Hialeah approves restrictions for RVs. Will it stop people from renting them as housing?

The City of Hialeah wants to establish law and order by preventing the illegal rental of mobile homes as alternative housing in the face of the affordable housing crisis.

“There are many people who are taking advantage of Hialeah, people who do not live in the city, thinking that Hialeah is the Wild West,” Mayor Esteban Bovo Jr. said Tuesday as the City Council approved an ordinance to restrict the use of mobile homes and boats in the city.

Council President Jesus Tundidor, sponsor of the ordinance, said it is a “victory for public safety,” highlighting that the law seeks to protect property owners in Hialeah.

“People who have worked their entire lives to own a home are now being forced to live next to illegal rented mobile homes,” Tundidor explained. “Hialeah is not a third-world country, it is a working class community.”

Although Bovo cautioned that he does not know how many RVs are being rented as housing in Hialeah, he estimates that if there are 198 recreational vehicles registered to people living in Hialeah with the Florida Department of Vehicles, “there must be at least twice as many in violation [of the law.]”

The ordinance, which the Council unanimously supported earlier this month, received final approval by a 4 to 2 vote. Jesus Tundidor, Monica Perez, Jacqueline Garcia-Roves and Carl Zogby voted in favor of the new law, and Bryan Calvo and Angelica Pacheco voted in opposition. (Luis Rodriguez was absent.)

The mayor told el Nuevo Herald that “the councilors who voted against this ordinance are turning their backs on the residents who are property owners.”

According to Bovo, renting mobile homes as housing poses a safety risk and threatens to increase property insurance costs.

Restrictions for recreational vehicles in Hialeah

Here’s what the new ordinance does:

▪ Every recreational vehicle, including boats and vessels, has to be registered with the City, and the owner has to sign an affidavit that it will not be offered for occupancy.

▪ Prohibits RV’s to be placed in backyards but allows to be placed on the side yard (at a length of up to 33 feet ) or front yard of the property (at a length of up to 24 feet). If the RV it is parked in the front yard, the RV must be parked perpendicular.

▪ The owner of the RV has to own the property or be a close relative of the property owner.

▪ Prohibits RV’s, commercial vehicles and boats and vessels to be parked on a property that was developed as a duplex, has a zero lot line or is multi-family.

▪ Limits quantity: only one RV and boat can be parked on property zoned residential.

▪ Prohibits the RVs to be connected to water and sewer lines unless for the purpose of a flush out, for a length of no more than 30 minutes.

If an inspector determines that the ordinance is being violated, the owner will be informed that their electrical service, as well as water and sewage, will be suspended — as recently happened to a septuagenarian couple who were breaking the law. (Councilwoman Perez requested an amendment to promptly inform residents of what will happen if they fail to comply with the rule.)

▪ Provides for a 60 day grace period from the time the Ordinance becomes effective for residents to comply. The grace period can be extend it for another 60 days.

Those who fail to comply with the regulations and receive notification from the city will have to pay a fine of $500 per day until ordinance compliance.

Why two councilmembers changed their vote

Before voting against the ordinance, Pacheco asked the council if there was any plan in the city to help families relying on the now-illegal rent for income with some type of social assistance that prevents them from being left without a roof over their heads.

“There are many families that are in need. They are very vulnerable, low income. I am concerned that we do not know exactly how many people are going to be affected,” Pacheco said.

The mayor explained to Pacheco that Hialeah’s budget is limited. “We can not sustain a social program. If we do we would have to cut the program later or take money from another program,” Bovo said.

Councilwoman Perez assured that Hialeah’s Grants Department has a Community Solution Team that could offer affected residents help.

Councilman Calvo, who has consistently been opposed to Bovo’s policies and just lost a lawsuit against the mayor, indicated that he voted against the ordinance because he does not agree with restricting the number of boats and commercial vehicles that can be parked in the city.

Although there are restrictions on the parking of commercial vehicles, such as the prohibition of parking them in duplexes and multi-family homes, the mayor assured that his goal with this ordinance is to concentrate efforts on preventing people from continuing to rent RVs as a housing alternative.

“I don’t want people to believe that the government is behind them, we know there is a crisis, the focus is on what they are renting RVs to live in,” Bovo said.

The ordinance will come into force as soon as the mayor signs it “in a couple of days”.

From that moment on, the inspectors will have the power to enforce the law, but the city only has seven code inspectors.

On the first reading of the ordinance the mayor promised to increase the number of employees to enforce the law.

At that time, Bovo said he would hire additional code inspectors and require them to work nights and weekends to prevent “Hialeah from becoming a ghetto.”

In this regard, he indicated now that they are going to develop a plan to enforce the regulations, without specifying details.