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After months of debate and vocal complaints from homeowners and businesses, Palo Alto is set on Dec. 8 to implement a ban on detached trailers and “vanlords,” those who rent out RVs on public streets.
The pair of proposed emergency ordinances, which the city of Palo Alto released to the public last week, would put the bans into effect immediately upon adoption, provided they receive support from at least six of the seven council members. At the same time, Palo Alto will update its municipal fee code to track the changes in the law — including a $500 fine for vanlords found in violation of the ordinance. The language, if adopted, will prevent the for-profit renting of what is essentially a public parking space.
“The practice of vanlording is unlicensed and unregulated and therefore often associated with unregistered, poorly maintained, and inadequately insured vehicles,” the ordinance states.
City officials have repeatedly emphasized that the vanlord ban is intended to target the person leasing the vehicle, rather than the tenant renting it. Vanlords are also subject to the existing rules governing oversized vehicle parking, including citations and towing. Even though there is no explicit punishment for the tenants of a vanlord, the new ordinance fails to explain what will happen to them once the ban goes into effect. For example, if a vanlord also violates the 72-hour parking ban and the city tows their vehicle, it remains unclear what would happen to the tenant of that vehicle and their belongings inside of it.
Some van tenants have already found themselves in that situation because the city recently upped enforcement efforts for oversized vehicles. Kate Bridget Li, who lives in an RV and rents out half a dozen others, told this publication in October that several of her vehicles were towed that month. Several of them were not currently rented, but in one case, she only found out because her tenant frantically called her because he returned from a medical visit to find his home missing.
Each time, Li pays the hefty fee to retrieve her vehicle from the towing company. She has repeatedly told this publication that she feels it is her life’s mission to provide housing to those in need. In light of the city’s impending ban on public streets, Li said she was looking into a private property option to continue her work.
“I see how, even just the rental, they take care of it. This is their little home,” Li told this publication in October. “This is a place that they can call home, they feel safe and secure, and they can have a rest at the end of the day, and they’re not asking so much.”
Palo Alto police could start enforcing the vanlord ban as soon as it is adopted: According to the ordinance language, posted signage is not required for enforcement.
The same cannot be said for the enforcement of detached trailer parking on public streets because state law mandates signage first. Palo Alto police will begin enforcing towing and other citations two weeks after the signs go up, a process that is set to begin this month and wrap up by the spring, according to the staff report, The city anticipates having to cough up as much as $4 million to cover the cost of new signs citywide.
The two-week grace period will help law enforcement conduct outreach to people living in detached trailers who would now be subject to towing and fines, the staff report added. Trailers with an operable vehicle attached are not covered by the ban.
“These trailers reduce parking availability and circulation on City streets and, because they cannot be readily moved, create risks in an emergency and may be more prone to violating the 72-hour rule, among other impacts,” the staff report states.
Justin Harper, who lives among a small community of RV residents in south Palo Alto, previously told this publication that some members of his group live in detached trailers like the ones that will soon be banned from public street parking. When the group has to move every few days to comply with the 72-hour parking limit, he says there is always someone available to help tow the trailers to the next location if the person doesn’t have their own car to do so.
Harper spent his Monday afternoon in front City Hall, making signs to raise awareness about the impact of the new ordinances on the community of vehicle dwellers. A larger demonstration that had previously been planned for Dec. 1 was called off on Monday afternoon.
“It doesn’t really feel like they have any alternatives for the people that are living in trailers, after talking to the City Council people,” Harper said.
In the meantime, Palo Alto police have increased enforcement of the 72-hour parking ban, with RV residents reporting more frequent citations and towing. RV parking throughout the city tends to concentrate in the industrial areas of south Palo Alto with some spillover into residential neighborhoods, including along Fabian Way, East Meadow Circle and Park Boulevard.
Business owners and residents in these areas have long asked the city to respond to the influx in RV homelessness in their neighborhoods, which they say creates parking and sanitation issues.
The city’s approach takes the form of a phased policy, approved in October. The bans on detached vehicles and vanlords were a priority for city officials, and with those in place, Palo Alto will look to increase street sweeping and install new signage citywide. Mayor Ed Lauing also formed an ad hoc committee dedicated to addressing RV homelessness, whose members have begun outreach to find new safe parking sites.
The committee is expected to present its findings in February with more details, as well as a plan for additional enforcement of oversized vehicle parking not covered by the detached trailer or vanlord bans.
Council member Julie Lythcott-Haims, who serves on the committee, urged local property owners at the Dec. 1 meeting to work with the city on identifying sites around the city where vehicle dwellers can park.
“Whether it be the faith community or people who are commercial property owners, we are looking for more places where people can park their oversized vehicles in a manner that would suit their needs and also reduce the impacts that those vehicles have in communities where they’re currently parked,” Lythcott-Haims said. “We invite people’s creativity in solving a difficult-to-solve situation.”
Palo Alto is also working with LifeMoves, a homeless nonprofit and outreach provider, to help facilitate priority entry for RV residents into the city’s HomeKey transitional housing shelter, which is expected to open with 88 units early next year.
In a Nov. 24 memo, LifeMoves stated that its coordinators have identified some RV residents who are willing to give up their vehicle in exchange for placement in the shelter.
“Outreach is progressing with positive engagement from clients,” the memo states. “Many individuals are responsive to support offers and enrollment opportunities.”
