MTA Passes Permit Program, Step One of Lurie’s RV Ban

by Contributing Author

by Charlie Fisch and Azucena Hernandez

On Tuesday, June 17, the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) Board of Directors met to approve on a 6–1 vote a refuge permit program that would exempt oversize vehicles from a proposed two-hour parking limit for up to 12 months. Approval of the program is only the first step in Mayor Daniel Lurie’s two-phased RV ban. Members of the End Poverty Tows Coalition and their allies told the panel that this plan will lead to displacement and increased street homelessness while residents struggle to find shelter. 

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“Hundreds Will Lose Their Homes!”: Testimonies Against the Mayor’s “Poverty Tows”

by Contributing Author

story and photos by Sarah Menefee

Below are some quotes from testimony given by families who live in their vehicles, and by their advocates, before the SFMTA [San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority], at a hearing on Mayor Lurie’s proposal to institute a 2-hour parking limit on oversized vehicles in San Francisco. Ninety percent of the homeless families in the city live in vehicles such as RVs, and would be in grave danger of having them ticketed and towed,

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The Beat Goes On: The Struggle of LA’s Vehicular Residents and the Venice Justice Committee

by Contributing Author

by Cathleen Williams with Peggy Kennedy

Venice, Los Angeles: A neighborhood for poor people, for renters who used to thrive in cheap apartments on the rundown back streets, a neighborhood famous for its countercultural vibe and freedom, where the wide beach and boardwalk teemed with performers, drag queens, artists, and outcasts. In the 1950s, Venice was a center of the Beat Generation in southern California—a local counterpart to San Francisco’s North Beach.

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Mayor Lurie’s RV Plan Proposes Displacement and Criminalization Amidst Burgeoning Housing Crisis

by Contributing Author

Mayor Daniel Lurie announced legislation to ban RVs and enforce a citywide two-hour parking restriction for large vehicles, leading to fines, towing, displacement and eviction of those vulnerable San Franciscans experiencing poverty and homelessness. The plan falls significantly short in ensuring those living in RVs have the dignity of a home.  

Mayor Lurie’s plan, part of the “Breaking the Cycle” initiative, leads with enforcement, imposing a two-hour parking limit on large vehicles citywide.

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Vehicle Residents Succeed in Appealing Overnight RV Ban

by Contributing Author

by Lukas Illa

Image by Solange Cuba

On December 10, for the first time in its history, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors overturned a decision passed by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) Board of Directors that would have banned oversized vehicles citywide.

The move prevented the ban from taking effect. It would have targeted streets in the Lake Merced area after vehicle-dwelling San Franciscans were swept from the area earlier this year.

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SF Vehicle Residents Brace for Citywide Ban

by Contributing Author

by Lukas Illa

“SFMTA don’t take my home,” read the signs of protestors at a September 17 rally put on by the End Poverty Tows Coalition. The rally opposed an upcoming RV ban, which the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors later approved on October 1.

This proposal, drafted by Mayor London Breed’s office and SFMTA, would authorize the agency’s director to designate city streets as off limits to “oversized vehicles” between 12 a.m.

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Resolution on Seizure of Homeless People’s Property in the Works 

by TJ Johnston

The board that monitors the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) will draft a statement demanding that the City of San Francisco stop illegally seizing unhoused people’s property and dwellings.

On September 5, the Homelessness Oversight Commission agreed to come up with such a resolution by their next meeting in October to present to officials at multiple City agencies. These departments include those that comprise the Healthy Streets Operation Center (HSOC) including the Homelessness,

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Call to Action: Support RV Dwellers on the West Side

by Contributing Author

As of August 1, a critical situation has unfolded for low-income families and individuals living in RVs in District 7 on San Francisco’s west side. The imminent threat of displacement looms large, and without immediate intervention, these residents may face homelessness. These are not abstract statistics: they are our neighbors, people thrust into this precarious situation through no fault of their own.

For over three years, the Coalition on Homelessness and committed allies have been working tirelessly to support these communities.

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Dramatic Rise in Vehicular and Family Homelessness

by Contributing Author

a statement from the Coalition on Homelessness

San Francisco — Despite a marked improvement in housing placements, underlying socioeconomic disparities combined with a lack of significant federal and state investment in affordable housing have driven homeless rates up 7% in San Francisco.  In particular,  the Point in Time Count showed a 94% increase in family homelessness, and a 90% increase in vehicularly housed.  Increased shelter and housing availability has led to a 13% decrease in street homelessness.  

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“We Don’t Have Anywhere Else to Go”: Bernal RV Residents Face Deadline with No Exit Plan

by Contributing Author

by Madeleine Matz

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) recently began enforcing a ban on overnight parking on Bernal Heights Boulevard, endangering the homes of RV dwellers who have parked there for years. Now, the RV residents are protesting their impending eviction.

Two neighborhood residents—Armando Martinez, who lives in an RV on Bernal Heights Boulevard, and Flo Kelly, a traditionally housed neighbor—gathered vehicularly housed residents to give public comment at the March 5 SFMTA board meeting.

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