{"id":124498,"date":"2026-01-08T01:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T01:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/124498\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T01:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T01:32:11","slug":"west-la-coalition-challenges-citys-rollout-of-new-rv-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/124498\/","title":{"rendered":"West LA coalition challenges city’s rollout of new RV law"},"content":{"rendered":"

A coalition of housed and unhoused residents in West L.A. is asking a court to stop the city of Los Angeles from moving ahead with a pilot program that allows local officials to remove and dismantle more recreational vehicles<\/a> the city deems a nuisance.<\/p>\n

The move from the CD11 Coalition for Human Rights<\/a> comes in response to a new state law that gives L.A. County the authority to dispose of abandoned or inoperable RVs worth up to $4,000, a major increase from the previous $500 threshold.<\/p>\n

Assembly Bill 630<\/a> went into effect Jan. 1.<\/p>\n

In its petition for a writ of mandate from the Superior Court, the coalition argues the law gives that authority only to the county of Los Angeles \u2014 not the city. Members of the coalition claim the city is \u201crecklessly charging ahead\u201d with a program it\u2019s not authorized to execute.<\/p>\n

Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe city\u2019s actions are illegal and will harm vulnerable Angelenos who live in these RVs, while unlawfully wasting taxpayer resources on activities that exceed the city\u2019s authority,\u201d court documents state.<\/p>\n

Some city officials who support the new law say L.A. must have the tools to get unsafe and unsanitary RVs off the streets for good.<\/p>\n

There are more than 3,100 RVs parked across the city of L.A. being used as improved housing, according to last year\u2019s homeless count estimates<\/a> from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese vehicles create unacceptable health, environmental, and safety risks, putting entire neighborhoods, critical infrastructure, and sensitive environmental areas at risk,\u201d Councilmember Traci Park said in a statement. \u201cResidents want solutions, not ideological wars, delay tactics, and frivolous lawsuits.\u201d<\/p>\n

LAist reached out to other city officials for comment but, so far, they have not responded.<\/p>\n

How we got here<\/p>\n

Park, who represents communities including Venice and Culver City in District 11, introduced a motion<\/a> in October instructing various city departments to \u201cimmediately implement\u201d expanded RV enforcement, about a week after AB 630 was signed<\/a> by Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n

According to the motion, the new law \u201cis one more tool to stop the RV to streets pipeline\u201d and complements the city\u2019s efforts to crack down on \u201cvan-lords<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The L.A. City Council voted to approve<\/a> the move Dec. 9.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for the Coalition for Human Rights, who include some from the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and the Western Center on Law and Poverty, sent a demand letter<\/a> to L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto on Dec. 18 explaining its arguments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City\u2019s planned implementation of AB 630 is illegal,\u201d attorneys wrote in the letter, which also argued the city would be \u201cliable for any damages for property if illegally removed, withheld, or destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter gave L.A. officials until Dec. 29 to confirm that the city would not implement the new law.<\/p>\n

City officials did not respond, according to Shayla Myers, senior attorney with the Unhoused People’s Justice Project at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The coalition is now asking a judge to resolve the dispute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city of Los Angeles and the City Council in its rush to criminalize homelessness, you know, rushed past the plain language of the statute and instructed city employees effectively to violate the law,\u201d Myers told LAist. \u201cThat kind of rushing to criminalize homelessness is the type of action that leads to bad policy making, but it also leads to lawsuits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myers said legal matters like this don\u2019t help get people off the street, but they\u2019re necessary when the city refuses to obey the law and to respect the rights of people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n

What officials say<\/p>\n

L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto\u2019s office did not immediately respond to LAist\u2019s requests for comment on the writ or demand letter.<\/p>\n

Mayor Karen Bass proposed AB 630 in partnership<\/a> with Assemblymember Mark Gonz\u00e1lez, who introduced the California assembly bill. According to Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s office, the new law aims to boost public safety, address environmental concerns and \u201ccomplement programs like Mayor Bass’ Inside Safe initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside Safe is Bass\u2019 flagship homelessness program that aims to move people off the street and into housing.<\/p>\n

Bass’ office has called AB 630 \u201clandmark legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, bad actors have preyed on unhoused Angelenos and families through a cycle of buying and auctioning off broken down, inoperable RVs that are dangerous for those inhabiting them and for surrounding areas \u2014 they catch on fire and can become death traps, not the type of RVs safe to be used for housing,\u201d representatives from Bass’ office previously said in a statement to LAist.<\/p>\n

Representatives from Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s office didn\u2019t immediately respond to LAist\u2019s request for comment on the writ.<\/p>\n

LAist has also reached out to City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo, whose office is involved with coordinating the removal of RVs from L.A. streets. Szabo did not immediately respond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A coalition of housed and unhoused residents in West L.A. is asking a court to stop the city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64921,64922,48,52,51,47,50,49,59081,64923,47303],"class_list":{"0":"post-124498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-coalition-for-human-rights","9":"tag-council-district-11","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-headlines","12":"tag-la-news","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","15":"tag-los-angeles-news","16":"tag-recreational-vehicles","17":"tag-rvs-in-l-a","18":"tag-traci-park"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}