Find out about vehicle dwellers and where Bristol vehicle dwellers live.

About vehicle dwellers

Vehicle dwellers can include:

  • people living in converted vans, caravans or motorhomes
  • individuals experiencing homelessness who use vehicles as shelter
  • travellers or nomadic communities

Vehicle dwellers are not the same as Ethnic Travellers (Gypsy Roma Travellers).

People live in vehicles for different reasons.

These include:

  • a lack of affordable housing
  • moving on from street homelessness
  • moving around for work

Vehicle dwellers are a developing community. The number of vehicle dwellers in Bristol has grown significantly in recent years, bringing new challenges with it.

Where Bristol's vehicle dwellers live

Bristol has over 600 lived-in vehicles in the city.

These are on:

  • council operated meanwhile sites
  • the kerbside
  • private sites
  • squatted encampments