Last September, San Francisco announced that they were going to begin enforcing parking restrictions on Winston Drive, a stretch of San Francisco occupied by almost 50 RV’s, many of them families.
The restrictions went into effect on August 1st. When they did, many of those residents moved into an empty parking lot near the Zoo. But on Sunday, they were told again by the city that they would have to move. Karla Hernandez lives in an RV with her husband and two children, they were one of several families forced to move on Tuesday night.
"Dijeron que ya después del primero de agosto no podíamos estar allí porque se las iban a llevar entonces nos movimos a otro lado..."
"They said that after the first of August we couldn't be there because they were going to take them away, so we moved somewhere else. They didn't say that we couldn't be there either. They put up signs that as of 12 midnight [on Tuesday] we couldn't be there anymore."
Karla and her family moved their RV to another street near San Francisco State, but they don’t know how long they’ll be able to stay there. Here’s Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness.
“And the families lose the RVs and then they're sleeping in the parks. Like, how is this helping? And so really we just, you know, they're just asking for safe parking. And the city really needs to prioritize families and stabilize their children.”
The move is part of a series of crackdowns in San Francisco on homelessness. The city says it’s offered housing subsidies to many of the residents who were displaced from Winston Dr. but it’s not a simple fix. Again, here’s Friedenbach.
“The city is asking them to give up their RVs in exchange for these subsidies. And of course the families are like, well, are we really gonna be able to pay market rent after one or two years, when we're already working multiple jobs and we're unable to pay it now?”
The Winston Dr. community isn’t the only one being forced to move. On Wednesday morning, a tow truck began working its way down Lake Merced Boulevard, where RV’s with expired tags were being towed.
Hamilton Santos has been living in his RV on Lake Merced Boulevard for more than two years. He says the city has failed to follow through on the promise of a safe parking site.
“They promised like almost two years ago, a permanent parking spot, you know, for we can park. But, uh, meetings and meetings and meetings—it's just a lie because, you know what I mean? Now just come and tow you, no notice. So they've been promised about almost two years to find a space for us, but, uh, just a lie.”
Santos’ tags, like many parked along Lake Merced Boulevard, are expired, and so he moved his RV down the street, but he has no idea how long it’ll be until he has to move again.
