San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors approved a new City law proposed by Mayor London N. Breed that will give homeless outreach workers a new tool to get people to accept shelter, housing, and services being offered to those living in oversized vehicles, including recreational vehicles (RVs) on all San Francisco streets. The new law will ensure City streets are used for the purpose for which they were designed—transportation—rather than serving as unofficial parcels for inhabited oversized vehicles.
Supervisors Joel Engardio, Catherine Stefani, Rafael Mandelman, and Matt Dorsey are in support of the change in law.
The approved law will make overnight parking by inhabited RVs a towable offense between midnight and 6 a.m., but only if an offer of shelter, housing, and/or services are rejected. Current overnight parking restrictions will continue to exist on already approved streets. Previously, under the San Francisco Transportation Code, current regulation prohibited overnight parking by oversized vehicles on certain streets but not all.
The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) and City agencies regularly offer RV dwellers services and referrals to alternative housing, including offers of shelter, housing, public benefits, and health services. Services are offered on a case-by-case basis based on need, but include:
- Paying for the repair and relocation of RVs, including paying for the rent and fees at an RV park of their choice
- Access to shelter
- Rapid rehousing vouchers, permanent supportive housing, and hotel vouchers
- Relocation services, including utilizing the Journey Home program
As an example of this work, since June, HSH has helped 50 households move from vehicles on Winston Road and Zoo Road and into long-term housing, in addition to conducting outreach to RV dwellers across San Francisco. However, despite several efforts to connect some households to services, offers by homeless outreach workers have been continuously turned down. Given the pending towing, households on Zoo Road were more inclined to accept offers. Today’s legislation will apply that same approach citywide.
“This approval by the SFMTA Board of Directors will help us to enforce our laws to ensure that our streets are safe, livable, and accessible to everyone,” said Mayor London Breed. “Our outreach workers are going out every to offer help to people and to engage with those living in vehicles and encampments. Our message is clear: accepting our help is not just an option, it is the option. If someone is offered housing, shelter, and support but turns us down, they cannot remain on the streets.”
“A functioning city needs streets that function. Residents are frustrated because they pay tickets if their car is a few inches over a line, while an RV in front of their house gets to stay indefinitely and take up multiple parking spaces. The lack of parking turnover denies access to residents and visitors,” said Supervisor Joel Engardio, who represents the Sunset neighborhoods on the Westside. “There are times when people need to sleep in their vehicle, and they deserve leeway when the vehicle fits in the space and follows parking rules. Towing should be a last resort when people dump piles of debris in the street while engaging in antisocial and illegal behavior. We cannot accept RVs as a long-term solution to our housing crisis. I support building more affordable housing in my district for formerly unhoused people — including those who currently live in RVs. We can provide shelter and permanent homes for people without accepting an anything goes approach on our streets.”
“As we continue our efforts to keep our streets safe and accessible for everyone, this legislation strikes the right balance between compassion and accountability,” said Supervisor Catherine Stefani. “With this new law, San Francisco will maintain its commitment to providing housing and services to those in need, while mitigating health and safety risks in our neighborhoods. By equipping City agencies with this necessary tool, we can better protect our communities and support our most vulnerable residents.”
“I strongly support Mayor Breed’s proposal. San Francisco should be doing everything we reasonably can to help unhoused households resolve their homelessness, but it is not reasonable or fair to impacted neighborhoods to allow our public spaces to be converted into campgrounds,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. “That is true of encampments on our sidewalks and in our parks, and it is true of RVs on our streets. We can and should offer shelter and services to unhoused households, but we simply cannot allow people to live in RVs on our streets indefinitely.”
“Allowing RVs and other oversized vehicles to serve as makeshift housing is creating too many safety concerns and public nuisances,” said Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “Mayor Breed’s proposal strikes the right balance by ensuring that those living in vehicles are offered shelter or housing options, while disallowing a practice that needs to end. Our goal should be to connect unhoused residents to appropriate services while maintaining safe and clean streets. I think the Mayor’s approach will accomplish that.”
San Francisco has long faced challenges with on-street parking of RVs such as trailers, motorhomes, and campers. Existing policy makes it illegal to live in a vehicle on City streets. RVs parked on streets can present public safety and public health hazards, including impaired sight lines for road users and illegal dumping of garbage and waste matter on sidewalks and streets. In some districts, limited available on-street parking is decreased further due to oversize vehicles being stored on streets.
The new law will be implemented and enforced by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) in collaboration with the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD).
“City workers are out on the streets every day offering shelter and housing to people living in recreational vehicles. This legislation will allow for parking enforcement when all of those offers have been refused,” said Jeff Tumlin, SFMTA Director of Transportation. “The number of RVs on City streets is causing a variety of problems. Residents in some neighborhoods are finding the sidewalks in front of their homes blocked by garbage and human waste. And we’re hearing from small businesses in industrial parts of the City that they're struggling to get their deliveries because all the parking spaces are taken up with RVs. We have to do better.”
Mayor Breed’s Homelessness Response
Since taking office in 2018, Mayor Breed has significantly expanded and improved San Francisco’s homelessness response system, leading to the number of people living on the streets to reach the lowest level in at least 10 years. Under her leadership, San Francisco has expanded shelter beds by over 70%, increased housing slots for formerly homeless individuals by over 50%, and added 400 behavioral health treatment beds.
In the last year, San Francisco has helped over 5,200 people exit homelessness, provided shelter to nearly 10,000 people, and over 8,200 people have accessed prevention support like rental assistance to keep them from falling into homelessness in the first place.
“The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing is committed to continuing to provide outreach to people struggling with homelessness and living in their vehicles,” said Shireen McSpadden, Executive Director of HSH. “We will use the shelter, housing and financial assistance available to us to move people out of vehicles and into a safe and dignified housing options.”
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