You do not want to stay at an extended stay. This is a city without affordable housing or overnight homeless shelters (except about 50 nights a year), and as such, the low-end hotels and extended stays fill that gap. Look for an airbnb that takes long-term stays or a furnished month-to-month apartment.

https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2020/12/15/springfield-missouri-declines-lift-ban-tents-unsheltered-homeless/3906285001/

"As a result, we do not allow residential living in tents and under tarps on any private or municipal property throughout the community in an unregulated fashion," City Manager Jason Gage said in the letter. 

This is also enforced against people sleeping in cars. You can fault my sources, but this is absolutely the policy of this city.

I don't care if you believe me. But I'm right.

The point is the city would not allow this, even on private (church) property. We asked, the answer was no. We asked for a car parking lot, and a tent area, and the answer was no, because of the anti-camping ordinance.

https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2020/12/05/naacp-task-force-asking-city-temporarily-allow-homeless-camping/6475905002/ for example.

I am one of Springfield's leading homelessness advocates, I have served on numerous task forces dealing with this issue, and I'm telling you, this is how it is. I don't have time to look up the letter of the law for you right now, but I can assure you this is the actual practice of the city.

We specifically fought for this during covid when shelters were closed and got very much nowhere.

Freedom is for members of the Chamber of Commerce only.

Consider: the best and cheapest way to keep your van cool and comfortable on a warm/hot night is to open windows while you sleep. Except now you're more vulnerable to assault/theft/whatnot than you were before.

If you're not considering temperature as a safety risk, you're not ready to live in a van in Springfield MO.

No, the ordinance in question has been around 5+ years. You can probably find news articles about when we tried to get city council to suspend it in 2020 so people could camp during the pandemic while shelters were closed, and were told to bug off.

But if you park in a safer neighborhood, expect a neighbor to call the cops on you more or less instantly.

No. In Springfield, it is illegal even with the permission of the landowner. Even if I gave you permission to park in my driveway or behind my business, all it takes is one neighbor complaining, and you're being hassled by the cops again.

It's not 30%. It's like 95%, at least around here. Basically every homeless woman I know (and I know most of them) has been assaulted at some point.

I'm not saying it is a good idea. (It is not.) It is, however, the reality.

It's just basic physics - you've got very inside air, and unless you're holding it at temperature, the retained heat/cold in the seats/bedding/everything is fighting against you constantly. And to make matters worse, you open a door and lose most of whatever hot/cold air you tried to create. And then of course, it's small, so you're constantly getting cold/heat conducted in through the outside walls/glass, which are never more than a foot or two from you. Compare that to an apartment, where the outside walls are thick and heavy/dense, and you've got other warm/cool airboxes on 2-5 sides of your air-box. Vanlife seems romantic, but unless you're doing it somewhere where living in an actual tent would be tolerable, it isn't.

Beyond that, Vanlife Instagram tends to center itself around fairly temperate climates, like CA and the PNW. There's a reason for that.

Here in SGF, we have Real Winter and Hot AF Summer. The amount of (expensive) gas you're looking at to maintain safe and comfortable temps in a small, poorly-insulated (at least relative to basically any conventional dwelling) van is very, very high.

And just to be clear about the scope of the issue: Springfield has an anti-camping ordinance which also extends to sleeping in vehicles. Even on private property. So even if you had a kind friend who said you could park in their driveway, if one of their neighbors complained or a cop happened to notice, you'd be forced to move.

Danger is not so much the issue. "It's illegal, and you will be repeatedly hassled by the cops," is very much the issue.