No 'vanlording:' San Jose bans RVs as rental properties for the unhoused

A recently passed San Jose ordinance will, when it takes effect, ban the use of RVs as rental properties for the unhoused. The law is aimed at preventing what city officials call "vanlording," which stems from people renting RVs as units of housing.

"Incentivizing people or encouraging people to pay rent to live in a vehicle on city streets works against everything we're doing to end homelessness," Mayor Matt Mahan said on Thursday. 

San Jose's city council on Tuesday passed the ordinance barring so-called "vanlording" — the advertising and renting of RVs as a primary residence. 

Beginning July 1, people are prohibited from parking and sleeping in RVs used as rentals, on city streets, from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.

Officials said the existing law banning street sleeping was too vague and didn't address RVs specifically.

"It's unsafe, and it's unfair to the broader community. We have had RVs catch on fire. We've had someone killed in an RV fire. We have trash impacts across the city," said Mahan, speaking after a meeting in a downtown San Jose restaurant. "We are not arresting or prosecuting people for being homeless."

Some unhoused advocates said they feared the latest ordinance — which comes on the heels of a new law requiring the unhoused to accept city services or be cited or even jailed — is another step toward outlawing homelessness.

"This council cares more about their constituents than obviously the unhoused," said Gail Osmer of the non-profit Hands 4 Helping.

The city is continuing its campsite abatements, such as the action that's planned in August for the site at Columbus Park.

"If I had somewhere else to go, I would have done moved there already. But at this point-in-time it's hard to say. Kind of depending on HomeFirst and the city," said Eugene Blackwell, an unhoused resident living in an RV at Columbus Park.

Osmer and others have said the council and supporters of the mayor's agenda are criminalizing being unhoused. 

They believe the RVs, no matter how imperfect, offer shelter for those who are having a hard time getting permanent housing.

"I'd like to see more RV parking now, not at the end of the year," said Osmer.

Pam Campos, the council member representing District 2, was the lone vote against the "vandlording" ordinance. In a texted statement, she wrote in part, that the "ordinance language the council voted on is ambiguous and overly broad. Enforcing the "vanlord" ordinance — without offering housing, safe parking, or an off-ramp — is not a solution."

Mahan counters there will be upwards of 1,000 beds for the unhoused coming online by the end of the year. And he reiterated the people targeted by this ordinance aren't those living in RVs but those buying old RVs and renting them out to the vulnerable.

Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay Bureau. Follow him on the Instagram platform, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU.

San JoseBay Area homelessness