San Francisco Bans Overnight Parking for RVs on Most City Streets

San Francisco transportation officials will begin taking aggressive steps to stop oversized vehicles from parking overnight on city streets.

The city’s Municipal Transportation Authority’s board approved the policy change, which allows the city to tow oversized vehicles if the people living inside them reject offers of shelter, housing or services. The Tuesday board meeting, which stretched into the night, was filled with residents united in their opposition to the proposal.

“This decision is clearly an attack on our most vulnerable communities and is not a solution,” Yessica Hernandez, a housing justice organizer with the Coalition on Homelessness, said during public comment. “Hiding a problem doesn’t solve it.”

Mayor London Breed proposed the policy change. It comes as she and officials in other California cities crack down on encampments and unhoused people living on the streets. For years, vocal residents have urged officials to address blight and public safety issues sometimes caused by homeless encampments. Several San Francisco Supervisors, including Joel Engardio, Rafael Mandelman, Matt Dorsey and Catherine Stefani, support the proposal.

In July, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order directing state officials to dismantle homeless encampments in public areas.

During the meeting, officials from the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing insisted the policy would only be used as a last resort when dealing with RV dwellers who refuse offers for shelter or services.

“Nobody wants to see anybody on the streets and everybody, whether they live in an RV or not, want safe and clean and well maintained streets,” Dominica Henderson, a board member, said. “Doing nothing is not an option.”

The city’s current law does not allow RVs to park overnight on certain streets, while other streets allow it. More than 8,323 people are unhoused, according to the city’s 2024 count. About 9% of the 4,354 people who are unsheltered in San Francisco live in their vehicles.

MTA officials and the San Francisco Police Department will enforce the policy.

“City workers are out on the streets every day offering shelter and housing to people living in recreational vehicles,” Jeff Tumlin, SFMTA’s director of transportation, said in a statement. “This legislation will allow for parking enforcement if and when all those offers have been refused.

According to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, city officials have already moved 50 households from vehicles on Winston Drive near Stonestown Mall and Zoo Road near Lake Merced into long-term housing since June after threatening to tow their vehicles.

Affordable housing activists and critics argue the proposed law does nothing to fix the lack of affordable housing in the city or access to safe parking sites.

“If the conversation was, ‘Give up your RV for permanent shelter,’ it would be a completely different conversation,” Lukas Illa, an organizer with the Coalition on Homelessness, said. “Shelter is so temporary. So many folks I have talked to desperately want permanent solutions. But that is not what’s being offered by the city.”

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