Amid sky-high rents, some New Yorkers opt for RV living

Some New Yorkers are circumventing the super-heated local real estate market by buying secondhand recreational vehicles and living in upscale neighborhoods they otherwise could not afford.

Steven Cintron, for example, grew up in Park Slope, but can no longer afford to pay rent there. The 34-year-old recently paid $5,000 for a 200-square-foot 1996 Gulf Stream Ultra, which he now parks in his old neighborhood.

Of course, there are downsides to living in a so-called RV. Those include hooking up sewage lines, the difficulty of receiving mail and the high cost of heat during the winter. Cintron spent $125 per month borrowing electricity from a nearby hotel at one point, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times, but was later told his extension cord violated city regulations.

As of last year, 589 RVs were registered with the state Department of Motor Vehicles to city residents. But it is not clear whether RV living in the city is actually legal. A spokesperson for the city’s Law Department told the paper that there don’t appear to be any city laws that directly address living in an RV or other parked vehicle, or any prohibition against doing so.

A 33-year-old former city employee, identified only as “B. Bryan,” by the L.A. Times, paid $15,000 for a 1994 Thor Industries Pinnacle that he parks in Park Slope.

“Rents are astronomical, so you don’t even have to worry about your rents going up,” Bryan told the paper. [LAT] — Mark Maurer