Angelenos are renting out RVs, box trucks like apartments

With Los Angeles rental prices surging, some enterprising Angelenos are renting out RVS and box trucks to those who can’t afford other accommodations, as KPCC reported Monday.

That may not be the case for long, though. Only a day after the KPCC story aired, City Councilmember Mitchell Englander cited it in a motion calling on the city attorney “prohibit and/or regulate” the rental of RVs, vans, and panel trucks to those who plan on living in them.

According to Englander, the rental of these vehicles is “creating a dangerous environment” for those who live in them, since the city has few rules in place regulating vehicles that are being used as residences.

“A traditional landlord must comply with all city building codes,” reads Englander’s motion. “Vehicles more often than not don’t have running water, a reliable source of power, and often lack a source for heating and/or cooling.”

According to KPCC, RVs rent for as little as $10 per day, on up to $1,000 per month.

If eventually passed into law, restrictions on RV rentals would constitute another step toward what homeless advocates have described as a “ban” on living out of a vehicle. New restrictions on sleeping in vehicles on residential streets went into effect earlier this year.

In an opinion piece published Monday in the Los Angeles Daily News, Englander described “de-facto RV parks on city streets” as one of a list of issues related to homelessness that he suggested was turning LA into a “disaster zone.”

The councilmember argued that tougher laws at the local and state level were necessary to “maintain an acceptable standard of safety and sanitation on our streets.”

• Can't afford an apartment in Los Angeles? Rent an RV [KPCC]
• LA’s rules against sleeping overnight in cars will be enforced starting today [Curbed LA]
• Homelessness in LA County spikes 23 percent [Curbed LA]