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After a rough winter, several makeshift Bay Area RV communities are facing a new threat — looming disruption and eviction.

City leaders on the Peninsula and in the East Bay have recently embraced new guidelines and restrictions on the growing population of residents living in motor coaches to escape the ravages of the region’s housing shortage, including a large, established community in East Palo Alto within a few miles of the Facebook campus.

Many of the measures will help a portion of the RV population in the short-term. Others may be left with no place to go. But advocates say a permanent fix remains elusive.

“We came up with a humane, temporary solution,” said East Palo Alto city councilmember Ruben Abrica. “We’re still trying to come up with a long-term solution to homelessness.”

As rents have surged throughout the region, the working poor and homeless have found affordable refuge in RVs, lining the streets in affluent cities and raising debates over safety, trash and sewage and housing the poor.

East Palo Alto, Mountain View and Oakland brought forward new plans in the last two months that are expected to bring some order — and displacement — to the RV communities. Each city is planning to establish safe parking programs, opening secure lots for residents to stay at least temporarily.

In a 2017 census of the region’s homeless population, Santa Clara County estimated 8 percent of its 7,400 homeless residents lived in vehicles. San Mateo County estimated that one-third of its 1,250 homeless lived in a vehicle, and Alameda County found 9 percent of 5,600 homeless were surviving out of an RV or car. In Contra Costa County, officials counted 1,600 homeless but did not distinguish how many lived in vehicles.

In East Palo Alto, about 50 RVs have established a community along Bay Road, about two miles from the Facebook campus. After 15 public hearings during the last year, the city council in February passed a new ordinance banning overnight parking for most oversized vehicles, including large trucks and motor coaches. The restrictions are expected to begin in June, with violators subject to tickets and towing.

As an alternative to curbside living, city leaders have earmarked $535,000 to establish a safe parking program in a secure lot run by the East Palo Alto nonprofit Project WeHope. The organization has taken a census of the RVs in the community, and the residents will be eligible for grants to improve their vehicles. The money will provide for basic repairs, insurance and registration fees for existing community members to move their vehicles during the day.

Project WeHope expects to have the safe parking program ready May 1, said associate director Alicia Garcia. The program was delayed several months because of planning and construction difficulties, she said.

The ultimate goal of the safe parking programs are to provide support services and a transition to more permanent housing, Garcia said.

Jesus Rodriguez, spokesman for the East Palo Alto RV residents, said the new program was encouraging, but impractical for many owners. The program requires RV owners to leave the parking lot every morning — which means the RVs need to be well-maintained and operating. That’s too expensive for many residents, he said.

“We’re not asking for much,” he said. “I’m just asking for somewhere where people can be safe.”

In Oakland, city officials told a city council committee last month that they are working to establish six, managed parking sites for motor coaches, allowing for up to 120 RVs at the facilities. “At a managed RV site, participants will be able to park their RV for extended periods in a facility with sanitation and security services provided,” a staff report said.

The city expects the program will cost at least $1 million, and will be supported by various nonprofit service organizations.

The Mountain View City Council last month ordered staff to draft an oversized vehicle parking policy similar to bans in other cities, with some exceptions for property owners, guests and emergency vehicles. A full ban could be in place by the end of next year.

A Mountain View census in December found about 200 RVs serving as homes, and another 90 vehicles being used as shelter by city residents.

The city will also consider expanding a safe parking program, and dedicate funds to support temporary programs at houses of worship. City leaders have approved about $900,000 to support service programs for the homeless, and identified about 60 parking spaces which could be used for safe, temporary RV parking.

Many RV owners are fighting to stay on city streets — or find some meager housing — because of the lack of affordable housing.

Rodriguez said many in the East Palo Alto RV community are willing to fight to stay in their curbside area and out of the temporary safe parking spots. Their long-term goal — create an RV co-op in a safe, secure lot with bathroom and shower facilities and reasonable monthly fees.

Abrica said many of the RV residents work in service and blue-collar jobs around Silicon Valley. “The RV situation is not going to go away,” he said. “They have no other place to go, so they end up on the street.”

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Why won’t developers build housing in this Bay Area city? But the problem remains for workers and residents on fixed incomes seeing their checks eaten up by rising rents. The median price rent for a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco is $3,100 and $2,630 in San Jose, according to Apartment List.

“Ten years ago, many of these people would have found a place with a reasonable rent,” Abrica said. “Now, they can’t.”