The city has not yet announced exactly when the new parking restrictions will go into effect, but new signs have already been put up reducing parking times. Residents living in RVs in the area received a flier stating that “enforcement of the four-hour parking time limit will begin soon.”
“We can't pay the rent,” Leticia, who lives in a mobile home on Winston Drive with her two children, said at Tuesday's SFMTA meeting. “We need a safe place. We have nowhere else to go. My two daughters go to school and I need a safe place for both of them.”
Marlon Arostegui speaks at an SFMTA board meeting at San Francisco City Hall on April 16, 2024. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
However, during the SFMTA board meeting on Tuesday, Director Jeffrey Tumlin said the city will not “take any action to enforce these new signs” until a street paving program nearby is completed and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing can conduct additional rounds of education with mobile home residents.
Parking and traffic safety enforcement will be increased throughout the city in the coming weeks as the city hires more parking attendants, Tumlin said.
Several speakers protested the decision on Tuesday, saying they were unable to move their vehicles because they were at work during the day. Others needed help repairing a mechanical problem in order to drive.
Many said they cannot afford the $92 fine the city imposes for cars that are not running, and they fear the tickets could exacerbate their housing problems.
SFMTA Board Chair Amanda Eaken (center right) and others listen to comments from the public during an SFMTA board meeting at San Francisco City Hall on April 16, 2024. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)
Across San Francisco, RV residents are facing similar problems. About 35 RV residents faced displacement when the city announced it would enforce parking restrictions near Bernal Heights Park.
Some neighbors complained that the vehicles were clogging the street and sidewalk around the park, but a group of neighbors who already have homes have also banded together to delay enforcement until residents find an alternative place to go.
The San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing has been working with people living in mobile homes on Winston Avenue for months to find housing and other solutions for people who want to stay in their mobile homes.
The department had previously told KQED that it was looking into possible locations where Winstron residents could safely park their RVs, but no such location has yet been found.
An SFMTA street cleaning ticket sits on the windshield of a motorhome on Winston Drive in San Francisco, California, near San Francisco State University, on Oct. 17, 2023. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
“They're going to displace a lot of families. They say this is for public safety. But where are these people going to go after they're displaced? We're not thinking about that,” Yessica Hernandez, an organizer who has worked with families in Winston Drive, said during the public hearing. “We have a huge homelessness problem in San Francisco and we're not going to get rid of it by implementing four-hour parking restrictions.”
Many residents who spoke at City Hall on Tuesday said they felt helpless and had few options left.
“We need you to give us a safe place to move to,” Walter Mejia, who has lived in a mobile home on Winston Dr. for three years, said through a Spanish translator during Tuesday's board meeting. “We don't have the resources to pay these tickets.”
