"This is a problem that flies under the radar, but my office has heard directly from residents about exploitative vanlords taking advantage of desperate renters searching for affordable housing," Councilmember David Cohen tells Realtor.com. "These rentals use city property to take advantage of vulnerable tenants without having to follow tenant protections for rental properties that protect the safety and financial well-being of lower income people."

Cohen's office sent Realtor.com photos of Facebook Marketplace listings showing RVs illegally for rent. One had a monthly rent of $1,300 and another for $800. The listings were active, and only a couple of many such listings. Some vanlords may charge even more.

"By creating an ordinance to outlaw these rentals, we set an expectation of appropriate behavior," says Cohen. "Our goal is to prevent this crisis from worsening, by shining some light on the situation before it becomes unmanageable."

Said Councilmember Bien Doan at a March 12 meeting addressing the issue: "We know there are bad actors out there that put dilapidated, nonworking van trailers or RVs out there, and then manipulate our unsheltered residents to rent these places in unsafe conditions, without any preparation for biohazard or hazardous waste or even a fire hazard."

What is 'vanlording' and how widespread is it?

According to the San Jose Spotlight, there are "two known individuals" who are renting out at least 20 motor homes to homeless people.

In 2023, police officers discovered one of these vanlords had purchased four to six RVs from a tow yard, set them up on Educational Park Drive and Las Plumas Avenue, and was charging people rent to live in them. According to the city, this activity is illegal.

A September 2024 memo from Chief of Police Anthony Mata sent to the City Council said that most of the RVs parked on the streets of San Jose did not belong to any of the houses nearby but were "unregistered and unofficially owned by unhoused individuals who are using them as shelter."

Police said they had received hundreds of complaints about the vehicles, but that in general, it was not city policy to tow the vehicles if they were being used as shelter by individuals.

Police cited "concerns about individuals illegally placing RVs on public streets and renting those RVs to unhoused individuals."