A recently adopted prohibition against vehicle habitation in San Diego does not seem to have cleared the streets of people living in cars and RVs in beach communities yet, but word of the new law did spread quickly.

“This last week, we’ve seen a tremendous increase in calls,” said Teresa Smith, CEO of Dreams for Change, which operates two lots where homeless people can legally park overnight.

“We let the city know we had over 40 phone calls on Wednesday and Thursday following the City Council meeting (of May 24),” said Dana Toppel, chief operating officer of Jewish Family Service, which also operates two safe parking lots.

Together, the nonprofits provide about 200 spaces for homeless people to legally park overnight. As they brace for enforcement of the new law to begin, both nonprofits have applied for grants from the San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless to expand or continue their programs.


Smith said there still are a few open spots at the Dreams for Change lots, but she expects they may reach capacity because of the new law. Toppel said Jewish Family Service is contracted with the city of San Diego to provide 120 spaces, but as of last week they had 130 and did not want to turn anyone away.

San Diego revoked its initial ordinance against vehicle habitation early this year after a judge found it too vague to enforce. Shortly after, some residents discovered people who live in their vehicles were parking their cars and RVs in front of homes.

Complaints were especially high in Ocean Beach and the Sunset Cliffs area, where homeowners reported unsanitary conditions and trash left behind by vehicle dwellers.

As the sun sets, Ana Gomez, 28, a student studying to be a dental assistant, organizes her belongings as she prepares her car for sleeping at a safe lot operated by Dreams for Change on Thursday, May 23, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune)


The new law prohibits people who live in a car or RV to park their vehicle at any time within 500 feet of a home or school. People are not allowed to sleep in a vehicle parked on a public street between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. if there are spots available at legal safe-parking lots, while a separate law prohibits RVs and other over-sized vehicles from parking on any city street or public parking lot between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.

San Diego police Lt. Shawn Takeuchi said officers received a department-wide email on May 16 informing them of the new law, but also directed them to only issue warnings to suspected violators until further notice. Officers also were told to make contact with suspected violators only if complaints had been called in about them, he said.

Ocean Beach Town Council President Mark Winkie and others said it may be too early to tell if the law has had any effect on neighborhood streets.

“The community at large hasn’t voiced to us that there’s been a dramatic change yet, but I think it’s a little early to see if there would be a difference,” he said. “I think it will be more of a gradual process.”

Ocean Beach resident Glen Volk said local streets do seem to have fewer cars being used for habitation, but he thought that might have been caused by recent rainy weather.

Toppel said Jewish Family Service has accepted more cars than called for in its city contract because relief is coming soon. Sometime next month, the nonprofit is expected to open a city-funded safe parking lot near SDCCU stadium in Mission Valley with capacity for up to 200 cars or up to 80 RVs. The nonprofit also is waiting to hear if it will receive a requested grant from the Regional Task Force on the Homeless to open a 30-spot lot in San Marcos.


Smith and Toppel said their lots are intended to be more than just a place for people to park. People in their programs are expected to be working with case managers to find permanent housing, employment opportunities, education or other pathways out of homelessness.

Smith said 100 vehicles have entered her program in the past six months, and 28 have left since April. Of the people who lived in those vehicles, 47 percent have found housing, 20 percent went into shelters and 13 percent are still homeless. It’s not clear what happened to the remaining 20 percent.

The average stay has been about six months, although one person who has mental health issues has stayed more than three years, she said.

Toppel said more than 1,000 people have been served in Jewish Family Service’s safe parking program since 2017, and 40 percent have transitioned to housing or into significantly better conditions, while their city contract requires 30 percent to successfully exit. In this fiscal year, the program has served 531 people, and 49 percent have left for better conditions such as permanent or transitional housing, she said.


The Dreams of Change lot on Imperial Avenue was the first in San Diego to accept vehicles and RVs, which Smith said was an experiment to see if the two populations could co-exist. After six months, she is having second thoughts, and she said RVs dwellers in her lot may transition to the stadium overflow lot when it opens next month.

“It’s just a clash between the two groups,” she said. “Every night I hear about it.”

Smith said some catty comments have been made because RV dwellers are allowed to stay during the day, but people in cars have to leave each morning. She also said she’s heard of problems at other California safe parking lots that tried to mix the two populations.

“I’ve not heard it work anywhere,” she said.


Smith said she expects similar problems will emerge when the stadium lot opens with a mix of RVs and cars. In what could be a significant difference, however, RVs at that lot will have to leave the site along with cars each morning.

In a promising sign for the lot near the stadium, the program manager at a Los Angeles County safe parking lot that allows cars and RVs said both populations get along, and both have to leave each morning.

“Ours is going fine,” said Laura Rathbone of North Valley Caring Service in the San Fernando Valley.

Elaine Kelly has lived in an RV at the Dreams for Change Imperial Avenue site since December, and she agrees that there have been conflicts between between the groups.


“I know there’s a little bit of tension,” she said, adding that people in cars were jealous that RV dwellers get to stay during the day.

Elaine Kelly, right, and Florence Ramirez look at the squash and tomato plants grown by Ramirez next to Kelly’s RV at a safe lot operated by Dreams for Change on Thursday, May 23, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Kelly said she will have a problem if she has to move to the new lot because she can’t drive her RV, so she won’t be able to leave the lot each morning. She also feels at home at the Imperial Avenue site, where she and Florence Ramirez in the neighboring RV have created a herb and vegetable garden next to her vehicle.

Ramirez also said she has noticed some tension with car dwellers, whom she claimed had at times deliberately parked to block her from her spot.


Michele Rice lives in a car at the Imperial Avenue site and said she is thankful to have a safe place to park. She also said there have been some conflicts at the site because of the different rules for RVs.

“It’s not them personally,” she said. “It’s the rule that we (the car dwellers) have to pull out every day.”

Jeff Tracy lives in an RV on the site and said he hasn’t noticed any conflicts between the two groups. He shrugged when asked how he would handle having to relocate to another lot.

“I’ll find a way,” he said. “We have to adapt. How else are you going to survive?”


Tracy has faced greater challenges. Seven years ago, a drunken driver crashed into the car his wife was driving as they were returning from a trip to Arizona, he said. His wife and their daughter were killed, and he lost his right leg.

The physical and emotional trauma left him unable to work, and Tracy said he gets by on $1,000 a month from Social Security. He lived in a Spring Valley park for three years, and for a year and a half he paid $500 a month to a homeowner who let him park an RV on his property.

He parked his RV on a street after the homeowner moved, but was told by a sheriff’s deputy that night that he was breaking the law. He said he spent the next couple of months hoping to not get caught until he discovered the Dreams for Change lot.