Celerina Navarro didn’t choose to live in a recreational vehicle. She claims she was forced out of her apartment. And now, she’s being forced out again as California moves to eliminate that old American character: the vagabond.
The housekeeper and mother of two has lived in an RV for the past four years after her landlord in Mountain View, California, raised the rent of her one-bedroom apartment to $1,200 a month from $800. Navarro said she makes $1,400 a month cleaning houses. The average rent for a studio apartment in Mountain View is $2,247, according to Apartments.com.
The cost of living has become unsustainable, so she packed her two young children into an RV — just like dozens of other California families. Last year, Mountain View, which is home to Google’s headquarters, had more than 300 people living in vehicles, according to the Wall Street Journal. That number is three times what it was in 2016.
Nationwide, it’s estimated that more than 1 million people live in RVs, sometimes by choice, sometimes out of necessity. Some places welcome them. Wealthy Californians, apparently, do not.
In Mountain View, the line of mobile RV homes parked along the city’s streets and parks has gotten long enough that the city council passed an ordinance in September under pressure from irritated residents that would ban RVs on most city streets. Under the new rule, which has not yet been passed, Mountain View would allow about 70 vehicles to park in designated lots — but only temporarily.
The problem is that many Mountain View residents don’t view RV owners the same way they see California’s homeless population. Trying to save on rent isn’t the same as being without shelter, said Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga. “We want to help those who don’t have other options, but the folks who choose to live in RVs, I don’t think there’s sympathy for that,” she said.
Navarro disagrees. She said she tries to park her RV next to a city park so her children can use public restrooms and play outside. But she doesn’t have a generator for power, and once the gas runs out — it’s gone.
“I let my daughter draw a little at night with the light from my phone,” she said, “but we have to go to bed early.”
