I live in an RV, in a City that has recently banned their presence. Mayor Lurie said on the news July 10, 2025, that if you “live in an RV, you have to do it outside San Francisco”.
Well, sir, that’s exactly what I have been trying to do since the first day I was forced to interface with the Homeless Outreach Team on Nov 16, 2020. I have the receipts to show it too.
This RV has been my home since 2012, nearly fourteen years. San Francisco is forcing me to give it up through a government “RV Buyback Program”, because the recently passed SFMTA 7.2.54 has put me on a secretive public blight list.
I have lived in here since 1997, except for five years in the Delta. I have always lived in a vehicle, because I am an ethnic gypsy, specifically an American-born Scottish Traveller. To read more about the “Working Definition of Anti-Roma Racism, go to the U.S. State Dept’s website @ Defining Anti-Roma Racism* – United States Department of State and look down in the footnote: Travellers are one of 16 subsets of nomadic peoples.
San Francisco hates its GRT (that’s what European parliaments and NGOs call us : gypsy-Roma-Traveller). It’s not just the RV ban and this ludicrous paper that says I agree with the City’s taking of my RV, there is also there’s SFPD 97 that criminalizes me for eating or sleeping in my “house car” 10 pm to 6 am. That’s been in effect since April 1971 and it’s why the police believe it’s not a seizure under the 4th amendment to tow an RV on the spot, at their discretion. It’s also why Mayor Lurie decided he could ban an entire class of people from an American city. They have been treating like this so long, they see nothing wrong it.
It also used to be legal to enslave people, burn witches, and to not let women vote or have a bank account.
On January 28, 2026, at the office my (now-7th) Dept of Homelessness-appointed case manager, I had to put a smile on my face while I agreed to join the “RV Buyback Program”, but know I signed under coercion, because I have ZERO intention of relinquishing this RV. It was the last home I shared with my husband of 27 years, who died at the beginning of the pandemic (July 7, 2020) and he doesn’t feel dead in here. But I had to do so or the permit will be immediately revoked and it will be towed because I didn’t “cooperate”.
I’m 65. I have terminal breast cancer. I am also disabled (mobility issues) and have a DMV-issued disability placard. WIC 10000 says benefits must be “prompt and humane”. That is the opposite of what I have experienced with the Dept. since Nov 16, 2020.
I’m supposed to accept the $1,000 (first) check next week (mid-February 2026). Then go with someone to start looking at ROOMS and figured out how to give away my white German Shepherd-Husky dog and my two BIG cats. I do NOT want to do this.
I need to get out of the City.
I need six tires. Front end work. Brake lights. Pass smog. Clear tickets. Get DMV paid (finally). Then I am gonna make a run for it.
To contact me directly, click here
To donate @ https://gofund.me/0532d0bc
For the long story, click here
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PRAISE GOD it finally runs. My RV started (after five years) on April 15, 2025 thanks to two amazing volunteer street mechanics and $1,000 on my credit card. I have invoices that show the City paid nearly $20,000 to UNLICENSED mechanics (who either did nothing or damaged the RV substantially more).
Even more astounding, they spent taxpayer’s money to pay Urban Alchemy and other non-profiteers $400 per night per RV . I estimate that for the 937 days I was there (two-and-half years), over $300,000 for me alone passed hands. Read more @ Safe RV parking site in S.F. has cost $140K annually for each spot
MEDIA ARTICLES written about this fight to get repairs:
(2024) RV Repair Fund sponsored by the Financial Justice Project: https://share.google/FSvmY4haeKm5QceEp
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(2023) Profile about me while still in Urban Alchemy’s “Safe Parking”: https://localnewsmatters.org/2023/05/02/nomad-in-a-settled-city-tales-of-a-traveller/
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(2023) First in-depth article about San Francisco’s Dept. of Homelessness “Safe Parking” program run by Urban Alchemy:
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(2024) Article about me filming the conditions at the “Safe Parking” (I won the Arbitration hearing June 2024 and was NOT kicked to road for thirty-day punishment). https://share.google/gEK0yzfSZlFLVT0zj
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(2024) SF GATE article: Camp Dismal and our attempt to start a “tenants union at the “safe Parking”, that won 1st prize at 2024 SF Press Club for Digital Investigative Reporting (the above Profile also won first prize): https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/welcome-to-camp-dismal-residents-of-bayview-safe-18638370.php
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(2024) Article where we are blamed for things not working out (yes, in black-and-white): This homeless solution was a costly disaster. What comes next for the RV camp?
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(2025) Article about how City framed things: ‘It’s time to wind this down’: Residents brace for closure of Bayview Vehicle Triage Center – Local News Matters
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(2025) Article about our last-ditch effort to get help for the Candlestick 35 tenant union: https://piedmontexedra.com/2025/02/homeless-unions-on-both-sides-of-bay-sue-cities-to-prevent-sweeps-program-closures
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(2025) Article about the immediate days after the closure of “Safe Parking”: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/with-former-bayview-rv-facility-now-closed-displaced-residents-literally-left-by-the-curb/
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(2025) Another: San Francisco safe parking site to close, advocates concerned – NBC Bay Area
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(2025) Another: San Francisco RV owners plead for help after city tows vehicles from safe parking site near Candlestick Point – ABC7 San Francisco
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(2025) Another: It’s Curtains for the Bayview RV Triage Center, Closing Today After Blowing Through $15 Million
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The last one was March 19, 2025: After 50K homeless camp complaints, SF’s response time depends on where you live
Below the Mayor is having an Instagram photo op with my RV in the background on April 9, 2025 (just over a month after the “Safe Parking” closed). Here is the article that resulted from the police harassment that immediately followed: https://sfstandard.com/2025/04/18/cop-homeless-pretty-picture/