Homeless Crisis: San Francisco investigates after RV residents report scam by city worker who sold them permit to avoid tows

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — On Wednesday morning, multiple RVs were towed as the city continues to implement a two-hour parking limit.

Some RV residents voiced concerns, saying the city is not providing enough services.

“Don’t know what he is going to do,” said Bob Kaufman, a San Francisco RV resident.

Bob Kaufman had to break the news to his friend, who was living in the RV parked in front of his, that his home was towed. His friend was at work when it happened.

“They failed to notice this vehicle when they made their count,” Kaufman said. “I don’t see how they failed to see when it’s so big.”

MORE: Hundreds of SF RV residents could be at risk of getting towed as parking ban approaches

In May, city workers identified 489 RVs with people living in them. Anyone who was not counted had the chance to appeal. Kaufman said they tried but didn’t understand how his RV got a six-month permit to park on the streets for more than two hours, yet other RVs didn’t. Members of the SF Coalition on Homelessness said at least three families were left without a home.

“In impounding vehicles that people cannot afford to get out, and so what that does is forces people into street homelessness,” said Lukas Illa with SF Coalition on Homelessness.

The city said it has issued 327 permits to date and at least four households were placed into housing last week.

As we kept walking, we met a woman who is eight months pregnant. She said she avoided getting her RV towed this morning by refusing to exit the vehicle when officers showed up. She said she wasn’t offered housing.

“I’m nervous, and I feel tense because of everything that we are going through,” said the woman who did not want to be identified.

MORE: SF RV parking ban enforcement set to begin as grace period ends: What residents should know

On the back of her RV, she showed us what was left of the city permit that some RV residents once had. Last month, she said a member of the city’s Homeless Outreach Team sold them the permit, something that is illegal. The permits are free, but the city is no longer issuing them.

“I told the person that I didn’t have $500, and he said, ‘I can give you a discount of $250.’ I bought it and put it on my RV and when I came back, it was gone,” said a man who did not want to be identified, describing what he and his wife went through.

We contacted the city about their allegations. In a statement, it said in part:

“We take any allegation of misconduct extremelyseriously. The city took the appropriate action when notified, and the matter is being investigated.”

We asked the city what the plan is to help families like this one, who are waiting to hear back.

“I only have two weeks left before I give birth, and I’m very stressed out because of what is happening,” said the woman.

HSH’s Full statement:

“San Francisco is addressing vehicular homelessness with compassion and accountability — our program pairs a clear, citywide two-hour limit on large vehicle street parking with real, housing focused exits for the people living in those vehicles. The Refuge Permit is a part of this strategy and a transition tool that suspends the two-hour rule while the household works with their case manager on a housing placement.
The rollout of the refuge permits led with services, including an eight-day citywide census in May; comprehensive outreach in September; 22 community permitting events in October; a monthlong, multilingual appeals window; and a public lookup tool to check eligibility. The City has issued 327 permits to date. 285 vehicles from the May census were verified as still present in the city during outreach in September and October and of those, 218 enrolled in the program. Appeals were processed at scale with 126 received; over 88% of which were approved. Permanent signage went up at entrances to the city and areas with high concentrations of large vehicles, and enforcement began November 1.
San Francisco’s Large Vehicle program is designed to support households living in RVs by connecting them to outreach, services, and pathways to long-term, stable housing,and our contractors on the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) play a critical role in that work. We take any allegation of misconduct extremely seriously. The City took the appropriate action when notified, and the matter is being investigated. We remain committed to the integrity of this program and to ensuring it operates fairly, transparently, and in service of those it is intended to help.”