Unhoused San Francisco RV Families Forced to Move Yet Again, With 'Nowhere to Go'

Residents of an RV community in San Francisco say they have nowhere to go after city officials gave them three days to clear out. For many, it’s the second move in less than two weeks.

The group of some two dozen vehicles was previously stationed on Winston Drive near the Stonestown Galleria, but city officials cleared them from the street a week ago. Most then moved to a low-traffic street behind the San Francisco Zoo.

Members of La Raza Community Resource Center, an organization offering outreach services to the group, say the RV community is fully Latino and mostly made up of families, with roughly 50 children living there.

Leonor Deleon, who lives with her husband and two daughters, said she was a nanny and lived in an apartment with her family. But when the pandemic started, work dried up for her and her husband, and a year later, they lost their home. The RV that the family originally bought to go camping became their home.

“I don’t know why, but I feel like after the pandemic, it’s been very difficult to get back on my feet,” Deleon said in Spanish. She added that many of her neighbors from her old apartment building also ended up on the street after the start of the pandemic.

Deleon said she and the other RV residents, whom she considers a tight-knit community, are only looking for a safe place to live while they work to save up enough money for an apartment again, and city efforts to fine them or tow their vehicles only make that more difficult.

When city officials descended on the encampment Thursday to deliver the 72-hour notices to clear out, they also towed some vehicles without valid registrations.

Jamilet Lira said her son was at work when the city came, and she was unable to find the registration for his RV. She said she was only able to grab some clothes and blankets before the vehicle was taken away, along with many of their belongings and immigration papers.

“They gave me very little time,” Lira said in Spanish. “And my neighbors helped me. If I had been alone, I probably wouldn’t have grabbed anything.”

City officials said they are offering housing, shelter and other services to residents of the encampment.

Lira said she was offered space in a shelter, but for an unspecified amount of time and that she could not take her adult children with her. She said she is still recovering after being struck by a vehicle and needs her kids’ help around the house.

Members of La Raza, the outreach organization, also said the resources offered are insufficient.

Gabriel Medina, the executive director of La Raza, said he hopes the city can ensure housing vouchers get into the hands of encampment residents. The voucher program acts like a subsidy, covering the housing costs for two years.

For multifamily and multigenerational communities like the RV encampment, Medina said finding suitable landlords and units proves challenging—even if they get the housing vouchers.

In the meantime, Medina is begging the city to give residents more time.

“We’ve seen the city crackdown on trying to bust tents and do sweeps here in San Francisco. And this seems like the best way to get more tents is to bust people out of their RVs,” Medina said.

City Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents the area, said in a statement that she has advocated for a safe parking site for this RV community for years and has asked for the mayor’s help in that effort.

However, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing said they are not pursuing any proposed permitting system for RV residents to stay on the site, and the mayor’s office added that those who do not accept support services will face towing violations come Sunday.