RV owners plead for help after SF tows vehicles from safe parking site near Candlestick Point
The RVs were towed the equivalent of a few football fields from where they were parked
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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Monday evening the City of San Francisco began towing RVs out of a vacant lot in sight of where Candlestick once stood. The RVs had been allowed to park there for the last three years.
Some said they knew this was coming, others are now saying, “We need help!”
“I start a federal case on Monday and we’re just going to have a long discussion about how people in RVs are treated like second-class citizens,” said Ramona Mayon who lived at the parking site.
All the while, outrage from the 30 plus people who were still living there and now don’t know where they will go.
Those with the City of San Francisco issued a statement, in part saying, “Everyone onsite was offered permanent housing, rental subsidies, alternative shelter, and/or relocation assistance prior to the closure of the site.”
Mayon, who has filed a lawsuit on this matter, says that is not the case.
“All the stuff that you see in the paper the Mayor London Breed and the new one saying that there is RV parks, there is RV repair, we’re giving subsidies to go to RV parks, none of that is true. You talk with any people that you catch out here in the next day or two and it’s nothing, there’s nothing,” said Mayon.
“I can’t even give no emotions right now because if I did I’d probably be in jail,” said Henry Borrero who lived at the site.
“You’re that angry?” asked ABC7 News reporter J.R. Stone.
“They didn’t give us no warning. They just told us to get out, that’s it,” said Borrero.
City representatives says the Bayview Vehicle Triage Center served 132 households since it was opened in 2022. We previously reported that there were issues here from the start with flooding, rats, and a lack of electricity.
The RVs were towed the equivalent of a few football fields from where they were parked. Mayon says mechanics that were brought in, often couldn’t fix some of the problems with RVs like hers and the money to fund those mechanics ran out.
“Probably 20 RVs left in there and people aren’t giving them up so what are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to go? And RV parks are what the solution is across the country for older poor people to live in, it is Americana,” said Mayon.
“If you could say something to the mayor what would you say?” asked Stone.
“Help. Help us out please, we need somewhere to go,” said Borrero.
For now, many will be just down the street from where they were before being towed.
The San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing issued this statement:
Since opening in January 2022, the Bayview Vehicle Triage Center has served 132 households living in their vehicles. As part of our support for guests at the VTC, the onsite provider offers case management, housing assistance, benefits advocacy, employment assistance, medical referrals and vehicle repair. Over the past several months HSH and the nonprofits operating the site have held community meetings with guests, gave ample written notification and worked diligently with guests to identify places for them to go upon closure of the site. Everyone onsite was offered permanent housing, rental subsidies, alternative shelter, and/or relocation assistance prior to the closure of the site.
There are some guests who are working towards housing, and they will maintain their prioritization for housing even after the project is closed. All guests who were present on site on March 3rd were offered shelter as a last final placement offer before closing the program.
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