San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie signed legislation this week to expand housing options and enforce 24/7 two-hour parking limits on large vehicles across the city as part of an effort aimed at addressing vehicular homelessness and reclaiming public spaces.
Under the legislation signed Tuesday, San Francisco will spend $13 million over the next two fiscal years on rapid rehousing subsidies, a large vehicle cash buyback program, outreach teams, and enforcement resources.
On July 22, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 to approve the legislation.
San Francisco’s 2024 Point-in-Time Count, a biennial effort to count the number of people experiencing homelessness on one given day, concluded that around 1,444 individuals and families resided in large vehicles throughout the city. A city analysis this past May found at least 437 large vehicles were being used as homes in San Francisco.
The new legislation is part of Lurie’s “Breaking the Cycle” initiative, which aims to reform the city’s approach to the behavioral health and the homelessness crisis through expanded recovery and treatment bed capacity, neighborhood-based street outreach teams, and a 24/7 stabilization center where police officers can bring individuals with urgent mental health or substance abuse needs to receive appropriate medical care. The city’s Breaking the Cycle Fund launched with $37.5 million in private funding in May.
Prior to the Board of Supervisors’ vote last week, dozens of San Francisco community members gathered in black veils, cupping plastic candles in their hands and chanting “fight, fight, fight, housing is a human right” on the steps of City Hall to protest the legislation.
‘Draconian policy’
Following the legislation’s passage, the Coalition on Homelessness, a group aimed at advancing housing justice in San Francisco that helped organize the rally, issued a statement arguing that the legislation would force RV residents to compete with other unhoused populations for limited city housing offers.
“There are so many people in need of shelter and housing, it would make more sense to open safe parking lots and prioritize housing for those on streets, in parks, in cars and in shelter,” the statement read. “There was no reason for such a draconian policy.”
“If people in RVs are offered these rooms, or if they are held empty for this population, that puts high acuity people at risk of losing out on a placement.” Coalition on Homelessness
The coalition asserted that because RV households already have access to private residence in their vehicles, even non-congregate shelter rooms, which offer private living spaces, would be inappropriate. Further, non-congregate shelter spaces are often set aside for people with serious medical conditions experiencing street-based homelessness, the coalition said.
“As there is high demand for a small number of rooms, only folks in the very worst shape can access, such as those experiencing complicated medical and behavioral health challenges,” the coalition wrote. “If people in RVs are offered these rooms, or if they are held empty for this population, that puts high acuity people at risk of losing out on a placement.”
‘Combining compassion with accountability’
The 2024 San Francisco PIT Count found 3,969 sheltered and 4,354 unsheltered people experiencing homelessness across the city.
The city has set aside $8.2 million to fund 65 rapid rehousing subsidies for families living in large vehicles over the next two to three years, according to a document from the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Finance Committee.
Lurie defended the legislation as a means to offer those living in vehicles better housing while keeping the city clean and safe.
“I kept coming back to parents. The parents living in vehicles deserve real options for raising their kids safely and with dignity. And the parents trying to walk down the street with their family deserve sidewalks that are clean, safe, and accessible,” he wrote. “The legislation I am signing today delivers that — combining compassion with accountability, creating a clear path to permanent housing, and giving our city the tools to improve the quality of life for all San Franciscans.”