(KRON) — Palo Alto could be the next Bay Area city to restrict recreational vehicle (RV) parking.
The city council is expected to review a plan next week to address homelessness, including the possibility of banning RVs that don’t run.
It comes as the city’s mayor says the number of people living in RVs is increasing.
Bridget Li lives off Fabian Way in Palo Alto. She’s one of dozens on the road who live in an RV.
In a neighborhood with commercial buildings and few homes, she’s relatively out of the way of people’s homes. But down the street, it’s a different picture.
The city manager’s office says complaints about the RVs have skyrocketed since the spring. The city says homelessness and the number of people living in RVs have doubled since 2023.
Out of more than 200 people who are unhoused in Palo Alto, 88% of them live in RVs.
And this may be why. According to Zillow, the average rent in palo alto is more than $4,000. That’s $1,000 more than San Jose’s average.
That’s what city council is looking to do next week. They are expected to consider banning RVs that don’t run, expanding safe parking sites, and also banning landlords who rent RVs to unhoused people.
Li is one of those landlords. Li says she got the idea by seeing commuters who could never afford rent in Palo Alto.
She tells us she rents her RVs to restaurant workers, janitors and even a tennis coach — but has made little to no profit.
While she still looks for her own housing, Li says she plans to sell off her RVs instead of renting them out.
City council will discuss their homeless plan at next week’s council meeting.
Watch the full report from KRON4’s Jack Molmud in the video player above.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
