Olympia residents living in vehicles have nowhere to park. City weighs options
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Olympia code bans living, sleeping or cooking in vehicles on public or private property.
- Residents urged the City Council to change code to legally allow living in vehicles.
- Council members acknowledged need for solutions but offered no timeline or concrete plan.
Olympia resident C.C. Coates told the City Council that her life has been legislated out of existence.
Coates lives in her van, and current city code says RVs and other vehicles cannot be used for “living, sleeping, cooking or any similar use” on public or private property.
Coates is one of several people who have spoken during City Council meetings in recent weeks, urging the council to change city code to allow people who live in vehicles to do so legally. Coates spoke at meetings on April 14, May 5 and May 19. She has had several friends and neighbors come to speak about the issue as well, including at the council’s June 2 meeting.
Coates said during the April 14 City Council meeting that she’s a retired and disabled union carpenter. She said the cost of living and city code has made it impossible for disabled people, retirees and low-income workers to afford to live in Olympia.
She said with rising costs and a lack of support for the elderly, more older folks will be turned onto the street.
Coates said it’s not legal for someone who owns property to host her van, nor is it legal for her to park and live somewhere on the street. She said systemic changes need to be made.
“You’ve basically legislated me out of existence, and the threat is to steal my only refuge and home, it’s my only retirement,” she said. “We need to change this. We need to bring back compassion and figure out a way of being able to offer people hospitality and not have them lose their home for it.”
Assistant City Manager Stacey Ray told The Olympian on June 10 that the city’s code specifically states that no vehicle being used for vehicle camping may be parked in any one location for more than 24 hours, after a person receives notices that they must move after 24 hours.
She said the vehicle may be moved to another legal parking spot within the city.
Ray said this became city code in December 2024. She said it came after years of the city working to address people living in their cars and RVs along Ensign Road near Providence St. Peter Hospital.
“From 2019 through 2022, the 3200 block of Ensign Road was overwhelmed with vehicles that people were living in, causing major impacts to the surrounding area,” she said. “The cleanup process for that site took several months and involved multiple departments working together to transition individuals into housing.”
“Parking Services works in coordination with the Homeless Response Team to provide referrals to available services (housing, food, mental health and substance use services, showers, vehicle repair, etc.) and encourage folks to move regularly so it minimizes the impact on the community around them,” Ray said.
Ray told The Olympian that prior to the city updating its code, the only way of handling “problematic” vehicles with people living in them was to wait until they accumulated enough outstanding tickets to be booted and towed.
According to city code, the penalty for being in violation is $95. After three parking citations, the vehicle may be impounded.
“This solution did not work for the community because it took months to get to that point, and it didn’t work for the individuals living in the vehicle because it did not connect them with the help they need and caused them to go so deeply into debt that it impacted their ability to stabilize or better their situation,” Ray said.
Olympia resident Jean Eberhardt said April 14 that Coates used to be her neighbor, and she used to make her feel a sense of safety in the neighborhood. That was before Coates was forced to move her van after police received an anonymous complaint from someone who lived nearby, she said.
Eberhardt said her sense of safety has dwindled since Coates was forced to move her van. She said the issue of people not being able to afford to live comfortably, and having to live in their vehicles, has become a crisis.
Coates said during the May 19 City Council meeting that the property she lived on for six years in her van was next to the church she attends. She said not even her church is allowed to take her in and let her permanently park in its lot.
“I’m currently having to break the law, which breaks my heart,” she said.
Coates said she knows of two people who were evicted from trailers they owned that were parked on private land.
Olympia resident Dawnell Lombard said during the June 2 City Council meeting that she has friends and family who have had their hours cut, lost their job and couldn’t afford rent who are now living in an RV.
Lombard said she thinks the city could come up with a solution where a property owner could have an agreement with someone who lives in their vehicle through a permit. She said now, because neighbors made a complaint, her friends have to move their trailer, and they have nowhere else to go.
She said Olympia has a program that allows people who live in RVs to apply for a permit to park in a designated location for up to seven business days a quarter. However, she said it’s difficult to get access to those permits for some people. And whatever other resources there are available aren’t very helpful, she said.
According to city code, people who apply for a temporary permit have to meet one of three criteria. They include having a physical address within the city that the RV will be parked next to, being a visitor to an Olympia resident, or being a vendor or sponsor of a special event that has been permitted by the city.
“I’m very sad that our community can’t come together with some compassion and understanding that stereotypes are just that, stereotypes,” Lombard said. “And we have to learn to break those, and this is one of those that’s coming, and it’s hitting me personally now. So I just need you to think.”
Council member Paul Berendt said during the June 2 council meeting that there isn’t a place in the city where people living in their vehicles can go to park. He said it needs to be an ongoing effort to figure out what can be done for folks living in their cars.
“I do believe parking needs to be regulated,” he said. “I want to make that really clear, we can’t just park any place and let people park, you know, any place they wish, but I just really want to be solution-oriented on this. I don’t know the answer, but I will not turn my back on your concern.”
The Olympian previously reported in 2021 that there was an effort from the Thurston County Commission and Olympia City Council to create a permanent safe parking site for RVs along Franz Anderson Road. That plan never came to fruition.
Council member Robert Vanderpool said he agrees that the city has to figure something out for folks living in vehicles. He said folks have been coming to the council consistently over the last few months to discuss the issue of mobile home, RV and van living. He said he has a lot of interest in the idea of allowing the creation of some sort of agreement with the person living in their vehicle and a property owner willing to allow them to park on their property.
Ray told The Olympian that there are no city-owned or operated long-term parking options available. She said in response to recent community interest, the city is starting to explore the potential options to allow for longer-term or possibly hosted parking situations.
She said so far in 2026, the city has opened 11 new live-aboard cases (reports of people living in their vehicles). She said one case has been closed, which means they ultimately towed the vehicle.
Ray said eight of the cases are inactive, which means they are either in compliance with city code or have moved to an unknown location where the city hasn’t received any new complaints. She said the last two are active and being worked on.
Ray said these numbers only include cases that have been forwarded to Parking Services by the Homeless Response Team after they complete outreach work.
“Parking Services works with Homeless Response, and OPD and Crisis Response Unit if needed, to help ensure that before a case reaches Parking Services for enforcement, the individual or individuals residing in it receive information and are connected to all available service options,” she said. “Typically, it takes at least two weeks after a complaint is received before Parking Services begins enforcing the ordinance.”
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