Mike and Jonnie Peven rented a small home near Capitol High School in Boise. Mike Peven, 65, ran the service department at CHF Home Furnishings, while Jonnie Peven, 68, worked at Deseret Industries, a thrift store.
The couple could not afford to buy a home, as their total household income was about $3,000 a month. They paid $800 per month in rent for their two-bedroom home.
In the fall of 2020, the Pevens’ landlord told them they’d have to move out, because his daughter was moving into the house. He gave them 30 days to leave. The couple started looking at apartments to rent in Boise.
They found one for $1,500 per month. Because that was too expensive for them, Mike Peven’s sister Launee Wolverton, offered to sell them an RV she owned and to live in it on her property near Maple Grove Road and Interstate 84. The Pevens paid $500 a month for three years to Wolverton for the RV — $18,000 in all — for the Jayco Pinnacle, which they now own. Wolverton did not charge rent for use of the property.
But in Boise, it is illegal to live in an RV outside of RV parks. On May 18, 2023, the city received an anonymous complaint about the RV. Wolverton received a letter from the Office of Code Compliance and Community Resources, which said Mike and Jonnie Peven had 60 days to get into compliance.
The Pevens were in a jam. Then two things happened.
First, officials delayed enforcement of the 60-day order. The city started working with the Pevens and Wolverton, and the couple was able to continue to live in their RV on Wolverton’s property.
“As long as we were working on a solution and finding tentative ADU plans, the complaint was at bay,” Wolverton said. She was referring to accessory development units, the official term for second homes on a single-house property. “We were never issued a citation from the city.”
Second, the couple’s plight prompted the city to work on setting up a pilot program that would allow homeowners to temporarily host and occupy an RV for about 12 months. The city engaged Leap Housing, an Idaho nonprofit working to develop and preserve affordable housing, to carry out the pilot program.
Meanwhile, the couple retired in May. They decided to be camp hosts at a site at Winchester State Park in North Idaho for the summer. There, they help maintain the camp site by mowing the lawn, cleaning the fire pits after campers leave, and cleaning the showers. In exchange, Mike and Jonnie Peven get to live in their trailer and stay at the campground for free.
They plan to return to Boise in October. But rent prices are still too high for their $2,000-per-month retirement income from Social Security, and all RV parks in Boise are at capacity, Mike Peven said. Some don’t even have a waitlist.
So they’re coming back to Wolverton’s property and participating in the RV pilot program.
The city’s cost for Leap to administer this pilot program, together with separate pilots for tiny homes on wheels and accessory dwelling units, is $120,000. (Read more about those two programs below.)
Brian Woodward, chief of staff at Leap, told the Idaho Statesman that an owner of an RV, who lives in it in someone else’s backyard, is likely to pay between $300 and $700 per month to the land owner. However, landlords are not required to charge rent.
“Because there is no true market, finding comparable rents is difficult,” Leap said.
The price for a full hook-up, including sewer, water and electric, in a local RV park is between $675 and $875 per month.
Housing costs in Ada County increase every year
The pilot programs are an attempt to help as housing remains unaffordable to low- and moderate-income Boiseans. A median-priced Ada County house rose from cost $214,503 in July 2014 to $545,000 in July 2024, according to Boise Regional Realtors, a trade association.
According to ApartmentList, the median rent for a one bedroom apartment in Boise was $1,093 and a two bedroom was $1,259 in May, the Statesman previously reported.
The pilot program gives Boiseans an opportunity to see what it would be like to live in an RV.
Is the city planning on changing zoning laws?
Kyle Patterson, director of innovation for the city, said the pilot will be critical in forming a policy with regards to RVs.
“We might realize there’s unintended consequences or a lot of negative challenges to allowing RVs, and that might mean that we shouldn’t change the laws to allow them,” Patterson said, “Or the pilot could go well, and then I think City Council would consider changing zoning code to allow it. But it will really depend on what we learned from the pilot.”
The city code allows the planning and zoning department to grant temporary exception approvals for programs that aren’t allowed permanently, Patterson said. Pilot participants have to apply for an “administrative approval,” which is a temporary permit that allows them to live in a tiny home or RV for up to 18 months.
“It provides us a really fantastic opportunity to experiment with new things that we may not feel comfortable making legal immediately,” Patterson said.
Wonder how the RV pilot will work? Key things to know
Twenty-five people, including Mike and Jonnie Peven, applied before the July 31 deadline, Woodward said. The next step is to verify if the applicants are eligible, which depends on whether they would live in a neighborhood where the zoning allows an accessory dwelling unit.
The participants would then move into the RVs starting at the end of September, Woodward said.
According to Leap’s website:
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The landlords for the program will be people who have appropriate hookups and are willing to rent a “pad” in their backyard.
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A “temporary legal status” will be granted by the city to qualifying applicants and will last 12 months with the possibility of extending it for an additional six months.
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The participating landlords will have to notify their neighbors and will be exempted for some city impact fees for the duration of the pilot program. They will also receive technical assistance from Leap and help with permitting from the city.
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Even though it is not a requirement to participate in the program, Leap encourages landlords to ask for affordable rent rates. The pilot is a way for Leap and the city to collect feedback on what is appropriate to charge someone to live in an RV on a private property.
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The RV needs to be occupied for at least 31 days, and “continual or sporadic occupancy” is allowed. Short-term rentals are not allowed. Each stay has to have a lease, even if the landlord doesn’t charge for rent.
About those tiny-home and second-home pilots
TINY HOMES: LOTS OF LANDLORD CANDIDATES
Tiny homes are houses on wheels with 200 to 400 square feet, much smaller than a typical single-family American home. While RVs are built with lightweight material and mostly designed for mobility, tiny homes are not designed for travel and are usually built with longer-lasting materials.
The city signed the contract for the tiny-home pilot with Leap in April 2022, and the search for participants started in May 2022, Patterson said.
Two tenants already participate in the tiny-homes-on-wheels program, and a third is moving in at the end of August, Woodward said. At least two others are in the process of being matched with landlords.
“There is enormous amount of interest to host tiny homes on wheels,” Woodward said. “It’s insatiable.”
But the temporary nature of the pilot program makes it less appealing for people to move their tiny home into someone’s property without knowing whether they will be allowed to stay at the end of the pilot, Woodward said.
Woodward said the tiny home on wheels program has been “great” for the homes’ owners and the landlords. But there was an instance where a neighbor said they didn’t have much privacy because of a tiny home’s position. Leap is now coaching people with tiny homes to ensure that their front doors face an appropriate direction, Woodward said.
Another concern for tiny homes was how they would fare through the winter. But that ended up not being a problem, Patterson said.
ADUs: PILOT ENDED BEFORE IT STARTED
The pilot program for accessory dwelling units initially attracted a lot of interest and about 100 applications, Patterson said. But the cost of construction of ADUs made it impossible for the program to be carried out, Patterson said. The city put an end to it before it even started.
The tiny homes and RV pilot programs are possible because landlords don’t have to pay to build ADUs, Patterson said.. They can just buy a tiny home or an RV, which are much cheaper, or have someone move in their own.
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