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Home My WebLink AboutStaff Report 2512-5747CITY OF PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting Monday, January 12, 2026 Council Chambers & Hybrid 5:30 PM Agenda Item 11.SECOND READING: Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Prohibiting Rental of Vehicles for Human Habitation (FIRST READING: December 8, 2025; PASSED 6-1, Lythcott-Haims no) Public Comment City Council Staff Report Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR Lead Department: City Clerk Meeting Date: January 12, 2026 Report #:2512-5747 TITLE SECOND READING: Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Prohibiting Rental of Vehicles for Human Habitation (FIRST READING: December 8, 2025; PASSED 6-1, Lythcott-Haims no) BACKGROUND The City Council heard this item for a first reading on December 8, 2025 and approved it on a 6- 0, Lythcott-Haims no vote. No changes were made to the ordinance, and it is now before the City Council for a second reading. ATTACHMENTS Attachment A: Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Prohibiting Rental of Vehicles for Human Habitation APPROVED BY: Mahealani Ah Yun, City Clerk *NOT YET APPROVED* 1 0290191_20251119_ms29 Ordinance No. ____ Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Prohibi ng Rental of Vehicles for Human Habita on The Council of the City of Palo Alto does ORDAIN as follows: SECTION 1. Findings and Declara ons. The City Council ﬁnds and declares as follows: A. The prac ce of ren ng out recrea onal vehicles or other oversized vehicles for use as living or sleeping quarters, known as “vanlording,” is a growing concern in many ci es, including the City of Palo Alto. B. Recrea onal vehicles used for vanlording are parked on public streets, occupying valuable and limited street parking spaces. C. Allowing vanlords to rent out vehicles in the public right of way facilitates private proﬁt- taking from the use of a public resource. D. The prac ce of vanlording is unlicensed and unregulated and therefore o en associated with unregistered, poorly maintained, and inadequately insured vehicles. E. Vanlords oﬀer renters a place to stay without responsibly addressing health and safety issues that can arise when inhabited vehicles are parked on public streets. These issues include improper waste disposal, unsanitary condi ons, illegal parking, tapping into or blocking ﬁre hydrants or other u lity infrastructure, and the crea on of ﬁres. F. The ren ng out of vehicles for human habita on is not currently regulated. Unlike tradi onal landlords and property management en es, vanlords are not explicitly subject to laws that require the upkeep and maintenance of rental housing. Accordingly, those who rent from them are not protected by laws that secure tenants’ rights or even basic habitability standards. G. With this ordinance, the City Council intends to prohibit vanlording within the City of Palo Alto. SECTION 2. Chapter 9.06 Rental of Vehicles for Human Habita on is hereby added to Title 9 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code, to read as follows: 9.06.010 Rental of recrea onal vehicles for living or sleeping quarters – Prohibi on. No person shall rent, lease, let out, or otherwise loan any oversized vehicle which is subsequently u lized for living or use as sleeping quarters on any street, alley, or city-owned or city-controlled premises in exchange for money, goods, or services. For the purposes of this Chapter, “oversized vehicle” means any vehicle exceeding seven feet in height or exceeding twenty feet in overall length or exceeding seven feet in width (including any *NOT YET APPROVED* 2 0290191_20251119_ms29 load or accessory thereon other than antennas), provided that this deﬁni on shall not apply to vehicles which exceed these dimensions solely because of modiﬁca ons required to accommodate a disability and the vehicle is lawfully displaying a disabled placard or license. It shall not be necessary to prove that the person who rented, leased, let out, or otherwise loaned any vehicle which was subsequently u lized for living or sleeping quarters intended or knew that the vehicle would be used for living or use as sleeping quarters on any street, alley, or city-owned premises. 9.06.020 Rental of recrea onal vehicles for living or sleeping quarters – Adver sements prohibited. No person shall adver se for rent, lease, let out, or loan in any newspaper, or through any other medium including online, social media, or other pla orms, any oversized vehicle available for the purpose of u lizing the vehicle for living or use as sleeping quarters on any street, alley, or city-owned or city-controlled premises. 9.06.030 Rental of Vehicles in the Public Right of Way It shall be unlawful for any person who deals in or whose business involves the rental or leasing of vehicles, including recrea onal vehicles (RVs) or other oversized vehicles, to park, store, or leave standing any such vehicles, whether occupied or vacant, on any street, alley, or other public right-of-way during the conduct of such business. This prohibi on does not apply to a vehicle owned only for personal use and not involved in the business of rental or leasing of vehicles, if otherwise legally parked. 9.06.050 Rental of Space in the Public Right of Way No person or en ty other than the City of Palo Alto and any of its departments or designees or other appropriate public en ty shall have the authority to sell, lease, license, permit, reserve or facilitate the reserving of any street, way, alley, highway, road, parkway, parking space or other public right of way or City-controlled parking lot in the City of Palo Alto without wri en authoriza on from the City. Any person who purports to sell, lease, license, permit, reserve or facilitate reserving of space in the public right of way via a wri en or oral agreement of any kind, with or without compensa on, is in viola on of this sec on. 9.06.060 Enforcement *NOT YET APPROVED* 3 0290191_20251119_ms29 Each day in which a viola on of this Chapter occurs shall cons tute a separate viola on of this Chapter. Each vehicle in viola on of this Chapter shall cons tute a separate viola on of this Chapter. Viola ons are enforceable through any penalty available by law, including those speciﬁed in Title 1 of this Code. SECTION 3. Severability. If any provision, clause, sentence or paragraph of this ordinance, or the applica on to any person or circumstances, shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not aﬀect the other provisions of this Ordinance which can be given eﬀect without the invalid provision or applica on and, to this end, the provisions of this Ordinance are hereby declared to be severable. SECTION 4. Eﬀec ve Date. This ordinance shall be eﬀec ve on the thirty-ﬁrst day a er the date of its adop on. // // // // // // // // // // // // *NOT YET APPROVED* 4 0290191_20251119_ms29 SECTION 5. CEQA. The City Council ﬁnds and determines that this Ordinance is not a project within the meaning of sec on 15378 of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) because it has no poten al for resul ng in physical change in the environment, either directly or ul mately. INTRODUCED: PASSED: AYES: NOES: ABSTENTIONS: ABSENT: ATTEST: APPROVED: ______________________________ ____________________________ City Clerk Mayor APPROVED AS TO FORM: ____________________________ City Manager ______________________________ Assistant City A orney ____________________________ Chief of Police From:Cybele LoVuolo-Bhushan To:Council, City Subject:Second Reading - Ordinance Prohibiting Rental of Vehicles... Date:Saturday, January 10, 2026 10:41:42 AM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Be cautiousof opening attachments and clicking on links. i Dear City Council, First I wish to applaud the election of Viki Venkiner to the position of mayor, and the wise choice of Greer Stone as vice-mayor. Second reason for this letter is that to vote to outright ban Vanlords from renting to people may be seen over time as short sighted. Shelter is needed; it is urgent. May I suggest that there be a modification of this ordinance to say that until the City has planned and has located an additional site to providing safe parking spaces for RV dwellers that street parking of rental RV's is prohibited until and unless such time as the city has adequately addressed the criteria to revisit the issue (or some such wording) Thank you for your attention. Sincerely, Cybele LoVuolo-Bhushan This message needs your attention This is a personal email address. 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