alps. Two officers of the paramilitary Carabinieri, led by a mountain guide, trudged up to the southern slopes of Mont Blanc to find one of America's most wanted fugitives living in a tent. He was surviving in temperatures as low as -18C on dried and tinned food and snow he melted on a portable stove.

Dr Mark Weinberger, a 46-year-old ear, nose and throat specialist, was tonight in a secure ward at the Molinette hospital in Turin recovering from a wound he sustained when he tried to take his own life at the Carabinieri station in Courmayeur, below Mont Blanc.

The US authorities have 40 days in which to apply for his extradition. He faces trial on 22 counts of healthcare fraud, having previously been indicted by a grand jury.

Brought up in a prosperous New York suburb, Weinberger was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and the UCLA medical school. He later worked with one of Chicago's most renowned plastic surgeons before opening his own practice, the Weinberger Sinus Clinic, in Merrillville, Indiana.

The "nose doctor", as he came to be known, met his future wife, 12 years his junior, in 2000. "He just swept me off my feet," she said. "He was the kindest, most gentle man I had ever met."

Weinberger proposed to her eight months later in a Rome piazza while on holiday, and they were married in characteristically ostentatious style in three separate ceremonies in the US and Italy in 2001.

Michelle Weinberger later said she reckoned her husband was earning $200,000 (£124,000) a week, performing between seven and 15 operations.

They owned a house in a wealthy lakeside neighbourhood of Chicago. Mark Weinberger travelled to and from his surgery in a chauffeur-driven limousine. He employed maids, cooks, a personal trainer and a skipper for his boat. Every month, his wife recalled, he would take 10 days off to enjoy his seemingly abundant income, often jetting off to Europe to indulge a passion for idling in the Mediterranean.

The first hint of trouble emerged in October 2002 when a lawyer acting for the estate of a woman who had died of throat cancer filed a complaint with the Indiana department of insurance. The complaint claimed Weinberger failed to diagnose her cancer and instead carried out an unnecessary operation on her sinuses that was paid for by her insurance company.

The lawyer said he was subsequently contacted by dozens of the doctor's former patients who alleged that they too had had surgery they suspected was unnecessary. A similar complaint was filed by a second attorney on behalf of 25 former patients.

As the malpractice suits piled up, Weinberger arranged what he said would be a very special 30th birthday party for his wife. He flew her, her mother and three friends out to the Greek islands and promised her a present that would be "something that only the movie stars have". Before disappearing, he bought her two expensive diamonds.

It was small recompense, though, for what she was about to discover. The unpaid berthing fees on Mykonos alone came to $40,000. Their boat was seized by the Greek authorities. Weinberger's practice owed $5.7m and was eventually auctioned to meet his debts.

But the oddest discovery, and one that perhaps holds the key to his life on the run, was that the doctor had a room at his clinic which his employees dubbed "the scary room". It was crammed with survival gear. And the equipment, including even a water filtration system, had been shipped to Europe before he left.

The fugitive surgeon was sought by the FBI. He featured more than once on the Fox television show America's Most Wanted , and was supposedly sighted as far away as China. His wife continued to defend him after he vanished.

"I hope he's safe, and I still love him," she told the Chicago Tribune in October 2004, adding: "We can relocate. We can live on an island in a hut." The Carabinieri who lifted the flap of Weinberger's tent on Tuesday morning had been alerted to his presence by a mountain guide, an Italian police official said. They did not immediately reveal that they suspected his identity. They said they had used an excuse to convince him to accompany them to Courmayeur and that Weinberger tried to persuade them he just "wanted to live a life in the wild".

After it became clear that they knew who he was, the runaway doctor asked to go to the lavatory. There, he whipped out a tiny knife he had secreted in his underwear and plunged it into his throat. But despite being an expert surgeon, he missed the artery he appeared to be aiming for, and the Carabinieri hustled him away for first aid.

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Beneath a Fort Myers bridge, a captain longs to return to sea

• Lane DeGregory Times staff

FORT MYERS BEACH — He wakes when the sun warms his blankets, just before his tent begins to glow. Stretching, the old sea captain unzips the flap.

It’s quiet beneath the bridge, just after dawn. The couple camping across the concrete stopped fighting. The drunken women down the way must have passed out.

John “Capt. Jay” Burki, 76, walks slowly toward the water. He steps over yellow caution tape, climbs crumbling stairs, hobbles to the center of a pier. There, he turns to the east, squints through his phone camera, and captures the sun as it crawls out of Estero Bay.

Every morning, he sends a sunrise to 50 people he calls friends.

Every evening, he turns to the west and texts them a sunset.

It’s a cloudy morning in early February. He has been documenting the days for more than four months. Ever since Hurricane Ian hurled his boat — his home, everything he owns — from the bay into the mangroves. Ever since he moved into a parking space beneath the Matanzas Pass Bridge.

Capt. Jay hasn’t lived on land this long in 30 years, and he longs to be back at sea.

He tries to appreciate his donated bed, the generator someone bought him, coffee in the morning, rum and Coke at night. The sound of waves against the broken docks, the salty taste of the air.

“ Happiness is not about getting what you want all the time ,” he types this morning beneath a photo of the scarlet sky. “ It’s about loving what you have and being grateful for it .”

The next day, he sees a Budweiser truck across the lot at Doc Ford’s beach bar. The fabled restaurant has been closed since the storm. Is it about to reopen? Once tourists start returning, will he have to go?

Deputies show up a few days later, telling the two dozen people beneath the bridge they’ll have to clear out. Take the tents, the coolers, all they’ve collected since they lost everything.

After more than four months of refuge beneath the bridge, building makeshift homes, deputies give them a week to get out — or go to jail.

As he tells it, Capt. Jay was one of the first people to stake out a spot below the Fort Myers Beach bridge.

After 150-mph winds ripped through Southwest Florida on Sept. 28, after waves hurled his 37-foot sailboat off its anchors and smashed the hull, after he woke tangled in trees, scratched and battered — Capt. Jay says a Coast Guard helicopter flew him to a shelter.

“Which I walked right out of,” he says. “I can’t live with all those people.”

Carrying the only thing he salvaged, his red backpack with tools and a towel, he hiked west for hours past mountains of bashed vessels, toppled trees and mangled mobile homes, trying to get back to his boat, or at least the water.

The night after the storm, some shrimpers already were sprawled beneath the bridge, beside their broken trawlers. Capt. Jay spread his towel on the dock by Bonita Fish Co. and slept there for a few days.

The bridge is an extension of San Carlos Boulevard, officially State Route 865. Here, it crosses an island tucked between the mainland and the barrier beaches. The parking lot beneath is ringed by a two-lane road called Fisherman’s Wharf, which dead-ends at a pier. Seafood companies and Doc Ford’s sit on one side. A yacht repair shop is on the other. The span shades the slice of pavement, keeps it dry during downpours.

Before the hurricane, people parked trucks there to launch boats. Watermen snoozed in their cars, waiting for work.

Then, in the days after Ian, an elderly couple who had survived in their RV boondocked beneath the bridge. A middle-aged couple with a Labradoodle pitched a tent. A carpenter whose houseboat sank moved there in his SUV.

By Thanksgiving, Capt. Jay had a new tent and a dozen neighbors. By Christmas, he counted three dozen tents and five dogs. After the holidays, after the emergency shelters shuttered, more people poured in.

Two dozen people were still there in February when deputies ordered everyone out.

Some had been sleeping on the beach before the hurricane. Others had been a paycheck away from being on the streets. Many, like Capt. Jay, lived on boats.

Others had lost jobs, apartments, houses. A waitress whose restaurant closed ran out of rent money and bought a tent. An accountant was sleeping nearby in her Jaguar.

Like hundreds of other people holed up in hotels or camping by their crushed homes, everyone under the bridge was waiting: on insurance, Social Security, disability, unemployment, payouts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Across the bay, some waterfront restaurants have been rebuilt. People are sipping daiquiris on the decks.

But on the land side, beside the bridge, crane operators still struggle to untangle towers of bashed boats, seagulls scavenge in piles of garbage and displaced people pee in paint buckets.

“We’re living in limbo,” says one of Capt. Jay’s neighbors.

Her boyfriend says, “We’re living in hell.”

Rent vouchers won’t help. There’s hardly anywhere to rent. A trailer won’t work. All the nearby campgrounds have been destroyed.

“People have nowhere to go. We have nowhere to put them,” says Michael Overway, who directs Lee County’s Homeless Coalition. “There are so many newly homeless people, services are completely maxed out.”

Hurricane Ian killed nearly 150 people and leveled an estimated 5,000 houses. Tens of thousands of Floridians turned to the government for help.

FEMA put 4,000 people up in hotels, and approved some 3,400 applications for home repairs, rental assistance and other expenses.

An estimated 34,000 people stayed in emergency shelters, but now all 260 have closed. When one in Collier County shut down, Overway says, 95 people were forced onto the streets.

Five months after the disaster, no one knows how many are still homeless.

Volunteers hike through woods, alongside roads and sand dunes, searching. When they find someone, Overway tells them: Get out of Florida.

“Before the storm, it was hard to find affordable housing,” he says. “Now it’s impossible.” One man on a fixed income saw his rent jump from $275 a month to $1,850.

Overway’s office was getting about 10 calls a day before. Now, his staff is fielding at least 50 from people who want to apply for temporary housing. On a recent week, they talked to 23 single moms living in their cars with their kids.

“We’ve been getting a steady increase in new applicants since the beginning of this year,” he says, since the shelters shuttered. People are blowing through their savings, running out of options.

About 10% of the newly homeless people, he says, lived on boats.

Four days before the deputies’ deadline, two women visit Capt. Jay’s tent. There’s a room available in a veterans’ home. He can move in right away.

“Thank you,” he says. “But I can’t live like that.”

He can’t take any more gossip, drama, so many people always so close. He craves the solitude of the sea, hunkering down in the hull, letting the waves rock him to sleep. He used to go a week without going ashore.

“I’m a sailor,” he says. “And I’m in a bad way now. … I’ve got to get out of here and get back out there.”

He grew up in St. Petersburg, graduated from Northeast High, joined the Navy, then served 16 years in the reserves. He got married, had a daughter, divorced, then married and divorced again. And again.

He worked as an electrician, oysterman, fisherman. When he retired, he sold his house and bought a sailboat.

Capt. Jay rode out three hurricanes and dozens of other storms at sea. In 2012, he was moored off Gulfport Beach when Tropical Storm Debby dumped his sailboat onto the sand. The Tampa Bay Times covered the aftermath as he stayed on the crashed Promise for almost a month.

When town officials threatened to break up the vessel, a crowd showed up to shove it back into Boca Ciega Bay.

Capt. Jay said then that he wanted to sail around the world.

Instead, he made it to Fort Myers, where he spent the next decade living on semibroken sloops tethered in Estero Bay.

“I need help finding a 47-foot sailboat or larger,” he wrote on a sign outside his tent. “Rough, otherwise, it doesn’t matter.”

He moves slowly, hunched from an ancient back injury. His yellow-gray hair and beard are sticky with salt spray, his voice raspy from years of cheap cigarettes.

Though he prefers being alone, he shares coffee with his neighbors, lets them charge their phones on his generator, regales them with tall tales of his time at sea.

He hates borrowing money, or even bumming cigarettes. When he does, his neighbors say, he always pays them back.

Donnie Price, 60, also used to live on a sailboat. He rode out the hurricane inland, in his SUV, then parked next to Capt. Jay’s tent in October. Donnie drives him to get mail at the makeshift post office, groceries at the gas station, a public shower when he starts to stink. “I wish someone would donate him some sort of a boat so he can get back to the water and live out his life,” Donnie says. “He’s not really a burden. He’s sort of a legend. But he doesn’t get that he can’t stay here forever.”

Donnie has been repairing carports, roofs and pool screens, saving cash. He plans to crash with a friend until he has a down payment for a new place.

Capt. Jay doesn’t have any savings. Three days before the parking lot will be cleared, he’s down to $4. His $1,752 from Social Security and disability won’t come for two weeks. He’s still hoping for $50,000 for his boat — from insurance or FEMA.

“He’s got to make some choices,” Donnie says. “Or someone’s going to make them for him.”

Even if he finds somewhere to stay, Capt. Jay has no idea how to move what he has amassed: the double bed and dorm fridge, table and chairs, bookcase and boombox, Mozart CDs, fishing poles, the new TV he ordered on Amazon.

With two days to go, he catches a ride to a gas station where he knows the manager. Maybe he could pitch his tent in the parking lot? The guy says he’ll ask the owner.

But Capt. Jay walks the property and changes his mind.

Too far from the water. The Sunoco sign would block the sunrise.

The morning before Capt. Jay would be evicted, a man who’d been helping people beneath the bridge rented a U-Haul and loaded all of his belongings into the back.

Capt. Jay didn’t know what would happen to his neighbors in the parking lot. As he left, half were still there.

But he’d finally found somewhere to land. At least for now.

A spokesperson for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office did not answer questions by email about what prompted deputies to clear people out. She also did not say whether deputies made arrests or confiscated belongings. She directed a reporter to the Florida Department of Transportation, where a spokesperson has not responded to emailed questions.

Donnie, the carpenter who camped next to Capt. Jay, says deputies issued some trespassing citations and threw away all the tents, coolers, beds under the bridge.

The former accountant and her boyfriend drove away in their Jaguar, he says. They’re going to sleep outside a Walmart. The elderly couple in the RV rented a spot behind a strip mall for $500 a month.

Donnie spent a couple of days in a hotel, then Capt. Jay called: Plenty of room here!

His tent is now across from the Gulf of Mexico.

Someone he knows was looking after a lot where a house was crushed. Trees, fences, furniture fill the yard and pool. Capt. Jay says if he cleans the parcel, the guy will let him stay there, amidst the wrecked mansions on Estero Boulevard.

“I’m 50 feet from the shore,” he says. “Almost waterfront.”

Capt. Jay set up a makeshift kitchen, hooked an antenna on his TV, borrowed Donnie’s razor and shaved his scraggly beard.

“I can’t figure out how he got this place,” says Donnie, who parked his SUV on the lot. “There’s nobody around.”

Capt. Jay’s latest photos are from a new perspective.

Instead of standing below the bridge, shooting across the bay, he sits at his new homestead on Fort Myers Beach, capturing palm trees silhouetted against a crimson sky.

A week later, a photo of Capt. Jay’s camp appears on a talk radio website above a warning: “If you’re living in a tent … you may soon be told to fold it up.”

A Fort Myers Beach council member wants the encampments gone. Not just people who landed there after the storm, he says, but even property owners waiting to rebuild.

Even though so many people still haven’t been paid for their losses.

Even though there’s nowhere to go.

“Some of the people living in the tents don’t look like they’re property owners,” Council member Bill Veach said at a town meeting. “They look like camps outside of some Third World country.”

Commenters attacked the idea of evicting people who had already lost everything.

“Tent, box, van, whatever someone rendered homeless by a hurricane is living in, so what,” one man wrote. “They need shelter, and unless government can do that, the last thing these people need is harassment.”

Donnie is hoping to hang on by Capt. Jay for a few weeks. He’s given up on FEMA money, and he’s almost saved enough to buy an RV. “No more living on the water,” he says.

The old sailor is still yearning for a boat. And a “female companion” to accompany him on his next adventure.

Maybe he’ll circumnavigate the globe. Or at least make it to Key West.

Until then, he listens to the laughing gulls, smells Folgers brewing on his propane stove, watches the sky begin to brighten above the beach.

“ Sunday morning and it’s time for coffee as the sun rises in the east across Fort Myers Beach Florida ,” he types.

“Where there is a will there was always a way to make your dreams come true! ”

Hurricane Ian: By the numbers

The Category 4 hurricane killed more than 140 people.

It leveled at least 5,000 homes in Southwest Florida and damaged 30,000 structures.

Coast Guard crews rescued more than 1,000 people and 135 pets.

An estimated 34,000 people filled 260 shelters.

FEMA has approved more than 3,000 applications for homeowners and nearly 400 for renters.

Almost 4,000 people have stayed in FEMA-sponsored hotel rooms.

The agency says more trailers are on the way.

Enterprise Reporter, Hope and Humanity

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Living in Paradise on the Palmyra Atoll

Alex Chadwick

The galley where the staff and scientists at the research center take their meals and socialize. Steve Proffitt, NPR hide caption

The galley where the staff and scientists at the research center take their meals and socialize.

More in the Series

Researchers track boobies for climate change data, scientists track shark behavior in palmyra atoll, environment, series overview: exploring the palmyra atoll, producing radio from paradise, on palmyra, paradise doubles as research lab.

At the rustic yacht club, there is a TV with a DVD, a weight room and a bar. Steve Proffitt, NPR hide caption

At the rustic yacht club, there is a TV with a DVD, a weight room and a bar.

Palmyra Atoll, a lagoon surrounded by coral reefs in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, is about 1,000 miles from the closest inhabited land — Hawaii.

This remoteness makes it a truly remarkable place, allowing for scientific research that would not be possible in other places with human populations.

Palmyra is uninhabited for the most part — it has no indigenous population, with only a small staff to support the 15 or 20 researchers who come for a week or a month at a time.

A non-profit group, the Nature Conservancy, bought Palmyra seven years ago. Together with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it manages the atoll as a site for science and conservation.

Stanford University scientist Rob Dunbar has spent time working on the island.

"This is one of the few places on the planet where you can study a true climate change signal and see what it does to corral reefs," Dunbar says.

Distance bestows a kind of grace. The effects of civilization spread out from the world's great land masses, but Palmyra is about the last place they reach.

Scientists Housed in Rustic Accommodations

People used to stay in tents in Palmyra. But a couple of years ago, the Nature Conservancy built more than a dozen sleeping cabins with small front porches. The cabins have windows of made of corrugated plastic that can be propped open with sticks, and screens to keep out the insects.

There is power in every cabin, lights and a fan overhead. All this is connected to a generator nearby.

There's a laundry, showers, flush toilets and a septic system. A galley with a cook keeps everyone nicely fed and there's a full scientific lab, which is the only building on the island with air conditioning.

Tommy Adkins lives on Palmyra and he's the person who keeps things running smoothly on the island.

"On a good day, it's just making sure everything's working and running correctly. On a bad day, three or four things have hiccups and need repair, and usually they need repair all at once," Adkins says.

Adkins also is the man to turn to when for fresh fish. He takes a boat out to look for tuna. They're outside the lagoon — and weigh some 60, 70, or even 80 pounds.

To Visit Palmyra, Get in Line

There are only a few ways one can experience Palmyra.

The Nature Conservancy keeps a list of would-be volunteers to work on the atoll and hires some skilled people, like Adkins.

Very lucky students also, at times, make visits. Some who make it onto the island get a berth on the "Robert Seamans," a schooner, owned by the Sea Education Association and chartered by Stanford University for a marine studies seminar.

Recently, about 30 students, along with a half dozen professors, sailed into Palmyra to study the reefs, the marine life and the birds.

But for those who don't have the time to go back to school, there's another way.

The Nature Conservancy depends on the generosity of donors. To the most generous, it offers rewards beyond tote bags. An official declined comment on the necessary donation amount to be eligible for a trip. But those who make it double bunk in a small, sweep-it-yourself cabin. The shared bath is about 200 feet away.

And a tip — a final field note — for those who do get to the island: Before you go to bed, shake out the sheets. Often, brown spiders the size of silver dollars live in the folds of the bed spreads.

Radio piece produced by Steve Proffitt.

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Piracy in paradise, the hidden language of insects, a journey to the edge of the amazon.

Luxury Yacht Living Cheaper Than A House? (full tour & monthly costs)

Living on a yacht can sound like a lot of things. And to us, it always sounded bonkers expensive. A pipe dream. But the reality is there is a boat for every budget. Chances are, you can take whatever your cost of living is now and move onto a boat for the same price. Or maybe even a lot less.

Seriously. We’ve maintained the same general budget for the last 10 years. From a condo in Downtown Dallas Texas to road trippers in a 33ft motor home to liveaboard cruisers on a 44ft sailing catamaran .

Another case in point is our friends Rico and Victoria (the couple in the photo with us). They lived in Los Angeles California on a power yacht that cost under $200k. I’m pretty sure you can’t get a parking space in LA for under $200k.

And so today, we’re stepping into the Motor Yacht world. Which honestly isn’t a type of boating we have ever considered or spent a lot of time exploring. Because for us, we want to travel around the world, and it just makes more sense (efficiency, redundancy, safety, etc.) to have a sailboat.

But not everyone is looking to sail around the world. Power boats make a lot of sense for coastal cruisers, river cruising, ice breakers, or as a liveaboard in a home port.

Rico and Victoria have invited us into their world to tour a 66’ Hampton Yacht. It’s a deep dive into what living aboard a luxury yacht like this looks like. We chat about polarization between sailors and motor boaters, maintenance, running costs, fuel prices, and even dockage fees.

So, what did you think?  Are you a power boater, a sailor, or just a lover of all things nautical?  We’re suckers for any home that travels.  And while we won’t be giving up our sails anytime soon, we certainly see the appeal.  If we had a job that kept us tied to a dock most days, I could see us opting for a vintage tug boat.  I have always wanted to renovate one and who doesn’t love an old tugboat!?

This beauty operates as an expedition cruise in Alaska.  Perhaps in our next life?

Check out Victoria and Rico’s channels

• NautiStyles: youtube.com/c/NautiStyles/videos
• NautiGuys:  youtube.com/channel/UCOAWkOlfIRz89o8GO3W3H0w

Boat Listing for the 66′ Hampton Yacht: denisonyachtsales.com/yacht-listings/broker/66-Hampton-Cpmy-2007-Ft-Lauderdale-Florida/2783406 

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Hello there! I honestly don’t know what to say, so I am going to tell you a bunch of random facts instead. I'm a fish eating vegetarian who hates spiders and loves snakes. I almost never took vacations growing up. I wanted to be Pippi Longstocking (still do). I misspell about every other word I write and still struggle with grammar. I love splurging on a good high tea (which is really hard to find these days). And whatever you do, don’t tell me I can’t do something, because then I'll HAVE to do it!

Comments (20)

Great lifestyle . I lived on a 40-foot totally craft for 2 years . Lake Washington, Seattle. I loved it. A little pricey . $600 a month mortgage . Another $500 for liveaboard fee . Otherwise all inclusive . It was an adventure .

Very nice and thanks for sharing the costs. That is a lot cheaper than most apartment rentals I have seen. So not too bad really for a nice lake house!

I absolutely enjoyed this video, well done! It was fun to ‘walk’ on board such a beautiful boat and have an extremely knowledgeable couple show us the way. This dovetails seamlessly into boat life. The questions you posed, Nikki, were spot on. At first the thought of $3,000/month for slip fees was crazy until I realized our Airstream nightly costs can range from free (boon docking) to $10,000 a month at an upscale resort in the Keys. What threw me upside down is finding out that condo HOAs are at $2,000/mo. in Fort Lauderdale. Keep the outstanding videos coming!

We find the costs of living in most major cities to be really high on land or sea right now. But as you said, boondocking, or for us anchoring, is the affordable way to go. Because if you can avoid the RV parks and Marinas, life is a lot more affordable!

Gary Church

My wife and I spent almost 5 years on a 64’ Grand Banks Aleutian cruising the Caribbean.

I thought the numbers were pretty much on target. For example $1,000,000 boat realistically cost $100,000 to $150,000 annually to operate.

Although our boat would do 20 knots, cruising speed was about 8-10 knots at 10-15 gallons per hour – not the most expensive part of boat ownership. Docking in many locations were equivalent to about $3,000 per month and part of the $150,000 annual cruising costs.

There are a lot of robust systems on a 64 foot vessel. You need to have a good set of tools, some knowledge and skills and be able to physically carry on maintenance and repair. If not add another $50,000 to your annual costs.

The one thing to consider is the a boat can be a notable depreciating asset unlike a dirt home in normal times. Add annual boat depreciation into you costs and you my find even more dollars to be considered in annual operating costs.

I believe the total costs of a less than 20 year old year as shown in the video my be a little more than most could afford.

Perhaps useful information. It seemed to be an obvious advertisement for that vessel. I’ve followed you from RV days. Not a fan of this video. We are boaters capable of living aboard but we don’t select that option. So we don’t oppose that lifestyle.

This was not an advertisement for the vessel as we have zero affiliation with the broker or the owner. We were not compensated in any way. It was a look at another type of boating with a channel that does boat tours like this every week (also not paid adverts for the boats). Completely fine if it wasn’t of interest to you, we create a wide variety of content. It’s inevitable you won’t love every video. Perhaps the next will be one you enjoy.

Alan Solomon

Thank you for this video. A little overwhelming for me. It seems to me that there is a lot more to consider and keep an eye on living on a boat rather than living in a house or condo. Living on a boat would not be my first choice but I can be influenced with extra luxuries, comforts and treats. Happy travels,

Steve Tannenbaum

An amusing video, on your new boat you will be cruising at 17 knots and not burning 50 gal/hr! I really enjoy your videos, but you really threw me a loop on AG1. Where is the data to support their claims? Like most food supplements no data.

I don’t know that we will be cruising at 17 knots but we are looking forward to figuring out our new cruising speed and burning zero fuel while doing it. But important to keep in mind the sails also cost a fair bit and no doubt took a fair amount of energy to make. As for the AG1, click over to their website and check it out. There is a ton of science-based, 3rd party research backing up the claims. It’s the first supplement we’ve been willing to spend money on because they are usually empty claims but we believe AG1 is different. https://athleticgreens.com/gonewiththewynns

So many similarities between the boat lifestyle and the rv lifestyle. Class A, B, C, towable, fifth wheel etc. But there IS something for everyone. I also saw so many things from the boat that have been implemented in RVs. The twin bed cabin is the same as the twin bed floorplan in many of todays RVs. Very interesting video today and I’m going to check out Nautiguys channel now. Thanks.

There are a ton of similarities for sure. Our time RV’ing definitely made the transition to boat life easier.

Steve Gibbons

Appreciate the encouragement to make the leap. Were almost empty nesters ,,,,,,,,, so this has been a great help.

aboyandhisdog

Nope, you lost me at “Yacht”.

And what was the cost of that particular boat?

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Paul Reynolds

That was fun and interesting guys, maybe if I’d seen this before, my choices would be different, however i feel that any self respecting, successful couple like yourselves would have and should have a land based investment, I’m talking property of course, that in case something should change, as it can at a drop of a hat. The quality of workmanship aboard boats is astonishing, something that often makes me wonder why not such high quality in homes generally, then there is cost or your own skills to consider. Wow we are experiencing such an incredible storm right now, it sounds like a war zone and my power went off momentarily, I think it will again so chow for, take care, Paul.

Doing some fast math….I heard that annual maintenance on a boat is about 10% to 15% of the boats value. So on this motor yacht should the owners be budgeting between $100,000 and $150,000 for maintenance??? Hard to sell this as an alternative to home ownership if maintenance costs, after six years, would have bought me that investment home.

Angelo DiPietro

So what your saying that 10 to 15 thousand a year for Annual Maintenance? Are you talking rent/ parking? electricity and potable water/sewer services ? Cause that is the same for every house, land, sea, wheeled, unless your living in a tent………

Boats are not an investment. They are a depreciating asset in almost any market condition. I don’t think the wynns are “selling” the boat lifestyle as a replacement to land based lifestyle. They are pointing out that if you want to live in Miami/LA (horribly expensive places) with an ocean view the cost may not be that different from a boat or a condo (HOA fees).

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Where Can Homeless People Pitch Tents In Chicago?

Homeless couple Shawn Moore and Amie Smith said city workers have thrown out more than a dozen of their tents in the past two years. Yet, they said they still don’t understand where they can — and can’t — pitch a tent in Chicago and why.

The couple said they first tried to set up tents on the sidewalks of lower-level streets downtown near Millennium Park, but police regularly rousted them from those locations. So they searched for an even more secluded spot and eventually found a small patch of concrete a few blocks east.

The new spot, just off Lake Shore Drive near Randolph Street, offered a variety of benefits. They said the highway overhead protected their belongings from the rain. And because the spot is not a sidewalk, they were not obstructing pedestrians. Best of all, they said, was the magnificent view of Lake Michigan.

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Homeless And Then Displaced: Latest On The Uptown Tent City

Moore said that two weeks after they settled in, police discovered their new location and came by every day in an effort to get them to move — again. Now, the couple said, city workers take their tents at least once a month. To prevent their belongings from ending up in the back of a garbage truck, they said one person has to be there at all times, which is time not spent on things like searching for a job.

“[You’re] not going to find many places that’s not actually in somebody’s way,” Moore said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to find a couple, but I’m sure it’s not going to be many more if they run us off of this one.”

Moore and Smith aren’t alone. Residents who lack stable housing pitch tents throughout the city. But those tents, which offer freedom and privacy not found in homeless shelters, also put them in the crosshairs of city workers. Lawyers for homeless people said the city’s rules on tents are vague and the enforcement is uneven.

Why live in tents?

Chicago had 5,657 homeless people in early 2017, according to a city report on homelessness. City officials and homeless advocates said they don’t know how many of those people are setting up tents as makeshift shelters. But the city report, which some advocates believe drastically undercounts the homeless population, found 1,561 people living in places not meant for human habitation, such as on sidewalks or in parks.

In April, Department of Family and Social Services deputy commissioner Alisa Rodriguez said the city does not have enough space at shelters for all the known homeless people. The acknowledgement came during a hearing about a proposed tent city in front of a shuttered elementary school in the Uptown community.

That means city officials acknowledged that some people may have little choice but to live outside because of capacity limits at shelters and a deficit of affordable housing. As seen throughout Chicago, some of them live in tents.

The municipal code says the city can limit tent use

So where can homeless Chicagoans pitch a tent? One thing city officials point to is a provision in the city’s municipal code .

According to the code: “No person shall use any public way for the storage of personal property, goods, wares or merchandise of any kind. Nor shall any person place or cause to be placed in or upon any public way, any barrel, box, hogshead, crate, package or other obstruction of any kind, or permit the same to remain thereon longer than is necessary to convey such article to or from the premises abutting on such sidewalk.”

The code doesn’t specifically mention tents, but city officials indicated the spirit of the rule is not to obstruct the sidewalk.

Jennifer Rottner, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Family and Social Services, added that some exceptions may be made for tents, but only if the city grants permission.

“While all residents are welcome to use the public way, they do not have the right to obstruct the public way or keep tents or structures on the public way without a permit,” Rottner wrote in an email to WBEZ.

But Rottner did not know what type of permit was required or how to apply for it.

While city officials cite municipal code, Illinois also has one of the strongest laws in the country when it comes to protecting the rights of homeless people. The Illinois Bill of Rights for the Homeless Act , passed in 2013, affirms that Illinois residents may not be treated any differently simply because they don’t have a home.

Matthew Piers, an attorney with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym who is helping represent Moore and Smith, said the Illinois Bill of Rights for the Homeless Act and the municipal code together mean the city can impose some restrictions on tents — like limiting what times they can be up — but don’t allow the prohibition of tents outright.

“Certainly the city couldn’t validly say you couldn’t pitch a tent in your backyard,” Piers said. “As long as they’re not blocking the public way, or creating a nuisance or even inconvenience to anybody else, I would seriously question any attempt to limit their use of tents.”

Moore and Smith’s noted that their tent overlooking the lake was not on a sidewalk.

Two police officers told WBEZ a third reason for taking the couple’s tent in July. They said tents were not allowed in the central business district. Anthony Guglielmi, spokesman for the police department, referred questions about the officers’ claim to the city’s Law Department and Department of Family and Social Services.

Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the Law Department, said no such law exists.

The city says it takes tents because of a non-binding agreement

City officials cite another basis for removing tents, a legal settlement called the Bryant Agreement .

The city reached the settlement with 16 homeless people in 2015. The agreement spells out how the city will conduct cleanings of sidewalk areas where homeless people live. It also lists what — and how many — personal possessions homeless people can keep with them.

McCaffrey, the Law Department spokesman, pointed to the agreement when asked about where homeless people can have tents in the city. In an email, he rattled off a list of items prohibited under the agreement: “Tents, non-air mattresses, box springs, potted plants, crates, large appliance boxes, carts, gurneys, wagons or furniture, including chairs, tables, couches and bed frames.”

However, McCaffrey’s list differs from what’s written in the agreement, which makes no specific mention of tents. McCaffrey did not respond to follow-up questions about why his language differed from that in the agreement or whether the off-street cleaning policies have changed.

Piers, the attorney, noted that the Homeless Bill of Rights has higher standing than the Bryant Agreement.

“[The Bryant Agreement] has no binding effect on any other person other than the signatories to the agreement,” Piers said. “And, by the way, at the city’s insistence it has no binding effect to the City of Chicago.”

For homeless people, the patchwork is confusing

Many homeless residents, like Moore and Smith, said the real problem is how to make sense of the city’s selective enforcement of its tent rules.

Moore and Smith said they regularly had their tents taken away from them when they were in areas that pedestrians do not frequent, such as lower-level streets downtown or highway exit ramps. By contrast, the city tolerated — often contentiously — dozens of tents on sidewalks that pedestrians regularly use at the Wilson and Lawrence Avenue viaducts in Uptown. The Uptown tent cities were eventually forced to disband in September, but only because of construction on the overpasses.

Diane O’Connell, an attorney with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless helping Moore and Smith, said she has concluded that the city aggressively removes tents when media aren’t looking. She noted the city backed down from removing tents in Uptown in 2016 after numerous news reports highlighted the difficulties those homeless residents would face going into the winter.

Neither Rottner nor McCaffrey answered a question about claims that the city enforces tent rules selectively.

Piers said the city’s uneven enforcement underscores a need for clear and binding rules.

Moore said he also needs clarity on another issue, namely why the city is allowed to seize their belongings. The Illinois Bill of Rights for the Homeless allows him the same security in his personal possessions as anyone with a home might expect.

“You can keep telling me to take it down, take it down, take it down,” Moore said. “But why do you have the right to keep taking it? That’s what I’m not understanding…  I purchased this. It’s not illegal for me to purchase. It’s not illegal for me to have. It’s not illegal for me to put up. Why do you keep taking it?”

Odette Yousef is a WBEZ reporter. Follow her @oyousef .

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How To Set Up a Tent Like an Expert Camper This Summer

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as drifting off to sleep in a well-pitched tent amid the great outdoors. Even when the storms arrive, once you’ve mastered the essentials of setting up your shelter properly, you can rest securely. If you’ve never pitched a tent before, or if you’re feeling a bit rusty after a long hiatus of city living, this article will show you how to set up a tent for a successful camping experience.

Pre-trip Planning

Selecting a campsite, weather strategies, pitching the tent, related guides.

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Before you head into the wilderness, set up your tent at home. This will help you familiarize yourself with your portable lodging, and alert you to any issues. Missing tent poles, broken zippers, and gaping are things you definitely don’t want to discover for the first time when you’re far from home.

Even if you’ve set up a camping tent many times before, be sure to read the instructions carefully. You don’t want to damage any parts by inadvertently inserting tent poles in the wrong slots. You’ll also want to inventory all of the parts. Make sure all pieces are present. If not, you’ll have to order replacements. Be sure to bring a copy of the instructions with you on the trip. It’s wise to photograph each of the pages, so you’ll have them handy in case you misplace the paper copy.

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Decide on your footprint strategy. A footprint is an extra piece of material that provides a moisture barrier and gives added protection to the tent flooring against punctures and abrasions. Many tents have strong flooring, but over time rocks, sand, twigs, and grit can wear away the integrity of your flooring, so it’s wise to have a footprint.

Tents that come with footprints are custom-sized to that tent. It should be slightly smaller than the dimensions of your tent floor so that water doesn’t pool under your tent. If you want to go low-tech, a tarp works fine; just make sure you fold it so that it’s smaller than the area of your tent floor.

Minimize impact by using existing campsites if pitching in a developed area. In more pristine places, pick a spot where vegetation is absent, and camp at least 200 feet from lakes, rivers, and streams. Remember to think of the maxim of Leaving No Trace. Keep your campsite small, pack out whatever you pack in, and keep fires (where permitted) small.

Rain and wind are the big things to keep in mind when selecting the best place to pitch your tent. Choose a natural windbreak, like trees, a hill, or rock formations between your tent and the oncoming breeze. Be mindful of your immediate environment. Avoid camping under dead or damaged trees where falling limbs could pose hazards. Face the side of your tent with the strongest pole structure toward the wind.

When rain is a bigger concern, make sure you orient doors away from the direction of the oncoming rain and wind. Don’t camp in a low area wedged between two higher areas. Water can pool there when a storm arrives.

Read more: Tips for Rainy Day Camping

Once you’ve selected a spot, clear debris from the ground — rocks, twigs, and other objects that could damage your tent and lead to an uncomfortable night’s sleep. If the wind is high, stake down your tent corners right away. You can always fine-tune the tent’s position later on, but you don’t want your tent blowing around while trying to set up.

Slowly unfurl your poles, and avoid hasty movements which can cause damage while you’re connecting the poles. Aim to get your stakes in vertically (rather than at an angle), which will give the best holding power for your tent. If you can’t get the stake in with your hand or foot, use a large rock for the job (you can also bring along a special mallet for this). Have extra stakes handy in case one gets damaged or lost.

After you’ve set up the tent, attach the rainfly using the Velcro wraps that typically tie onto the tent poles. This will add stability and strength to your tent. The tent rainfly should be taut. Recheck periodically as changes in weather can cause slackening; always recheck before entering the tent each night.

In calm weather, you can consider foregoing the use of guylines. But if strong winds or bad weather is in the forecast, it’s wise to set up guylines. You’ll attach these to strategic points around the rainfly. Guyout points are usually found midway up the tent over a pole. Bring an extra cord for the guyline and additional stakes to anchor the guyline in place. Attach a fixed knot to the tent’s guyout point, then run the guyline out to a stake that’s well away from the tent corner. Make sure the line is taut.

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The importance of hiking hydration cannot be understated whether you're hitting the trails for a few hours or multiple weeks. But having enough water for hiking these distances can be a logistical challenge. As hikers, we should consume around half a liter of water every hour. But wait, that means that even for a four-hour hike, we have to carry two liters — that's two extra kilograms — of weight with us.

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For many of us, camping is the perfect excuse for a proper digital detox. It’s a great time to put down the cell phone, leave the tablet at home, and forget about Netflix & Chill for a while. But mixing a little tech with your outdoor adventures isn’t always a bad thing, especially if it can make your trip planning faster, easiest, and just plain better. With that in mind, one new company wants to help travelers plan their next great car and RV camping trips using smart, AI-powered search. The robot revolution is here!

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An ‘Uptown Coastal Natural Area’ Coming To Lakefront — But It Will Require The Removal Of A Tent Encampment

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UPTOWN — A natural area is coming to the Uptown lakefront, bringing coastal-friendly plantings and landscaping to a portion of park land that houses a tent encampment.

Crews for the Park District will begin work this week on the Uptown Coastal Natural Area, which will turn a 6-acre grass lawn into a native space friendly to migrating birds that can also mitigate climate change impacts. The coastal natural area will come to the portion of Lincoln Park west of DuSable Lake Shore Drive between Wilson and Lawrence Avenues.

But to start the work, the Park District will have to remove a 25-person strong tent encampment that has formed in recent years on the park land and whose numbers swelled this summer.

With the camp’s residents facing removal, Uptown activists and housing advocates are asking the city to pause the project until all those living in the park are given permanent housing.

“They tell us we can move somewhere else. You going to push us to the end of the world?” said Ashley, who lives in the tent encampment and asked not to give her last name. “We’re not here to fight. We just want a safe space to move along to.”

The Park District’s plans call for turning the existing turf lawn into a natural space with native wildflowers, grasses and shrubs. Invasive plant species will be removed from the area, but existing trees and shrubs will stay.

Some of the plan is adopted from a Lincoln Park design from famed landscape architect Alfred Caldwell. The 1930s proposal called for a “naturalistic effect” in the lakefront park that would include meadows and fields of native plantings, according to the Park District.

When completed, the natural area will act as a stop for migratory birds and bring more green space to the neighborhood. It will also help absorb and filter stormwater, according to the Park District. Walking paths will allow neighbors to take in the natural area.

Work is slated to start Friday with construction fencing beginning to go up Wednesday. The fencing will come down in fall 2023, according to a Park District news release.

The project has been in the works since at least 2016, when an advocacy group brought the idea to parks officials. The Park District received a $116,000 grant from the federal government in 2021 to go toward the coastal natural area. The Park District is matching that grant for a total project cost of just more than $232,000.

Much of the park will be closed during the improvements. Sidewalks on the perimeter of the park will remain accessible during the work, according to the Park District.

Park District staff have told residents of the tent encampment they will have to move to make room for the project, residents and activists said Tuesday.

Rather than tell them to move to other open land, tent city residents and their supporters are asking the city to find the residents permanent housing, they said.

“We want natural habitats,” Adam Gottlieb, organizer with Chicago Union of the Homeless, said at a news conference Tuesday. “What we’re against is the harassment of the people who are already using this park as a sanctuary. … What they really need is a stable housing situation.”

In a joint statement Wednesday, Chicago Park District and Department of Family and Support Services officials said notices of pending construction have been in place since Aug. 15. Family and Support Services has been working with the camp residents to connect them with housing and will continue to do so until construction begins.

“It is not illegal to be homeless in the city of Chicago, and [Department of Family and Support Services] keeps the rights of these individuals top of mind while balancing needs of the entire community,” the statement read.

People facing homelessness have set up tents in this section of Lincoln Park for years, and the tents are thought of as part of the larger encampment under the Wilson and Lawrence avenue viaducts at DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

But after a series of fires under the Lawrence Avenue viaduct this year, residents of the encampment were told to move to adjacent park land so work could be done to the fire-damaged viaduct.

Residents of the viaduct mostly moved to the park space set to house the coastal natural area. Some of them plan to move back under the viaducts and are waiting for new tents before they do so, said Tom Gordon, known as the mayor of the Uptown tent city.

But some people have lived in open park space for some time and have no plans to relocate to the viaducts, Gordon said.

Seeking to stop the encampment’s ouster, Uptown neighbors and activists are camping in the park to call on the city to house the tent residents. It is the same group who for 11 days occupied the former Weiss Hospital parking lot set to become 314 apartments.

After being removed from the development site last week, the group known as “Rise Uptown” moved to the adjacent park land that is to become the natural area. The development and the park improvements are projects the city has prioritized over housing those on the streets, the group said Tuesday.

“Uptown doesn’t need any more luxury housing,” Gordon said. “We need affordable housing for everyone because Uptown is for everyone.”

The encampment includes people from all walks of life who have fallen on hard times.

One resident has lived there recently after falling into homelessness, which caused him to miss graduating from high school, he said. Another resident, Unique Simmons, is a single mother who is working to start an organization dedicated to helping those who are down on their luck.

“Being homeless, it’s hard to stay in college and raise a kid,” Simmons said. “Being homeless does not mean being lazy or you don’t want to work.”

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With a tent stake planted firmly in the underbelly of Austin's entertainment life.

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Local News | Newport Beach looks to keep tent encampment off…

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Local news | newport beach looks to keep tent encampment off streets, beaches and public places.

In response to results from a City Council committee that reviewed ways for getting the community’s homeless residents off the streets and into shelter housing, Newport Beach officials are looking at prohibiting tent encampments in public areas.

The new ordinance will be reviewed on Tuesday, July 11, for a second vote and, if approved, would go into effect 30 days later. The new law is a revision of a previous anti-camping law in the city and makes it clear to anyone in the public what is or is not acceptable in the public space, officials said.

It comes after the council in June accepted recommendations from an ad-hoc committee which was formed after several residents complained of homeless encampments and bad behavior in public facilities, especially near the Newport Beach Transit Center close to Fashion Island, on walkways and in parks in Corona del Mar and on the Balboa Peninsula.

The ordinance would prohibit people from sitting, sleeping or storing property that blocks access to businesses, schools and other facilities. It would keep people from using public restrooms as sleeping locations or a spot for personal hygiene and dish cleaning. The same goes for lawn sprinklers and other water features in parks and other public areas. It would also prohibit setting up any type of permanent structure by using tarps or sleeping bags and would ban fires in unpermitted areas.

“We were looking for a holistic approach,” said Councilwoman Robyn Grant, who, with Mayor Noah Blom and Councilwoman Lauren Kleiman, was part of the subcommittee that evaluated the city services available to people who are homeless within the city.

“We wanted to make sure the resources in our city are expended properly and that we end up moving the needle and help homeless people find permanent housing,” Grant said. “We wanted to make sure what we’re doing is consistent with available beds, so it’s not just a revolving door with people in and out and back on the streets.”

The ordinance, which received unanimous approval last month in the council’s first of two required votes, also comes alongside an updated agreement Newport Beach struck with the city of Costa Mesa with which it has partnered for shelter services. Recently, Costa Mesa decided to enlarge its shelter and with this new agreement, Newport Beach gets another five beds at a yearly cost of $275,000 and a one-time fee of $50,000 to pay for furniture and fixtures. That means the city will have 25 beds for its use at the shelter, as well as an opportunity to use up to five of Costa Mesa’s beds – for a daily fee – if they are not in use.

Newport Beach is set to be among a handful of Orange County cities that have passed no camping ordinances in recent years in the wake of lawsuits and challenges in the past against other cities, such as San Clemente, Anaheim, Orange and Costa Mesa, for making it illegal to sleep on public property without providing an alternative option.

Grant said the city isn’t just looking to prevent people camping on the streets, but it also works with partners, such as Be Well and City Net , to provide a variety of resources for people to access instead. The city also has a staffer dedicated to addressing needs and the Police Department has a homeless liaison officer.

The city has also created Good Giving, a website where residents can go to contribute to vetted groups or agencies experienced in homeless outreach such as 2-1-1, a free 24-hour information and referral helpline; Mercy House, which helps housing and comprehensive support; Serving People In Need (SPIN OC), that helps families in need of housing; Chrysalis, which creates pathways to self-sufficiency; Second Chance OC, which helps people recovering from addiction; and Share Our Selves, which helps with healthcare for people.

“We have many residents who want to be part of the solution,” Grant said.

If the ordinance is passed on Tuesday, Grant said enforcement of the new law will be phased in.

“We’re not looking at surprising anyone,” she said. “We’ll use all the resources to help people get housed and get them off the street.”

Recently, a city cleanup crew took down some unpermitted structures near the transportation center. But, Blom said the cleanup of the encampment there was unrelated to the new ordinance.

The city hopes to put pickleball courts in an area there that is underutilized, he said, and the removal of the structures was part of work being done to cut sidewalks and add more parking at that location. At the same time, the Irvine Co. had pulled a permit to do some landscaping on a media in the area and that was also cordoned off, he said.

“We’re looking at every possible option to make the city hygienic and clean for residents as well,” Blom said. “What’s tough is that we’re constantly battling against people who don’t want to leave the streets. We’re doing everything we can on both sides of the coin. We’re looking to assist people to live their best life.”

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