Palo Alto seeing an increase in number of homeless RV residents

By John Ramos

Data shows that most unhoused people in Palo Alto are living in RVs, so on Monday evening, the city council was discussing a new over-sized vehicle ordinance that would deal with the issue in phases.

Palo Alto’s homeless have found a home on streets like Elwell Court. The short, commercial road just off of Highway 101 is lined with RVs.  

Albert Ramos lives near there with his dog Maxine. He became homeless 14 years ago, when he lost everything in the Lake Tahoe area.

“And I just worked my way down to Sacramento, San Francisco, and then I heard about out here, where it was friendly for motorhomes. Palo Alto has been courteous,” he said. 

But Santa Clara County’s last “point in time” survey showed that Palo Alto’s homeless population has grown by 113 percent in just two years, the largest increase, by far, in the South Bay.  And at Monday evening’s meeting, the city council was set to discuss a new RV ordinance that is being described as a “phased approach” to the problem.

“The phased approach, in my view, is that we have a big goal of trying to get RV dwellers off the streets,” said Vice Mayor Vicki Veenker. “And there are different ways to do that. But many of the ultimate solutions will take time. And there’s an urgency now that we’re hearing from our residents and businesses.”

One of those businesses is Recor Medical on Elwell Court. The two-year-old biotech company has been growing rapidly, but VP of Operations, Dave Mitchell said because of the RVs, there isn’t a place for people to park on the street anymore and they’re concerned about visitor and employee safety.

“We have gone to the city,” said Mitchell. “We have petitioned them, at a minimum, to actually be enforcing the laws that they have. They do occasionally come and put tickets on these RVs that say that they need to move within a certain amount of time. But they never actually tow any of the RVs.” 

He said the giant RV just across the street from the company had been there for at least a year. But one reason the city may be taking its time is the expense.  

It’s estimated the phased proposal, including staffing and new city-wide signage, could cost more than $6 million dollars to implement over the next two years. And while the street parking may be an annoyance, at least on Elwell Court, there aren’t the giant mounds of trash and debris that are typical in other cities.

“It’s a mixed bag,” said Ramos. “But as long as it’s been clean and stuff, and they’re not bringing crime, I don’t see why they have a problem with it.”

The survey revealed that 70 percent of Palo Alto’s unhoused are, in fact, living in an RV or vehicle of some kind. And while some would like to see them removed, the Vice Mayor warned that could bring an unintended consequence. 

“Well, what I’m concerned about is fixing one thing and creating another problem,” said Veekner. “And honestly, if people are removed from their RVs and they can’t afford housing, then we have a different kind of homelessness problem.”

She said there may be a number of reasons why Palo Alto’s homeless population has grown so fast, including tech workers opting to live in RVs because even they can’t afford housing. She also said Caltrans removing parking along El Camino Real may have sent more RVs onto the city streets.