A motion for preliminary injunction was granted by Judge Ronald Bauer June 26, which will prevent the city from enforcing its anti-RV ordinance until the case is heard in September 2024, as scheduled.
The ordinance in question was challenged last December by three homeless residents and homeless advocacy group Housing is a Human Right Orange County arguing that the city’s ordinance doesn’t clearly define the meaning of recreational vehicle and “cover[s] almost every driver in Orange County,” according to the complaint.
Under the city’s law, residents and visitors can apply for a permit to park overnight, but residents are limited to four nights per month while guests can park their vehicle up to seven nights monthly in front of a home they’re visiting, capped at 55 nights yearly.
The ordinance was also accused of being discriminatory, alleging those with disabilities are unable to work and must rely on fixed monthly incomes of $1,000 or less from federal and state social security programs to survive, which isn’t enough to afford a home in Fullerton, according to the complaint.
“By targeting the vehicularly housed, the [city’s ordinance] disproportionately impacts people with disabilities,” the complaint reads.
Mayor Fred Jung told The Epoch Times the ordinance, instead, was to protect city streets from being taken over by such vehicles, especially RVs.
“The ordinance was based on streets in our city being effectively taken over by recreational vehicles, most of which did not run, some that were on blocks, and even businesses being executed out of these RVs,” he said.
He additionally said with the judge’s ruling that the city’s definition of recreational vehicle was too broad, the city will now rework the ordinance leading to what he hopes will be its reinstatement.
“I was disappointed in the judge’s ruling, but I understand. It gives us an opportunity to go back and to make the ordinance better,” he said.
According to court filings, the three residents suing the city include a 67-year-old retired Fullerton property manager with disabilities and on a fixed income who lives in an RV; a 75-year-old woman with a pacemaker living in a van in the city; and a 61-year-old woman and resident of 55 years who was forced to relocate to Long Beach to avoid her RV from being towed after the ordinance passed.
All three have been cited for violating the city’s ordinance since its passing and are seeking reimbursement for their fees, and an end to the ban.
Their attorneys argue the ordinance doesn’t mitigate public health and safety as it was proposed but rather “has upended lives and caused undue additional trauma to persons who already bear the great weight of homelessness,” according to court filings.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys Matthew Summers and Corrigan Lewis did not return a request for comment on deadline.
