There are greater than 6,800 RVs in Los Angeles County that unhoused individuals name residence, in accordance with the 2024 homeless count. That’s greater than the variety of tents (about 4,200) recorded in that very same survey. Of these, 3,691 are in the city of Los Angeles.
Leisure automobiles have appeared throughout the county and the town of Los Angeles, typically parked alone on a avenue, typically in teams that unfold over a number of blocks. Some are dilapidated and inoperable. Others are in working situation and other people can drive them from location to location.
However in contrast to a tent or cardboard lean-to, RVs supply substantial safety, privateness and shelter. And in lots of different locations, persons are allowed to reside full time in RVs. So understandably, RV dwellers usually don’t consider themselves as homeless and few wish to commerce their car for a mattress in a bunch shelter. (Who would?)
Through the years, as neighborhoods have complained about trash, fires and crime at some RV encampments, Los Angeles metropolis officers have struggled to determine find out how to persuade this phase of the unhoused inhabitants to depart their automobiles behind.
Sadly, the L.A. Metropolis Council’s recent solution — to tow illegally parked RVs in some areas with out doing outreach or providing providers or non permanent housing — is prone to backfire and runs counter to the town’s efforts to cut back avenue homelessness.
If you happen to kick homeless individuals out of their RVs, they could find yourself dwelling in a tent on the sidewalk subsequent to the place they have been parked. The RV could also be gone, however its occupants are much more unsheltered than they have been. That’s ridiculous. This can be a difficult scenario, however that is simply the mistaken technique to cope with it.
In truth, the council’s movement is so broad that it directs transportation officers to tow away “any and all automobiles” which might be stopped or parked in violation of quite a few parking restrictions. The Authorized Help Basis of Los Angeles, in a letter to the town legal professional, mentioned the council overstepped its authority in ordering towing of automobiles which will violate parking restrictions however don’t represent a visitors or public security hazard or aren’t parked in posted tow-away zones.
We perceive that RV encampments can pose issues. They’re huge and hulking, and make it tough for different drivers to navigate round. They completely take up parking areas, typically alongside metropolis parks. RV dwellers have been recognized to dump their septic tanks into the streets. Some RV occupants find yourself shifting belongings into the adjoining avenue or sidewalk.
Through the years, the town has tried to discourage encampments by placing up indicators on streets prohibiting in a single day parking of outsized automobiles. When that occurs, RV dwellers merely transfer to a different avenue or, in some instances, stay there. The town can solely tow so many as a result of there isn’t sufficient city-controlled storage even for the quick time period. Nonetheless, between Might 2022 and June 2024, the town issued 1,134 parking citations to RVs and towed 638 of them. (Towing stopped throughout the pandemic and resumed in 2022.) It is usually costly. Towing, storing and ultimately dismantling and recycling RVs might price the town thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
One factor is for certain — the town can’t simply tow its approach out of the issue. A extra prudent technique could be to comply with the method for shifting individuals out of tent encampments. This strategy has already proven it may well work. Metropolis officers have elevated outreach to RV campers lately, together with by way of Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Secure program, which affords individuals in encampments interim housing, principally in motels and motels. RV campers will usually settle for motel or resort rooms, although some gained’t when the supply is contingent on relinquishing the RV. Since June 2022, 196 RV dwellers took housing.
Metropolis Councilmember Monica Rodriguez and the nonprofit West Valley Houses YES collaborated on a pilot program that started in 2022 within the San Fernando Valley and has efficiently housed 146 RV dwellers. Councilmember Nithya Raman, the present chair of the Metropolis Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, has pushed for a citywide technique to deal with RV dwellers and supply them money or reward playing cards to half with their automobiles. It labored in Rodriguez’s district. Individuals are understandably reluctant to surrender their automobiles. A $500 incentive might assist. However service suppliers say campers fear about what they’ll do if the motel keep doesn’t work out and their RV is lengthy gone.
The town ought to take into account different choices as properly, together with utilizing metropolis heaps to supply short-term RV storage and opening secure parking heaps for RVs. The heaps would must be bodily greater than these for vehicles, and open 24 hours — in contrast to the town’s present secure parking heaps which might be open solely at evening. However it might most likely be simpler and cheaper than providing up 1000’s of motel rooms for a number of months. As an alternative of spending all its efforts attempting to get individuals out of RVs, the town ought to work on discovering or creating locations which might be secure for RVs.
This course of takes time. Nonetheless, metropolis officers ought to proceed to ramp up efforts to achieve out to RV dwellers and supply them housing. Towing illegally parked RVs with out doing which will do away with RVs however will go away extra individuals dwelling on the road.
