SAN JOSE HAS PROBLEMS with slumlords and now they have problems with vanlords.
City officials are targeting vanlords, individuals who they said prey on the homeless residents by renting them inoperable vehicles. Mayor Matt Mahan along with Councilmembers Bien Doan, Michael Mulcahy and David Cohen want to study ways to restrict renting RVs to homeless people. The Rules Committee recommended March 12 the city conduct an analysis of what it would take to enact a policy to prevent these rentals and to report back to the committee in two weeks. The final decision on curbing vanlords will be up to the City Council.
“We know there are bad actors out there that put dilapidated, nonworking van trailers or RVs out there, and then manipulate our unsheltered residents to rent these places in an unsafe conditions, without any preparation for biohazard or hazardous waste or even a fire hazard,” Doan said at the meeting. “And I think it’s important that we make sure we protect our unsheltered residents from these bad actors.”
San Jose has two known individuals responsible for renting at least 20 motor homes to unhoused residents. But the pervasiveness of the practice is unknown. In 2023, police officers discovered one person had bought a handful of RVs from a tow yard, set them on Educational Park Drive and was profiting off of the vehicles. Former police chief Anthony Mata wrote in a memo last year the majority of RVs on the streets are owned by the people living in them.
Rudy Ortega, who owns and lives in his RV near Columbus Park, said cutting off this option ultimately criminalizes homeless residents, making their lives even harder.
“By restricting the sale, rental or even transfer of RVs, you’re targeting one of the last remaining options for shelter that unhoused individuals can afford,” Ortega said at the meeting. “The true issue is a lack of affordable housing. Instead of punishing those who seek shelter in RVs, the city should focus on providing real humane housing solutions. If safety is the concern, then provide sanitation services in designated areas with proper oversight, not further displacement.”
“The true issue is a lack of affordable housing. Instead of punishing those who seek shelter in RVs, the city should focus on providing real humane housing solutions.” Rudy Ortega, RV owner and resident
Ortega has been living near Columbus Park since 2017. He said he’s only aware of one individual who is living in a RV rental.
“(Mahan) wants to clear the streets of the homeless (before) the Super Bowl,” Ortega told San José Spotlight. “I think it’s done purposely. It’s another one of his tactics.”
The city is studying how other localities like Los Angeles are dealing with vanlords which has made the leasing of RVs for housing illegal.
San Jose estimates there are 1,000 lived-in vehicles throughout the city, and officials want to find ways to stem the supply of RVs as well as the blight.
The city has started temporarily banning RVs and other lived-in vehicles in designated areas. Under a $3.3 million pilot program, the city has chosen 30 temporary tow-away zones to clear lived-in vehicles for street sweeping and cleanup throughout the year. It will establish a new temporary tow-away zone every week.
Residents have been worried they’ll lose their shelter if they aren’t able to move their RVs before sweeps happen. Many live in inoperable vehicles.
Councilmember David Cohen said the intent of the proposal is not to target those who live in RVs but to hold those renting vehicles accountable.
“We have procedures to follow to provide rental spaces for others,” Cohen said. “Our concerns are (for) people who are putting out old, inoperable vehicles and then renting them to people to live in, as opposed to people who own their own RVs — which is not at all the target of this potential ordinance.”
Contact Joyce Chu at jotyce@sanjosespotlight.com or @joyce_speaks on X.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.