A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Armando Martinez, Flo Kelly, and Colleen McCarthy
Berryessa safe RV parking site in San Jose. Photo by Flo Kelly.
What happens when you are called to a ministry? You follow the way of love, compassion, and empathy without constraints of time and expense, finding peace and satisfaction in helping someone else get through the day—pure selflessness. On the other hand, a new job, no matter how committed you might be to the issue or sector,
by Colleen McCarthy
Berryessa safe RV parking site. Photo by Flo Kelly
The first Safe Parking Program in the United States was pioneered in Santa Barbara in 2004 by a group of activists and is now run by New Beginnings (Lewis et al., 2024; Ray Ivey & Gilleland, 2018). Safe parking is usually designed to offer a transitional space for car and RV residents to park at night (and sometimes 24/7) to avoid parking regulations and offer a safe location with access to basic services like water,
Still, the new law caught many who live in large vehicles off guard
At the same time that advocates for San Francisco’s vehicle-dwelling residents charged the City to protect RV and large vehicle residents from displacement by a parking enforcement program, City workers were removing trailers about five miles away.
On November 5, at a plaza on 16th and Harrison streets in the Mission District, members of the End Poverty Tows Coalition,
by Charlie Fisch
When I work with vulnerable populations at risk of further marginalization, I often don’t have answers to people’s pressing questions. When RV residents ask whether or not they will be able to stay in their homes for another year, it feels almost irresponsible to answer without concrete information. I’ve spent the last three months knocking on RV doors, trying to give RV residents access to local government and warn them of just how little the City has to offer.
By Sister ’Nita House
I have buried 17 friends in two years. Fentanyl stole their breath. If punishment or shame could end addiction, they would still be here. But San Francisco’s new “drug-free sidewalks” plan does only that: punishes the poor, shames people in crisis, and hides suffering instead of healing it.
Mayor Daniel Lurie’s “Recovery First” law makes abstinence the City’s guiding star. Nonprofits that once handed out clean syringes or pipes are now forced to attach treatment counseling or else lose funding.
by Lukas Illa
On July 22, less than a year after London Breed attempted to restrict oversized vehicles from parking overnight on certain San Francisco streets, Mayor Daniel Lurie’s plan to effectively expand the ban on recreational vehicles (RVs) citywide passed the Board of Supervisors in a 9-2 vote. The ordinance will take effect on August 28.
The legislation has been broken into two parts: a two-hour parking restriction for large vehicles and a “Large Vehicle Refuge Permit” program under the SF Municipal Transportation Agency that would exempt RV households from the ban for six months.
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.
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,
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.
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.
