SUBJECT: Vote NO on Traci Park’s CF 23-0529 Targeting Vehicle Dwellers
TO: councilmember.hernandez@lacity.org, councilmember.lee@lacity.org, councilmember.soto-martinez@lacity.org, councilmember.jurado@lacity.org, Councilmember.McOsker@lacity.org, councilmember.nazarian@lacity.org, councilmember.blumenfield@lacity.org, contactCD4@lacity.org, councilmember.yaroslavsky@lacity.org, councilmember.padilla@lacity.org, councilmember.rodriguez@lacity.org, councilmember.harris-dawson@lacity.org, councilmember.price@lacity.org, cd10@lacity.org, mayor.helpdesk@lacity.org
CC: councilmember.park@lacity.org, star.parsamyan@lacity.org, jacob.burman@lacity.org
BCC: marvistavoice@gmail.com
Dear Councilmembers,
I urge you to vote NO on Council File 23-0529, introduced by Councilmember Traci Park. This motion proposes a ban on renting RVs to people experiencing homelessness, a harmful policy that targets the most vulnerable while offering no real solutions.
Park claims the proposal is motivated by concern for unhoused residents living in rented RVs, citing “van-lords” who exploit vulnerable people. But this motion does nothing to protect those residents. Instead, it criminalizes one of the few remaining shelter options for people who have been abandoned by the housing system.
If the problem is that some RVs are in poor condition, the solution should be to regulate habitability, not to ban RV rentals outright. Just as we don’t respond to slumlords by banning apartment rentals altogether, we should not address unsafe RVs by forcing people into even more dangerous conditions on the street.
In fact, a recent report from the Venice Justice Committee, Keep Moving, makes clear how policies like this worsen the crisis. The report is based on interviews with nearly 100 people living in their vehicles across West LA–people who move constantly, not by choice, but to avoid tickets, towing, and harassment. These vehicles, while often in need of repair, serve as critical lifelines. For many, they offer more privacy, safety, and dignity than traditional shelter beds, which frequently come with surveillance, curfews, and restrictions that force people to give up their partners, pets, or belongings.
The report’s participants weren’t asking for handouts. They were asking for basic stability, including safe parking, restrooms, consistent case management, and a path to permanent housing. These are real, practical solutions. But Park’s motion offers none of that. It simply pushes people out of sight, out of options, and deeper into precarity.
Park has consistently opposed meaningful investment in public and affordable housing in CD11. She stood by while hundreds of tenants at Barrington Plaza faced mass eviction and is trying to block the Venice Dell project in Venice. Now, instead of helping people in RVs, she’s pushing a ban that would make their lives more precarious. For many, an RV–however imperfect–is the last barrier between them and the sidewalk. Taking that away without providing an alternative increases the risk of death.
This motion is not rooted in compassion. It is a political move designed to appease a vocal minority, not to serve the public good. If the city is serious about addressing vehicular homelessness, it must start by listening to the people living through it, and invest in the solutions they actually need.
Please do not support this cruel and counterproductive policy. Vote NO on Council File 23-0529.
Sincerely,
