San Francisco considers secure site for RV dwellers to park

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Recreational vehicles are a common housing alternative for many homeless people in the Bay Area. The San Francisco Planning Commission on Thursday will vote to provide a secure location for people to park their RVs. 

San Francisco's latest homeless count found that many of the city's homeless have one asset.

San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safai said, "The last homeless point in time count we had a 13 percent increase, of that 70 percent was people living in their vehicles. 

Safai says RVs are already part of the community and pitched the plan to bring them together in a parking lot currently used for transportation workers. 

The idea would be a pilot program to see how it works and would only be temporarily located at the site, which will eventually be transformed into affordable housing. 

The city's planning commission is set to vote on the matter Thursday. 

"Staff recommendation is to support. I anticipate a lot of good questions. But, ultimately I think the planning commission will support this," Safai said. 

She said RV owners who would be allowed into the lot would have to be screened by the city's department of homeless and supportive housing. It wouldn't be a drop-in center. 

Neighbors have attended a series of meetings to voice their concerns and suggestions for the site and in response, Safai says the proposal has been refined to make sure the location is secure. 

"We've added additional lighting, there'll be security cameras. We'll have two ambassadors to handle security 24 hours a day," the supervisor said.