WILMINGTON, Calif. — As the ongoing homelessness crisis continues to unfold across LA, one problem has proved especially hard to tackle: RV encampments. 

Last Thursday, an encampment in Wilmington was dismantled during one of Mayor Karen Bass' Inside Safe operations. 

What You Need To Know

  • RV encampments have become a hard issue to tackle for the City of LA

  • LA officials brought in 35 people during a recent Inside Safe operation and offered interim housing

  • According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, more than 6,000 people experiencing homelessness in LA live in RVs

  • AB 2525 would allow CalTrans to include vehicle storage on some properties

According to the mayor’s office, LA officials brought in 35 people during the operation and offered interim housing. 

Frank Sandoval, 47, has lived in an RV at the Wilmington encampment for two years.

“Things unfolded where I lived before up north; things weren’t working out up there, and this is just where I landed,” said Sandoval.

Sandoval, who has served a prison sentence and struggles with addiction, purchased an RV for a few hundred dollars from the person who was previously living in it. It was already at the encampment site.

“It’s above a tent and better than just being on the street,” he said.

For Sandoval, the mayor’s office’s offer of housing was welcome.

“It’s great. It’s great. I think it will be a good thing. I don’t see how anything bad could come of it,” he said.

But as Sandoval and others moved inside, many left their RVs behind. According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, more than 6,000 people experiencing homelessness in LA live in RVs.

While the cleanup from a tent encampment is relatively straightforward, the issue of RV encampments is far more complex. 

This was underscored earlier this month when state assemblymember and Democratic Caucus Chair, Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood) introduced a bill, sponsored by Mayor Bass, to better streamline this specific problem.

AB 2525 would allow CalTrans to include vehicle storage on some properties. At the moment, CalTrans can lease property under emergency circumstances but not for longer-term use.

While the city already has some lots for RVs, most are full, and as the Bass administration works to move people inside quickly, the RVs have become a challenge. 

“This is about a program where we are moving folks in from RVs, many of which are these horrible, very old vehicles, moving them into housing. When you move them into housing, many times the city doesn’t know who the owner of the RV is, they have to go through a process of understanding who the vehicle is owned with and then have a plan for disposition,” said Assemblymember Zbur.

Oftentimes, the RVs are not owned by the people actually living in them. Some have been abandoned by previous owners. 

Mayor Bass visited the Wilmington operation as it was underway.

“I think the RVs are a major problem. This is just our second [RV] operation. It’s taken us a while to get to this point because of the complexity of ownership and storage. We are beginning to work it out. We basically want to use city, county, state, our MTA-owned land — storing the RVs on publicly owned land,” said Bass.

As Inside Safe progressed, the RV encampments became more of a focus for the team, and Frank Sandoval watched the RV he had been living in get towed away, and he was happy to see it go.

“It was just a necessary place to have a roof over my head when I needed it. That’s all it was,” he said.