How RVs became Silicon Valley’s housing safety net

Parked along industrial streets, tucked behind warehouses and clustered in residential neighborhoods, thousands of Bay Area residents are living in one of the only forms of housing they can afford: RVs.

Across California, the number of people living in vehicles has surged in recent years, as soaring rents and a chronic housing shortage have pushed even full-time workers out of traditional homes and into makeshift ones on wheels. 

Booming tech wealth, soaring homelessness

In Santa Clara County — home to Apple, Google and eight of America’s 50 most expensive ZIP codes — the number of people living in recreational vehicles full time has surged. County data shows that the portion of homeless individuals sleeping in vehicles has more than doubled since the pandemic, from 18% in 2019 to 37% in 2025. 

California accounts for nearly a quarter of the nation’s homeless residents, despite being home to 12% of its total population, according to federal housing data. Experts say the state faces a massive housing shortage, with one estimate by McKinsey suggesting California needs as many as 3.5 million more homes to meet demand. 

And even as officials have expanded shelter capacity, federal data shows far fewer shelter beds available than people experiencing homelessness, leaving a significant share of unhoused residents without adequate access to shelter.

“In California, you’re more likely to become homeless than almost any other state,” said Adrian Covert, senior vice president of public policy for the Bay Area Council, a nonpartisan think tank. “And when you do, you’re more likely to become homeless on the streets rather than in the shelter than almost any other state.”

Why RVs?

Advocates say many people turn to RVs because they offer a degree of autonomy that shelters and the street do not.

“The RV was a lot better,” said Salena Alvarez, who has lived in an RV with her boyfriend for a year and a half. Before living in their RV, the couple lived in a car. 

“The car is smaller … you can’t cook, you can’t wash your dishes, you can’t take a shower, you can’t go to the bathroom. You’ve got to go somewhere.”

The rise of ‘vanlords’

As housing options narrow, a new tier of the crisis has emerged — one where even vehicles have become rental properties.

A shadow rental market has taken hold across the Bay Area, where individuals rent out aging RVs to people with few other options. Some call them “vanlords.”

Renters pay hundreds of dollars per month to sleep in a vehicle parked on a public street. The arrangements typically come without written leases or tenant protections.

CNBC spoke with one vanlord and several tenants. Some…