San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the city will make parking between midnight and 6 a.m. a towable violation for oversized vehicles whose occupants decline offers of accommodation or other services.
San Francisco plans to tow recreational vehicles and other large vehicles parked overnight on city streets if people living in them refuse offers of shelter, the city confirmed Friday.
Following complaints from businesses and residents about occupied vehicles, Mayor London Breed said the city will make parking between midnight and 6 a.m. a towable violation for oversized vehicles whose occupants decline offers of accommodation or other services.
“San Francisco is a compassionate city that will always be at the forefront of housing, shelter and other supportive services, but we must enforce our laws to ensure our streets are safe, livable and accessible for all,” Breed said in a statement. “Our message has been clear: accepting our help is not just an option, it is the option.”
While the overall number of homeless and unsheltered people in San Francisco has declined since 2019, the percentage of homeless people living in vehicles rather than tents or other street shelters has increased.
The city counted 1,444 people living in vehicles in its most recent census homeless people, a 37% increase from 2022. Ninety percent of the 130 unsheltered families the city counted were living in a vehicle.
Joel Engardio, San Francisco Supervisor He told the San Francisco Chronicle who receives frequent complaints from residents of its Sunset District about parking issues, litter and concerning behavior related to occupied vehicles.
“We need to support and create the construction of new housing and shelters for people, but we cannot let people park on the street indefinitely and create problems for residents,” he told the newspaper.
In 2019, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority found that more than 40% of the city's homeless population… A total of 14,000 people — were living in cars, trucks, RVs or other vehicles in Los Angeles County.
In August, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously directing city agencies to develop a program that would restrict the parking of oversized vehicles in residential areas while increasing services for the people who live there.
“Our city is not a trailer park and we cannot and should not tolerate the widespread impacts caused by these trailer parks,” Councilwoman Traci Park said at the time.
