FANNY NEVER EXPECTED she’d uproot her four children from their Santa Clara apartment to a small RV parked on a side street off Stevens Creek Boulevard in Cupertino. When her landlord kicked her out due to a minor dispute about two months ago, she began renting the RV for $900 a month to stay off the streets as a single mother.
Now, her future, along with roughly 20 other households that park their RVs in the same area, is uncertain as Cupertino works to enact a policy prohibiting prolonged RV parking.
The Cupertino City Council unanimously voted Sept. 3 to require permits for oversized vehicles on public streets to address neighborhood complaints about RVs parked along Saich Way and Alves and Bandley drives. Each household in the city can receive up to 20 free permits annually to park their RVs in the same spot for up to 72 hours. Residents who violate the permit program will be cited. The city is still determining the citation cost.
Enacting the policy will cost about $51,000 for permit administration and signs, and will add to existing rules to eliminate loopholes allowing vehicles to move a few inches to avoid a citation now. The policy applies to vehicles 22 feet long or 6 feet wide and 7 feet tall. Councilmembers still need to read the policy a second time before it goes into effect. It’s unclear when the second reading will happen, but the policy will take effect 30 days after and target temporary homes like Fanny’s.
The annual permits won’t cover the time Fanny needs to park, and she’s worried about where she’ll go because Cupertino has no safe parking sites that accommodate RVs. This news organization is only identifying Fanny by first name for privacy reasons.
Fanny said no city officials reached out to inform her about the policy yet, which also includes an outreach plan likely in collaboration with nonprofit West Valley Community Services and the Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing.
“It hurts me to see today’s society because I feel that (my parking) doesn’t affect anyone here,” she told San José Spotlight through a translator. “I try to keep it clean and not make any noise.”
Councilmember Sheila Mohan supports the policy because it provides a temporary solution to an ongoing problem. The policy will be in effect for a year before the council reviews its results. Mohan said the data it gathers will help the city understand how to help these residents. Cupertino has about 48 homeless residents, according to the latest data from the 2023 point-in-time count. Countywide data from 2025, which hasn’t been broken up by city yet, also revealed homelessness hit a new high at 10,711 residents.
“This is a problem for all cities,” Mohan told San José Spotlight. “I’m hoping, with some concerted collaboration, we’d be able to get to a solution that satisfies most of the population.”
Cassandra Magaña, manager of policy and advocacy at West Valley Community Services, isn’t surprised by the policy because neighboring cities already have RV restrictions. San Jose implemented the Oversized and Lived-In Vehicle Enforcement program in January, which established temporary tow-away zones. Mountain View restricts oversized parking on narrow streets.
Cupertino’s new policy also includes a ban on “vanlords” renting out RVs to residents who can’t afford the high cost of living, similar to San Jose.
Magaña said West Valley Community Services is communicating with the city to coordinate outreach and plans to work with nonprofit Amigos de Guadalupe to potentially provide safe parking sites.
“We’re trying to figure out how we can approach this for the people who have nowhere else to go, and see if we can provide them and connect them with services as fast as we can,” she told San José Spotlight.
That outreach could help residents like John Gniadek, who lives in an RV near Fanny and works at a bowling alley. He’s lived in the RV for about a year after separating from his wife. He understands neighbors’ frustrations.
“I feel for (them) too,” Gniadek told San José Spotlight. “You spent all that money on your apartment, and then you get an RV in front of you, that’s no fun.”
Fanny wants to be connected to an affordable apartment through an outreach provider, but said she’s skeptical because of past experiences.
“I have waited for it for a long time,” she said. “I have tried to get help and I have not received any help… Honestly, I can’t expect something that never comes when (I) need it.”
Contact Annalise Freimarck at annalise@sanjosespotlight.com or follow @annalise_ellen on X.
This story originally appeared in San José Spotlight.