Palo Alto seeks to stem proliferation of RVs on city streets

By John Ramos

With so many people living on Bay Area streets, the use of RVs as living spaces has become something of a cottage industry.  So-called “vanlords” are renting out RVs to people, parking them on city streets. On Monday night, as part of its new oversized vehicle parking ban, the city of Palo Alto took action against the RVs and those who are supplying them.

The city already prohibits vehicles from being parked for more than 72 hours, but so far that hasn’t been widely enforced on the RVs that line the streets between Hwy 101 and the waterfront. The newest ordinance, passed on Monday, adds a ban on detached trailers being parked on city streets. The measure passed as part of the consent calendar without comment, except for Councilmember Julie Lythcott-Haims, the lone vote in opposition.

“I wonder where we all think the RV dwellers should go. The RV dwellers I know have jobs,” she said. “They pay taxes, but they cannot afford rent remotely near where their jobs are.”

The new ordinance was passed and takes effect immediately, but it still may take a while to begin removing RVs. The city says it has to post signs before it can tow the vehicles, and the cost to do that citywide is estimated to be more than $4 million.  

During public comment, one resident named Brad didn’t think much of the slow pace of the city’s efforts.

“This is what action looks like after years of delay,” he said. “Getting ready to get ready, tackling the lowest hanging fruit while more serious day-to-day problems go unaddressed.”

But Richard West didn’t go unaddressed. He said the RV he owns was towed the other day for not having current registration.  And he showed the eye-popping bill he would have to pay to get it back: $150 per minute, totaling $3,406.

“They just want to take your vehicles from you, I guess,” West said. “There’s nothing you can do about it. Well, unless you’ve got thousands of dollars in your pocket, I guess.”

The city is also going after the vanlords who rent RVs to the unhoused. Under the new ordinance, people are prohibited from renting out RVs intended for living on city streets, now or in the future. They also cannot advertise the vehicles for prohibited uses or store rental RVs on city streets or parking lots. It’s unclear how all of that can be enforced, but West said he’s not sure the vanlord business is really viable anymore, anyway.

“There are people making a business out of it. I’m not sure they’re making a profit out of it, or not,” he said. “They have to get the money back out of their investment, and add it all up, and see if they made anything. I don’t think they’re going to make too much.

But West said he did notice something interesting when he went to check on his own RV.

“The guy was selling them; he had two of them there at the tow yard yesterday when I went there, and they were selling them,” West said. “They were already sold.”

But did he think a vanlord had bought them?  

“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “I really doubt it. This would be a time to be getting out of that, not getting into it.”

Taking the profit out of vanlording may be exactly what the city has in mind. And at $150 per minute, it shouldn’t take long to do that.