Some of the two dozen RVs in an encampment that was ousted last week from Winston Drive near Stonestown Galleria and relocated to a street near the San Francisco Zoo were towed away by officials Thursday morning while the remaining vehicles were tagged with 72-hour parking rule notices.
Four police officers, two tow trucks and three parking control officers took away two vehicles, said Gabriel Medina, head of La Raza Community Resource Center. A third was in the process of being towed away just before 11 a.m.
Medina, whose organization started outreach services to a large group of affected people from South and Central America on Monday, said residents have been calling his staff for guidance after their homes were towed or they felt they were under threat of losing their RVs.
City officials told Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents the area, that motor homes without current registrations are being towed. People living in those vehicles were warned about enforcement last week, when they moved to Zoo Road, an L-shaped street off Skyline Boulevard.
“They have been offered a hotel room and a two- to five-year voucher for rapid rehousing,” Melgar said. The voucher is similar to those under Section 8, which can be taken to any private or nonprofit landlord to offset rent.
The operation ended at 1 p.m. The vehicles with 72-hour notices will have to move by Sunday but they will not have to go far. They will just have to find another space nearby.
The encampment faces opposition from nearby Pomeroy Recreation & Rehabilitation Center, a nonprofit that has served people with severe and moderate disabilities since the 1950s. On Monday, CEO David Dubinsky called on the organization’s clients to ask Mayor London Breed and Melgar for the encampment be relocated.
Mario Herrera, who came to the U.S. from El Salvador two years ago, along with five family members, said he was told the vehicles could no longer park on Zoo Road from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Wednesday.
It’s unclear where the information originated. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesperson Michael Roccaforte said the agency is not the source of this information and today’s enforcement is being led by another city agency.
Melgar proposed last week that Zoo Road be reconfigured to allow people living in vehicles with children to stay in what would be, in essence, a safe parking site, a specialized shelter. City Hall has been trying to establish a safe parking site on the city’s west side for about three years but has been unable to find a suitable location. The mayor’s office opposes the idea.
People living in vehicles make up one-third of San Francisco’s unsheltered homeless population. The number has grown significantly over the last few years, reaching more than 700 vehicles and 1,400 people, according to city data.