RV campers forced off San Francisco’s Winston Drive search for new home

Amid San Francisco’s controversial homeless encampment sweeps, city officials are struggling to find places to put all the unhoused people with only about 4,000 shelter beds available to accommodate twice that number of people.

And that does not include people living in their cars or RVs.

Evidence of the RV community on Winston Drive in San Francisco – necessities, simple joys, vices and everything in between – is still visible on the stretch of road near the Stonestown Galleria.

But as of August 1st, the community itself was gone.

At the beginning of August, the city started enforcing the 4-hour parking limit on Winston Drive. That came after two months of rallies and protests by the families that lived there.

The move was a long-time coming, not out of the blue. But it meant the people who lived in RV’s along the road, many of them being families from Central America, had no choice but to leave and find somewhere else to go.

Many of the people relocated to Zoo Road, just about a mile or so away from Winston Drive.

That included Juan Carlos Madrid and his family.

“Everyone who is here, we are the same people who were living on Winston,” he said in Spanish.

Prior to the pandemic, living in an RV wasn’t his reality. He came to America from Honduras 23 years ago. He lived in Daly City, had an apartment and a steady construction job. His life was normal. But that changed with COVID, and his family ended up on Winston Drive.

“We were there for almost five years, until they moved us out,” he said.

Madrid says this is not a long-term solution, but it works for now.

“Here, we live one day at a time,” he said.

Tuesday was not an easy day for the people who have relocated to Zoo Road. SFMTA officers were there doing outreach and parking enforcement.

A spokesperson tells CBS News Bay Area they encourage those experiencing homelessness to take advantage of the SFMTA discount and citation waiver programs if they’ve been impacted by parking limits.

For Eusevia Rosales, it was difficult to watch this unfold just days after she and her family also left Winston Drive.

“I don’t know how to tell you,” she said in Spanish. “I don’t know where we can go.”

She and her family came to the USA from El Salvador about a year ago, hoping for a better life away from gang violence, where she could work and help support her family. She had a job, but says an injury has since prevented her from working. At one point her family had an apartment, but it became too expensive. 

Like Madrid, they ended up on Winston Drive. The little money she has goes towards taking care of her family, she says.

“I’m thinking about a lot of things. But we have to keep going,” she said.

She says she’d like some kind of direction and is pleading for city officials to come up with a solution for families like hers, such as a safe parking zone.

“I’m so stressed out,” she said. “Without knowing where we could go, knowing that we have the kids, and nobody understands the situation that you’re living through.”

The mayor’s office provided CBS News Bay Area with the following statement:

“The city will continue to do outreach and offer support, housing and shelter, while enforcing parking laws in areas where people live in their RVs. Many of the people now on Zoo Road were previously on Winston, where city outreach teams have done extensive outreach with offers of alternatives to parking on the street. The mayor’s office will continue to work with city departments, including SFMTA and HSH on these efforts.”

The City’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) has hosted five services fairs with the people who lived on Winston Drive, including one as recently as June 27. HSH reports engaging with 27 households in an outreach fair, and says 23 successfully moved out of their vehicles and into housing.

But Yessica Hernandez with the non-profit Coalition on Homelessness, says many of the people who are in the RVs ultimately don’t qualify for some services. Getting them into stable housing situations isn’t simple.

“Not a lot of people qualify for housing. The other families who qualified for something was only for the deposit and the first month’s worth of rent,” she said. “They need to find a site where people can park safely.”

Her organization released a statement on Wednesday going into more detail, that reads in part:

“For over three years, the Coalition on Homelessness and our dedicated allies have worked tirelessly to support these communities. We have engaged with city officials, advocated for better housing solutions, and provided as much assistance as resources allow. However, the need far exceeds the available resources, leaving our most vulnerable residents in a precarious situation.  About half the families were able to get subsidized housing over a year ago, but none of the remaining families qualified, not scoring high enough on the city’s coordinated entry assessment tool. Several vacant lots have been identified for safe parking, but action to turn those lots into safe parking has not been taken by San Francisco city officials.”

Hernandez says moving the families around is not a solution; a designated parking lot alone, isn’t either. But she believes a safe parking zone will help bridge the gap as they work towards long-term solutions.

“The best solution is to have a safe parking site, if no housing solutions are available right now,” she said. “We know there are a lot of empty lots around the city. We just need a yes from one of them. We just need a safe parking site where they can park in the meantime, while they find other solutions that are more permanent.”

Madrid says a designated parking place where they can live for now, without worrying if they’ll be forced out, would really help provide a sense of stability.

“We are not a community that makes problems. Just because of the fact that we’re here doesn’t mean that we’re bad people. We’re not bad people,” he said.

On the contrary, he added, saying the majority of people who live in this RV community are families just looking for a better life.

“My dream, is to have a good life with my kids,” he said. “I don’t ask for anything. Only to have a normal life, have an apartment, to have food and clothes for my kids – that’s the American dream.”