The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved a blueprint that would allow the expansion of an RV-to-home pilot program in the northeast San Fernando Valley to other areas of the city.
In a unanimous vote, the council instructed staff to work with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to incorporate training and lessons learned from the pilot into current outreach efforts funded by the city. Officials would like to expand the program citywide.
Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez created the pilot in 2022, supported by an initial $300,000 grant from the Hilton Foundation. The program was carried out by West Valley Homes Yes!, a nonprofit working to bring people living in encampments into interim housing and permanent housing in the San Fernando Valley.
The councilwoman said the initiative has proven “very successful,” noting that officials were about to house the 300th individual in her district, encompassing the northeast communities of the valley such as Pacoima, Sylmar, Sunland-Tujunga, Shadow Hills, Mission Hills, La Tuna Canyon, Lake View Terrace and parts of North Hills.
She said the program resulted in the disposal of 146 RVs, with more on the horizon.
“The objective with this was to create a process and a procedure that would allow us to systematically replicate this effort, not defer someone else to do the job for us,” Rodriguez said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “We needed the tools in each of our respective areas to be able to do this — to help expeditiously house individuals and dispose of these RVs.”
Rodriguez said the city does not yet have funding in place to expand the program to each council district. She encouraged her colleagues to seek outside partnerships.
“I know in my district, we were successful in securing an additional $5 million grant from the state in order to expand this work, but I’d really like to see each of you have the opportunity to expand this in your own respective districts,” Rodriguez said.
The program prioritizes outreach to people living in vehicles, in particular RVs, building trust and connecting them with services with the goal of placing them into interim and permanent housing.
Service providers would help by providing housing navigation, crisis intervention, vehicle-related costs (i.e. repairs, DMV fees, smog checks and storage), and interim and permanent housing solutions, according to a report from the city. The model focuses on individual choice, safe vehicle storage, and providing incentives for people who accept housing and voluntarily dispose of or sell their RVs.
Los Angeles has grappled with oversized vehicles on city streets, which grew in tandem with the homelessness crisis. The proliferation of RVs can pose a public safety challenge along residential and commercial streets.
In June, LAHSA and the city identified 11 service providers that could be tapped to expand the program.
City and county officials have touted a decrease in homelessness in 2024 and 2025.
LAHSA’s 2025 Homeless Count identified an estimated 18,616 individuals living in a mix of dwellings, covering cars, vans, RVs, tents and other makeshift shelters, throughout the Los Angeles region. That figure was down by 12.6% compared to 2024, when it stood at 21,288.
In the city alone, the 2025 Homeless Count estimated 11,010 individuals living in a mix of nontraditional dwellings, a decrease of 13.5% compared to the 2024 results.
A study published in June by the Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation found a 49% decrease in the population of unhoused individuals living unsheltered in Hollywood, a 22% reduction in Venice, while the number of unsheltered people did not decrease in Skid Row. The study focused on unsheltered populations in those three neighborhoods located in Hollywood, West L.A. and downtown, respectively.
The report found there was an increase in so-called “rough sleepers,” or people living on the streets without tents or a vehicle, compared to tent dwellers.
RAND Corporation officials noted count differences between their findings and LAHSA’s 2024 Homeless Count in those three neighborhoods.
In 2022 and 2023, RAND’s findings were more aligned with LAHSA’s results.