This story aired in the December 1, 2025 episode of Crosscurrents.
As Bay Area Cities crack down on homelessness, they are increasingly targeting people living in vehicles. San Francisco just passed a policy that makes it illegal for large vehicles to park in the same place for more than two hours. And tomorrow, the Oakland City Council will discuss a new policy that would write people living in vehicles out of the city’s definition of “encampment” altogether, even though vehicle dwellers make up more than half the city’s homeless population.
This is Sidewalk Stories, a collaboration between Crosscurrents and the East Bay’s Street Spirit newspaper where we hear from unhoused people about how they survive and build a life outside.
For this segment, KALW homelessness reporter Alastair Boone spoke to people living in RVs in the East Bay, starting with Travis Barrow, in West Oakland. Earlier this year, he was staying at a city-sanctioned Safe RV Parking Site on Wood Street. But that program closed over the summer, so he and others who did not find permanent housing took their RVs and moved across the street, to a vacant plot of land at the nearby intersection.
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Story Transcript
REPORTER: And how long have you lived in a vehicle?
TRAVIS: Uh, I would say off and on for the past 10 years. My name's Travis. I stay on 26th and Wood Street. It's a vacant spot, almost, pretty much open land.
REPORTER: Any why did you choose the camper?
TRAVIS: You get to lock the door behind you and. It is harder for people to get to your stuff. Just being forced out into the streets, like I don't see how that's working or how that's gonna help anyone.
I got dogs, I got cats. Me. A whole lot of stuff. Yea, so. I don't know how a tent would help.
It's not easy. Yeah. We're not out here just because we choose to be. We're making the best of it.
NOLA: My name is Toravic. They call me Nola.
REPORTER: How long have you been living in this vehicle here?
NOLA: This thing is freaking awesome. It's got an awesome little sunroof. It was gifted to me by our neighbor around the corner when I was pregnant with our son. It's almost like, it's almost like a clubhouse slash apartment and it feels like home even though it's on the side of a road. 'Cause you work as a community together to get running water, to like have a generator going between everybody. Right. So that we can all have power. We know we all pitch in, we all help out, we all clean up around here. Plus it's like where our son is being raised at now since he's been born. He's two months old. He is a, he's getting all chunky and fat. So cute.
We're moving into our place here finally soon, but. I am, we're both gonna miss this place.
REPORTER: You're moving into a place soon?
NOLA: Yeah. Finally. It took them this long. I mean, it took them till the baby was born, but at least we're finally getting somewhere, I guess.
REPORTER: It sounds like you're kind of nervous to get housed.
NOLA: [Yeah] a lot of us has been dying since we've been housed. It's weird. I guess maybe like some people just can't transition, but also like it separates us, like we have community here like this.
NANIE: My name is Nanie. I was on Wood Street. Um, I first got this vehicle, uh, we were on Campbell and then we moved to 34th and now we're here on Willow. The owner of this RV was, had gotten housing and so she gave it to me and I moved in.
REPORTER: What do you like about it?
NANIE: Uh, it stays dry in there. It's, it's just a lot safer. My stuff gets stolen less. I, no one's walked in on me when I was sleeping in here, yet. It's got doors that like really close, and that's nice.
I used to live in San Francisco and I was just out of a backpack. Like, I had like a different door stoop every night. And, it's a very different life. Whatever you have is not gonna be with you for long, and you can't, like, you can't carry around a whole bunch of stuff like that.
A couple times people have kind of like, been like, oh, look at you living for free. And I just like, yeah, we all live for free. I don't know, I don't think housing should be a commodity. That's not, uh, it's not how I think it should be.
TOMMY: My name is Tommy Ayana and, I've been homeless for like four or five years.
They've been making tough and tougher and tougher for everybody to survive around here. People doesn't know where else can go.
If they took our trailers or RVs, totally we're gonna be homeless. You know, 'cause this is the only thing that we have.
REPORTER: What would change in your life if you were in a tent and not a vehicle?
TOMMY: Oh man. Winter is coming...Everything's, whatever we have, you know, it's gonna be wet. And, you know, after something got wet it's gotta, we don't have no dryer, we don't have any electricity, you know.
I don't know what's gonna happen. They say they’re gonna change that policy....You know, so, we hopeless, you know. We don't, we have nothing to do but wait, you know, see what they're gonna do.
