Article from TruthAboutTraci.com
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s right-wing ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which gives cities broad authority to criminalize homelessness, Traci Park is pushing legislation that would reestablish the core elements of LAMC 85.02—a law the Ninth Circuit rejected in 2014 for being vague, discriminatory, and unconstitutionally cruel.
Her new proposal would ban vehicle dwelling within 500 feet of so-called “sensitive areas” like schools, parks, and daycares. But in effect, it would do what 85.02 did for over 30 years: punish unhoused people simply for surviving in their cars. And this time, the legal landscape has shifted in her favor. The Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision eliminated Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment for those who have no choice but to sleep outside, unleashing a wave of new anti-homeless enforcement measures across the country. Park is seizing that moment—and aiming to make Los Angeles a test case.
To understand how dangerous this effort is, it’s worth revisiting how we got here.
In 1983, Los Angeles enacted LAMC 85.02, which prohibited the use of vehicles as “living quarters” on public streets or city-owned lots. The ordinance was vague by design—it never defined what constituted living quarters, how long someone could stay in a car before violating the law, or what behavior was prohibited. LAPD and City Councilmembers weaponized it aggressively, especially in neighborhoods like Venice, where complaints from affluent homeowners drove enforcement priorities.
By 2010, the City had created a dedicated “Venice Homelessness Task Force,” assigning 21 LAPD officers to monitor unhoused residents living in their vehicles. People were targeted for having a blanket, a portable stove, or other everyday items in their car. On first contact, LAPD would issue a warning. On the second, a citation. On the third, arrest. Community members helped compile lists of “problem vehicles,” and the city never followed through on its promises to provide safe parking alternatives.
That reign of criminalization ended in 2014 when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Desertrain v. City of Los Angeles that LAMC 85.02 was unconstitutional. The court found it to be unacceptably vague and prone to arbitrary enforcement, noting it had been used disproportionately against unhoused residents. The ruling marked a significant victory for civil rights and housing justice advocates.
But City Hall wasn’t done. Around the same time, officials began leaning on another law: LAMC 80.69.4, passed in 2006. This ordinance allowed for the creation of “oversized vehicle” (OVO) zones, where parking large vehicles like RVs would be prohibited between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Initially, these zones required a City Council vote and LADOT signage. In 2010, then-Councilmember Bill Rosendahl amended the law to allow councilmembers to bypass the full Council process by submitting a petition and having LADOT verify that certain criteria were met.
While it didn’t explicitly ban vehicle dwelling, 80.69.4 became a workaround for reestablishing 85.02’s effect. The City began designating block-by-block zones where RVs and other oversized vehicles were prohibited overnight. In practice, it enabled selective enforcement and displacement of unhoused vehicle dwellers without drawing the same legal scrutiny—at least temporarily.
While not explicitly targeting vehicle dwellers, 80.69.4 functioned similarly to 85.02, enabling selective enforcement without the same legal challenges.
The Los Angeles City Controller’s office has highlighted the extensive use and impact of 80.69.4. Their analysis reveals:
