Living Homeless in the Desert 

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The craziest part is that those people have been there for 5-8 YEARS and the Deputies are saying they go out there all the time but have never met them. 🤦🏾‍♀️ telling on y’all’s self

He been there 8 years, and they never met him. That tells you everything you need to know.

Better out in the middle of the desert than in our cities.

If I lived out in the desert I would at least keep my area clean and not have random trash all over the place. These people are crazy.

I was bad on Xanax for a part of my life and my drug use led me to have my girl and 2 daughters aged 4 and 2 to live in a VW Passat. My girl left me for another dude and it was the biggest eye opener of my life. Having to shower in sinks and parking in random places to crash, but the whole time making my daughters go thru it changed me. Now ten years later I'm able to take my girls to the movies out to eat and buy them a toy when we go to the store. Never lose hope in yourself and never depend on any one. You don't know how strong you are till you face this adversity.

You can tell the LA sheriff was just going out for the cameras because they didn't know any of the people out there or their story. The equipment was all new and the sent a lieutenant.

I'm currently living out of a cargo trailer in New Mexico. I can relate to what these people are going through. 😢

not a single person in this world deserves to live like this. It is straight up horrible and unfair. I hope our world comes to a point it wakes up and see which problems to solve first!

Doubtful that outreach team goes out even monthly. I mean not knowing people who’ve been out there 5-8 years? Says a lot

As a former homeless person, I'm not afraid to say that the reason authorities get rid of homeless camps isn't because "it's a crime to be homeless." It's because homeless camps bring crime, drugs, filth, and other disturbances. It's not uncommon for homeless people to commit crimes to cope with their homelessness.

this is crazy i was one of the homeless in Lancaster for over 7 year but I left Cali

I'm a dissabled veteran...I have severe mental and physical health issues. If not for my wife, who has patiently taken care of me and helped me with handling our finances, helping me to eat, and find housing...I would be living on the street alone...or dead. No, I don't do drugs , but without a loving family and any hope for the future...dayum. I think I'd drown in a bottle or die with needle in my arm to escape the he'll life can be. Everyone is at risk of homelessness, most people are just to ignorant to recognize there own fragility.

I have a disability. Without my family’s care and they’re ability to help support me, I could be one of these folks. So tragic.

Sad that there are no means of keeping the area clean and tidy.

I was "homeless" living in my van with three dogs in 08 after the big housing crash. Second time I was homeless due to a recession which was self inflicted. Both times I got myself out of the problem by not giving up and finding work. I got myself off the streets. Now I own my own place and two vehicles. I'm not rich by any means and I will have to work in order to eat until the day I die. I never asked anyone for help. I did it all on my own. It wasn't easy but I didn't have a drug problem and I was determined not to live life on the streets. Here we are in 23, again suffering from a self inflicted recession which could easily turn into a major depression. If that happens I think more than 50 percent of the population will end up homeless. Listen for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for you.

My son was homeless in Los Angeles for over 3 years. He got his big break when he tried to kill himself and ended up in a mental hospital. A social worker took interest in him and got him into counseling and a halfway house. The state helped him get into barber school, and he landed a full-time job. He eventually received a HUD voucher so he could afford housing on his own. It's really sad to think he had to almost die to get noticed. My heart goes out to all the homeless in our country. Many of them just need the right person to care.

We are no longer a society that allows people to just be somewhere without a purpose. I feel like once I leave my home, I can’t just stand or sit in one spot and do nothing without attracting suspicion. People start wondering what you’re doing and call the cops. It’s kind of unsettling to realize that.

I live in Bakersfield, CA, Kern County. Not far from Lancaster. Fresno and Los Angeles give their homeless $500 and a 1 way bus ticket to Bakersfield. We have 1 shelter here with 130 beds, for a homeless population of 4000+. The homeless resources available here are a joke, at best. In order to get help, unless you are a mom with kids, a veteran, or have a terminal illness, you are the last on the list to get help. Oh, and the main honelessb outreach has to "find you", don't call and ask. Theres many families who live along the river. Until recently, code enforcement would give homeless people 72 hrs to clear camp and move. They passed a new thing recently, no 72 hours. Police show up, a bulldozer destroys their tents and belongings, leaving them with nothing and they have to move. To where??

Not all homeless people are bad. But there are those who give us a bad name. My camp is clean and uncluttered. My last camp was raided. My stuff was stolen and my tent was ripped open. I'm retired but I work part time to eat. I fly a sign only when I have to. The homeless problem is not going to go away. But the rent situation is out of hand. The same apartment that I payed $450 a month for is now going for $1000 to $1200 a month. That's insane. I'd rather not be a part of society. I don't like where it's going. All the things going on in the world are shadows of things to come. Things are only going to get worse. I know y'all won't believe me but tribulation is coming. I don't know when it will start, but we don't have much longer.

I was homeless for 5 years in a smaller town (about one fifth the size of Lancaster's 174 thousand people) in Michigan. One winter it got as cold as 25 below zero at night for a spell of days and some poor guy froze to death sleeping in the back of a pickup truck. The first thing you have to realize is most people really don't care. Except for a blessed few most people are worried about their own problems and you are lucky if they don't see you as a threat. You have to help yourself. The most important thing is to stay away from drugs and alcohol. I suppose that is easy for me to say because I have been able to do it, but you have to want to stay clean. Being clean and sober is a good life no matter what else you are forced to deal with. Every day we are alive is a gift from God. Thank Him for it by living it with clear eyes and a clear brain. Fight your demons without the devils crutch and ask our creator sincerely for the help you need to deal with your cravings for escape. The second thing is get a job. Any job. And commit to staying employed no matter how much it sucks. You need that paycheck and open a bank account and save as much as you can. There will always be people who have more and people who have less. People respect you if you have a job and money in the bank. Find a way out. What do you need? A place to sleep where you won't get rousted in the middle of the night by the cops or worse yet some psychopath out wandering around. You need food, water, a place to take a shower once in awhile, some clean clothes. I was quite impressed with the Kensington campus. 300 rooms on 14 acres. Apparently some people in Lancaster do care and have the ability to get something done and make some progress. Maybe it is not for you but it is a blueprint for simple affordable living. A place to establish a community that is acceptable to the rest of society where you can build friendships and networks that will bring some stability. It could be a place that serves as a launch pad to maybe one day strike out and buy a couple acres in the desert, build a real house that's neat and legal and complies with zoning restrictions etc. Anyway this is my two cents worth. It's the plan I followed and I found out the more you help yourself the more other people will help you. I was eventually able to find a house that was cheap because it had been neglected for a long time by people with problems. It had finally been abandoned and was being vandalized and I bought it before it was torn down. I have been working on it ever since. It is nice to own a piece of land and call it home.

our society is morally bankrupt

One time when I was walking around near downtown Lancaster, this homeless guy just walked out of the desert and asked for a meal. When I bought him some food, the staff of the McDonald's tried to chase him off. They thought he was stealing it from me

that cop playing it up for the camera then saying "See we gave them bottles of water, there is no tension now move along."

How horrible can you be to throw someone without a home out of somewhere they made a home….

The most powerful and riichest nation on earth all politicians say proudly.

Over half of America is 1 week too 3 months of bad choices from being homeless… Sometimes your world falls apart and some don’t know how too rebuild it!! I pray for those people.

"Trust is taken long time ago"🙂 God bless this amazing people.

I have been homeless several different times in my life. I was never on drugs or drank alcohol, always was gainfully employed. Its a really big struggle. My heart goes out to all these people.

Went through this experience at a really young age and never want to go back to it, you really don't know how hard u struggle to know where you're going to sleep that day unless you've gone through that, I remember having to spend days sitting on a park bench just thinking of what was gonna happen next, thankfully I'm doing fine now but when you've gone through that there's always that fear of becoming homeless again, it's always in the back of your mind, sometimes you just tear up thinking about how bad things were, anyways I just went on a tangent but my point is to just show some sympathy to these people because you don't know their situation or how they ended up there

I'm in my fifties and I have been living in my camper trailer for six years. I carry in my water by the gallon. I'm in the high desert at the edge of the canyon, so I have trees for shade, but they reduce my solar exposure in winter. I'm above the five thousand foot altitude, so winter can get pretty cold. I keep investing in my trucks, I need tires for my tow rig, and I hope to save for a bigger trailer some day. My current trailer is only 20 feet, and was built in 1977 so it is pretty rough. I don't know how I will ever be able to live in a real home again. It seems so out of reach. The have-nots work full time just to shove their money into the pockets of the wealthy, for a simple roof over their heads. With nothing more to show for it. There are a lot of other old people living in campers in this valley, so, I know I'm not the only one. On the bright side, I'm a tough old bastard. I'm good at living rough, I make it look easy. I'm in better shape than ever and can endure more than people my age can. Comforts seem to just make us soft and complacent. Those conditioned to live this way are hardly effected by the decline of civilization. They're used to it. Those who are accustomed to living amid danger are somehow, more free to live.

I am from Peru, came to New York with borrowed money in 2000, I have been working with homeless and substance use population since I graduated college in 2008. There is a lot to be done, however, this is still the greatest country on earth.

Before I ended up living in the streets I contacted a trucking corporation and they trained me to get my CDL I don’t have a home but I live in my truck and earn money in 3 years I’m planning to buy a house for now i live in this comfortable truck.

regular homeless outreach “nice to meet you”

The cops that were recorded were sooo shady… can’t imagine what else goes down off camera.

Watching this and having inside contacts I will confirm the homeless in Lancaster are regarded as less than human by the sheriff’s department and community. It’s so sad. Kudos to the young lady standing her ground. Our country needs to stop thinking out of sight resolves the problem.

It’s early dawn in the desert. The sky is starting to glow with light but the sun is still yet to rise. You’re standing there, looking at an ordinary desert bush. You’re struck by its geometric beauty, the mathematical precision of its fractally-arranged leaves. You feel an impulse to reach out. You run your fingers through its little green leaves. They feel spikey and alive.

I live in Palmdale, which is directly south of Lancaster. The summers here are BRUTAL and the winters can get into the teens and even single digits. It doesn’t snow every year, but every now and then we’ll get decent snow. I can’t imagine living in this area in the summer without AC or in the winter without proper heating

As someone who was born and raised in Lancaster.. while also having a grandfather who was homeless this hit hard. I can’t thank Vice enough for shedding a light on this subject while other continue to cast shadows and turn a blind eye.

Living on public land is one thing. Trashing it with garbage is another and unacceptable!!!

"we go out there all the time" then proceeds to ask "how long you been here?" she is like "5 years" lmao 🤣

People doesn’t realize how easy it is to go from having it all, to one day wake up and see that you lost it all. You need a lot of discipline and mental strength not to fall all the way down and be able to bounce back up….

This hurt. I've been homeless. Only for 6 months and I've not even had to sleep on the streets, but just the sheer fact of waking up and not knowing where you'll sleep at night is extremely debilitating. It's hard to survive and take care of your daily needs. There's hardly room to invest in a future. I cannot imagine also having to fight an opposing force; a government that is supposed to help you. Then to also be vilified by people that are just one paycheck away from being you. Absolute madness. These people in the desert have all my respect and then some.

It’s incredible how they paint these people as victims like they don’t commit the majority of violent crimes.

I am living in a tent in the woods behind a shopping center now..I hardly sleep because I'm scared to.i dig in the trash can for food and beg..I'm so ashamed I'm in this situation I just don't want to live anymore.

“Home of the free” is a cruel joke for that last guy. “Just leave us alone, we’re not in anybody’s way.” But they won’t. I can’t think of much that’s more in unamerican than not leaving someone alone in the middle of nowhere

I was homeless in San Diego didn’t know a single soul , the shelter was full and I slept on the sidewalk, one thing the shelters did was give you some resources like use of there telephones for job searching and a voice mail , I immediately started making phone calls got a job and after a week got a paycheck and stayed another month on the street saved enough to get a apartment then a car saved and saved and pulled myself out of the street and became a productive citizen again I did it and many others can do it with hard work and determination

Deputy actually says to the lady, "I think you're a beautiful young woman." Good god man. How about, "You're vulnerable and the County cares."

Heart breaking. So glad they aren't alone out there at least

Idk how it's possible to NOT be homeless in America, the ways things are now. If you don't have connections, all it takes is one bad fall at work or a wreck, things fall apart. Absolutely no safety net in America.

I have personally lived right in that exact same desert, with those same people. And I can promise you those deputies do not go out there. I have never even once seen them there. That desert is brutal brutal.

In the recession of 1982-84, the engineering firm I worked for went under, in June 1982, and about 250 of us in San Francisco were let go. By November 1982, I had burned though 1/3 of my savings and realized that I couldn't just keep paying rent with no prospects for a job, so I put my stuff in storage and became a homeless person, living in my vehicle in Death Valley National Monument for 8 weeks. Then I got word that a relative in Sacramemto had offered to let me stay with them while I got my life together, which took another year - I didn't finally land another job in my profession until January 1984, in Sacramento. I had hoped to move back to the Bay Area, since San Francisco is my home town, but by the late 1980's, it was hopeless - housing prices for either rent or a mortgage were 2 to 4 times what I was paying in Sacramento, I was married by then, and had landed a job with CalTrans. Anyway, when I became homeless, I was only 24 years old, and at that age, I had a reasonable hope that I'd eventually be working again when the economy recovered from the recession, and in the end, I only was homeless for 2 months, and staying with that relative for 10 months, and I was never unemployed again until I retired. But a lot of the homeless I see in camps around Sacramento now, and in this video, are much, much older than I was. How the hell is someone 55+ years old supposed to recover from losing everything? Not all of the homeless are drug addicts or have mental health problems, they're just older people who were renting, and got discarded by The System as redundant and obsolete. WTF are these older people supposed to do? No one wants to hire someone who has less than 10 years to go to Social Security age. Employers want young people that can be paid lower salaries than older, more experienced workers, and who are willing to work tons of overtime because they are trying to save enough for a down payment on a house, they have a kid or three to support, likely a car payment, and maybe student loans to pay off. Most of the people in this video are, for all practical purposes, unemployable just because of how old they are. And I make that statement not knowing anything about their job skills, education, or past employment history. Sarah Odum has a decent chance to get back into the mainstream; she's young (and white, and a female). But even for Sarah, how is she supposed to make herself ready for job interviews when she is living in a tent? We will never solve this problem until we can get people into free (temporary) housing, so that they can have a stable home base from which to look for employment and be ready to look presentable for job interviews. From there, they can rebuild their lives and get back into regular housing. As for people with substance-abuse problems and severe mental-health issues, I don't even have a clue as to how society should proceed. But I know that just leaving them in tents and doorways isn't what I was taught 50 years ago in school about what America is supposed to stand for.

My heart goes to those who are in that situation and can't wait to be out of it. On the other hand, many of those people are violent,dealing drugs, guns, and burning down trailers. I've seen it all with that kind of people. I was held at gun point at my shop by one of them, and the police did nothing.

There’s a disconnect between needs and providing in the socioeconomic hierarchy of California. Literally 5th in economic world power and has over half of the nations homeless. Make it make cents. The wealth gap is caving in and swallowing up the unfortunate.

8:58 after watching all of this I don't truly believe the cops that go out there are interested in truly helping them.

That is so sad for people who homeless and they also love their pets,please God bless and help those people....

Wait, if they're out there everyday, then why didn't they know about the lady who had been living there for FIVE YEARS?

Unbelievable how a country can afford to treat it's citizens like trash.

I've been homeless and it sucks and can lead you down a very dark road.. America doesn't care I promise that but I moved back to my hometown and busted butt to get myself together and I have a beautiful little apartment and thank God daily for how far I have come and that I have a roof

As someone who's been to Lancaster multiple times. It's hell out there.

These are incredibly resilient and resourceful individuals.

Thank you Vice News for making this video. I can relate with those individuals because they are my neighbors. May they find comfort and blessings 🙏 peace my brothers and sisters

And yet the federal minimum wage is still at $7.25hr.

The music in background is annoying.

I can understand homelessness and sympathize with folks who need to make their shelters where ever they can. What I don't understand is why all the trash? Crates, old tires. Why make a junk yard?

I recently went through a similar situation and am still in a precarious living situation. It's easier to die than to live sometimes. To those living in the desert, dry boondocking as they are, please be extremely careful about your water sources. I became extremely ill and in the hospital after using dishes that had been washed in what turned out to be non potable water. Dawn isn't strong enough to kill all water borne illnesses. My prayers are with all those untouched. It's an inhumane way to exist

I think it’s easy to look down on people like this but I don’t think we understand how easily we can end up in situations like these.

Valley got struck by a huge wildfire summer 2020 and now there's no affordable housing and tents all over town and lots of people sleeping on the streets.

I went to school with Sarah at Joshua hills. It's sad to see her like that.

It’s crazy being out here in Mojave for work and seeing this video. Weather conditions are brutal here in the summer. I work in a trade outside in the elements and couldn’t imagine having to live life out in desert. It’s the winter time frame right now and it’s super cold.

I was homeless 4 months in 2019 and that was the worse part of my life.

Depressing for sure

I’m currently living in my grand marquis in Phoenix Arizona, I moved 1900 miles from cinci Ohio for life worth living. I’ve been beat my police, I’ve been scared from the shot that has happened to me since I’ve been in the streets. Phoenix has been nice towards me so far. It’s hard people assuming you’re a degenerate or trash cause you’re less fortunate.

Grew up homeless. Was a ward of the state from 12 to 16 when I got my GED, and was emancipated from my parents. Unfortunately I immediately repeated the pattern initially. Now I'm licensed tradesman, landowner, and do volunteer work in my spare time. Only thing I can say is, do not doubt yourself. Plenty of others will do that for you. Focus on your strengths, and learn from your mistakes, and hopefully the mistakes of others.

Wow I'm so moved by this story and I truly appreciate 🙏 and hope that your channel will continue shining ✨️ Peace, Love and Light Always ✨️ ❤️ 💕

Heartbreaking what is happening to people because of this outrageous housing crisis

This story is so one sided - homeless is not the issue for most the the people out there. There are four groups, mental health issues, addictions, financial hardship and those that want that way of life that is the real issue. Each area has to be treated differently to cure the root problem not lumped into one group. The story only covered that they don't have homes but did not address the real issues. The only people that need heavy policing is the group that wants to live that way the rest of the groups need good mental health, addiction intervention, financial assistance.

I've been homeless 14 months & the people in this video said so many truthful things. Praying for you folks in the desert and for every homeless person. Praying for solutions. Praying for miracles.

This place needs to be addressed and disposed of, ENOUGH ALREADY

If Gary doesn't have anything, why do you need to blur his stupid license plate 🤔

This is Merika. The only reason the Hopi, Zuni and Navajos survived relatively intact was that their land was so resource-poor no one bothered to take it away from them.

I love how they came up with a pc term for homelessness “unhoused” 🙄I was homeless once upon a time and they just called us homeless

if ur not taxed youre an outsider , unwanted .

Interesting... I was born in Lancaster, CA and haven't been back since my youth

This “humanitarian effort police outreach program” is most likely, simply a fishing/spying operation to probably keep track of what the unhoused are doing and if any arrests need to take place.

"It is hard to imagine a more stupid, or more dangerous way of making decisions;than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong" -Thomas Sowell

Good job reporting

Did I hear that correctly? $2000 a month for a one bed apt in that armpit of a city Lancaster? No thank you. Will continue living in my car.

Not having enough money to afford expensive housing in America is a crime. And people with money are for the most part are complete "A" holes. As a disabled Veteran on social security and a small VA disability check living 3 times under the poverty level in America I live in fear of becoming homeless. For now I am OK and at 78 who knows where I will be in the future.

I drove through there this year on holiday with my family. We were en route from LV to LA… we wanted to see some Joshua Trees and desert landscape up close. I can honestly say the landscape is brutal and harsh. It’s beautiful but I can’t begin to understand how hard it would be to live in such a barren place. Much respect to those people.

My Uncle Henry lived in the Quartz Hill area of Lancaster California. He then moved up to Redding California and after that, to Spokane Washington.

I know how everyone feels ...me I'm just waiting on my death ...at nite I go to sleep trying to picture heaven where there's no bad and where I can see the people I miss so bad .. This place has become so evil and hateful its nothing I had pictured growing up... At 60 I now question everything I was taught in my younger days And I never ever had a clue that one day everything I had worked for would be gone because of my so called family.. Never did I think my dog would become the most important thing to me .. My dad warned me about alot of things and now I replay all he told me that would happen but back then you couldn't tell me nothing ... But I always knew if it did ever get bad not to worry cause my best friend of 20 years (my wife) would be by my side ..... So much for that bullshit I guess the grass was greener on the other side ... I now trust nothing but this dog and she truly is the only thing I have that makes me feel loved ... Cell phones have taken the place of ( porches and shade trees ) now nobody gets out to visit.... I can't remember now what it feels like to go to a family reunion are just cooking out ... Being homeless for almost 10 years now I've learned onething and that is if you have nothing , you don't have to worry somebody else will get it cause it ain't there ... I still find it easy to feel sorry for people who are also homeless.. Regardless not having a home does not make you a homeless person BUT NOT HAVING FAMILY AND LOVED ONES ....that makes you a homeless person ... And I'm very sure there's a million folks who have it worse than me but until they get here I'll just keep their seat warm ..

I had a friend who lived in Lancaster. I've visited, it's a rough town. Not a lot of sympathy from law enforcement.

Wow! The lack of sympathy in these comments is harsh! Unless you've been in these situations you dont know how difficult it is to make it in this environment.

This journalist is amazing. Iv seen them in a few of your videos now and I feel the way they handle the situations within journalism very well. like staying unbiased even though you know you are looking for an answer and pointing out clear facts to interviewees (like in this video stating we might not have seen hostile behavioral because cameras are around). The comments like that are amazing. Keeping control and understanding, showing the people you know what's up, they can't persuade this journalist with quick lines and fancy words. That gives us as the viewer very good information when understanding how companies work and use their people to hide the truth within these topics. Thank you for your work. I never get the journalist name, but I'm always willing to take a moment a see what they have going on because I know it will be solid.

Everything has a cost. This is one of the costs of living in a free society.

What's insanely frustrating is everyone looks at this as a local problem. This is a national / federal problem. There's migration happening. There's a rebhab industrial complex feeding this too. Very few understand the entire picture. This needs federal $ and energy.

I want to help people in need but I am tired of feeling used. Every person I gave money to in my area I found out later they used the money for drugs or alcohol... never food, shelter, water, clothes etc... It made me feel like I was enabling instead of helping.

The fact that appearances of cities are more valuable then the well being of it's people says a lot... I hope those people find a way out of those situations. Everyone deserves to live with dignity.

I used to work at a construction equipment dealer. One of the sadest and most guilty jobs i had to do was work on an excivator that was clearing out a homeless encampment to brake ground for a new condo build. It was painful to watch people being uprooted from what little they had and for the city to turn their back on them completely. My heart goes out to these people who are treated like absolute trash.