RULES COMMITTEE: 9/13/2023
ITEM: C.3
Memorandum
TO: RULES AND OPEN
GOVERNMENT
COMMMITTEE
FROM: Councilmember David Cohen
Councilmember Peter Ortiz
SUBJECT: Regulating the Rental of Recreational Vehicles for Living on City Streets DATE: September 7, 2023
APPROVED:
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Direct the City Manager to coordinate with the City Attorney’s Office to evaluate the viability of an enforcement program similar to Los Angeles to regulate the leasing of vans/vehicles for use as dwellings on City streets and report back to the City Council.
2. Direct the City Attorney’s Office to report to Council on the feasibility of requiring those who engage in illegal renting and/or leasing of recreational vehicles to return rental payments and pay relocation expenses to their tenants.
DISCUSSION
On the border of Council Districts 4 and 5, San Jose Police uncovered a ring of recreational vehicles (RVs) being illegally rented out on the streets. This issue is prevalent in several municipalities such as Los Angeles and Venice and we have experienced a rise in predatory landlording or vanlording in the public right of way here in San Jose. This is oftentimes the renting/leasing of substandard RVs often reclaimed from the tow yards. Conducting this business is illegal in the public right away but our code doesn’t yet take into account the possibility of these types of ‘businesses’.
Following the lead of Los Angeles, we need to protect our unhoused residents from this practice.
We need to ensure that those who are being taken advantage of are rightfully repaid and are provided the right relocation services.
The signers of this memorandum have not had, and will not have, any private conversation with any other member of the City Council, or that member’s staff, concerning any action discussed in the memorandum, and that each signer’s staff members have not had, and have been instructed not to have, any such conversation with any other member of the City Council or that member's staff.
SUBJECT: See Below