The Brief

As L.A. grapples with growing numbers of people living in recreational vehicles, city council members took a series of votes advancing parking bans, expanding a small program to house people in RVs and studying whether to create a designated RV housing zone on a street near the 405 Freeway.

The committee votes took place Wednesday in the council’s transportation and homelessness committees, moving the items to the full city council.

If approved by the full council, the proposals would:

• Ban overnight parking of RVs on specific street sections in Playa Vista, Sawtelle, Venice, Mar Vista, West Adams and Westchester. (Full list below.) The proposal was brought forward by councilmembers Traci Park and Heather Hutt, who represent the areas.
• Study temporarily closing a section of Cotner Avenue along the 405 Freeway in front of a city sewer maintenance yard and other city properties to provide temporary housing for people living in RVs.
• Direct city officials to develop a plan to expand citywide an RV pilot program in Council District 7, which includes the eastern San Fernando Valley neighborhoods of Sylmar, Pacoima and Tujunga. The program, according to a city report, successfully got 83 people to voluntarily give up their RVs in exchange for temporary or permanent housing.

The moves come as the number of people living in RVs has exploded in recent years across L.A. city and county — up 31% countywide from 2020 to 2023, according to annual homeless counts.

Among the RV items advanced on Wednesday, the most public comments were about the proposed parking bans. Six residents spoke, all opposing the bans. Council members did not speak publicly about the bans at the meeting before voting to approve them.

Peggy Lee Kennedy is an advocate for unhoused people and organizer with the Venice Justice Committee, a community group that monitors and advocates for the civil rights of unhoused people.

During public comments, she said she and other advocates surveyed dozens of people living in RVs on the Westside in September. Almost none of them had been offered housing by anyone as an alternative to their vehicle, she said.

“This is really just displacement and the people are not being helped,” she said during Wednesday’s transportation committee meeting at city hall. “It's very sad that we have to do this to people living in vehicles instead of helping them.”

At least three times this year, city council members have approved new overnight RV camping bans on different streets, mostly in Park’s Westside district.

But RVs used as homes are still widespread across the city. L.A. officials say there’s often limited space for RVs in impound lots used by the city, which can complicate enforcement of bans.

Advocates and city officials say people living in RVs often are reluctant to leave their vehicles unless they’re offered long-term affordable housing, which is in short supply in L.A.

Finding safe parking for RVs continues to be a challenge

City officials said at one of Wednesday’s meetings that they’ve struggled to identify land to use for safe parking for people living in RVs. The city currently has no safe parking sites for RVs.

Councilmember Nithya Raman, who chairs the council’s homelessness committee, said she was disappointed city officials didn’t follow the council’s direction last year to seek state grants for safe parking sites citywide. Instead, officials sought a state grant for just one location.

“I was really puzzled by that response,” Raman said.

City staff said the state grants required the city to request funding for specific locations, and that the city decided to prioritize seeking a large-scale state grant to prioritize housing people living outdoors in Skid Row.

What’s next?

Here are the next steps for the three RV items:

• Overnight parking bans: They now go to the full council for final approval. If a majority of the council approves, the bans would then go into effect.
• Feasibility study for an RV housing zone on Cotner Avenue: If the full council approves moving forward, that report would come back to the council within 45 days. The council would decide afterwards whether to move forward.
• Expansion of the RV-to-Home pilot program from Council District 7: The plan is scheduled to come back to the city council within 60 days if the full council greenlights its development. 

How to get involved

Where exactly would the bans be on overnight RV parking?

Here’s where they’d be in Council District 10 (represented by Hutt):

West Adams:

• Boden Street between Clyde Avenue and Carmona Avenue
• West Boulevard (overpass bridge) between West Adams Boulevard and West 23rd Street
• West 25th Street between Wellington Road and South Victoria Avenue 

And here’s where the bans be in Council District 11 (represented by Park):

Westchester:

• Southside of Centinela Avenue between Wooster Avenue and La Tijera Boulevard

Venice:

• Both sides of Lucille Avenue between Glencoe Avenue and Louella Avenue

Mar Vista:

• North side of Washington Place between Wasatch Avenue and Centinela Avenue

Sawtelle:

• Both sides of Stoner Avenue between Gateway Boulevard and the 10 freeway

Playa Vista:

• Both sides of Crescent Park West between Crescent Park East
• Both sides of Crescent Park East between Crescent Park West
• Both sides of Millenium Drive between Veranda Way and Runway Lane
• Both sides of Runway Lane between Millenium Drive and Runway Road
• South side of Runway Road between Runway Lane and Dawn Creek
• East side of Dawn Creek between Runway Road and Bluff Creek Drive
• West side of McConnell Avenue between Millenium Drive and Bluff Creek Drive
• South side of Bluff Creek Drive between 12657 Bluff Creek Drive and Village Drive