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.
One week earlier, Lurie announced a two-hour citywide parking limit as phase 2 of his RV ban. The Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee will vote on the permit program on July 9. Lurie’s proposal already has five co-sponsors on the board and needs a sixth vote to pass. If it does, the legislation and accompanying permit program could go into effect as soon as September.
Vehicles granted the refuge permit are required to be registered in a database that the City created in May. The permit exempts vehicles from violations of the two-hour parking rule, and is valid for one year. All other violations, including outdated registration and parking for more than 72 hours, will still apply. The City will revoke permits from vehicle dwellers who refuse an offer of shelter or housing. Vehicle owners who were not counted or who were denied a permit in May can appeal, and will be granted access to services if they can provide proof of San Francisco residency as of May, such as registration, parking tickets or other documentation.
However, the permit program fails to account for the complex needs of RV residents and limits them to housing offers that may not suit their needs. Often, housing offers exclude pets and fail to account for disability or safety needs. RV residents who work outside shelter operating hours might have their movements restricted by shelter policy, disrupting the residents’ personal autonomy. The City’s proposed timeline is also deeply misguided; the city cannot house every RV resident in six to 12 months. The City does not have enough resources to house the residents of 437 vehicles.
While the City faces budget cuts for vital transportation and social services, the MTA has allocated $3 million for new signage to enforce the RV ban. That amount almost offsets $3.5 million taken from the Our City, Our Home prevention fund, including funds for case management, “problem solving” and buying back up to 100 vehicles. This amount of money could have been used to house 75 individuals or prevent 500 households from losing their homes.
At the June 17 MTA hearing, several RV owners spoke during public comment, emphasizing the necessity of their vehicles and the potential dangers of a two-hour parking limit. Many RV residents have been priced out of San Francisco housing and see RVs as the last option of safe living.
“I never thought that in coming to this country there would come a time where I wouldn’t be able to afford rent,” one RV resident told the board in Spanish through a translator. “I thought the best solution would be to then buy a car to live in … It took a lot of strength and happiness to buy that vehicle to live in, and now it’s become a nightmare.”
Other residents pointed out the hazards of yet another restriction that criminalizes their solution to homelessness. An RV resident who lives in the Mission told the MTA Board, “I don’t understand why we would have to go through all these hoops now to get this permit for safe parking … If you’re going to make these policies you should at least invite some of us to the table.”
Other speakers at the board meeting highlighted the City’s status as a sanctuary city, and the additional deportation risks immigrants living in RVs face under the Trump administration. “Latino families are the predominant makeup of the families living in RVs,” said a member of the Latino Task Force (LTF). “[They] have been under stress since the restrictions were put in and they are absolutely terrified.”
End Poverty Tows members share LTF’s concern and can confirm that many residents contacted on outreach are Latino families with varying levels of documentation. This RV ban will disproportionately affect the immigrant community of San Francisco.
For families pushed out of housing in San Francisco, vehicles provide a sense of safety and autonomy. An RV-dwelling family underscored the lack of affordability in their comment. “I don’t have steady work right now and this [RV] is the only way I can provide a roof over my daughter’s head,” they said. “This is the only shelter that I am able to provide … We are fearful right now and only I feel it right now and I don’t want her to feel the fear of them taking the shelter we have right now.”
