With homeownership and rental prices out of reach, people in neighborhoods across the bay are moving into RVs and other large vehicles to give them a place to stay.
In San Jose, the encampments around these RVs are a source of growing frustration. Mayor Matt Mahan said the city is taking stock of hundreds of oversized vehicles parked around San Jose before taking the next steps to crack down.
“People in our residential neighborhoods, people who run small businesses, should not have to deal with permanent encampments of trash, fires, noise and other challenges for months and sometimes years at a time,” Mahan said Thursday.
“In some cases we had to clear and tow areas to prevent recamping,” the mayor continued. “In other areas, we just need to enforce basic rules around sanitation and keeping areas tidy. My goal is to manage the encampments much better and reduce the impact on neighbors.”
CBS
Mahan’s pilot program to tackle oversized vehicles on city streets is getting mixed reviews. Many campers are concerned about where they will park, while some residents say it’s time for the city to take action.
Danny, who didn’t want to give his last name, has found a quiet neighborhood in San Jose that he can call home. Ideally, he would like to have a private lot to park in, but that comes with a price tag that he cannot afford.
“That’s impossible,” Danny said. ‘That’s impossible. I mean, we can try to get to Section 8. It’s me and my wife, but then we leave, I’ve never received benefits before.’
So he lives in his RV, moving from place to place and trying to be invisible.
“I do run the generator, but it’s a quiet generator and I move it all the time,” he told CBS News Bay Area.
Mahan’s plan to better monitor and enforce parking regulations will focus on areas heavily impacted by RVs, such as Columbus Park. Trailers, RVs and oversized cars line the streets, causing safety concerns and becoming overrun with trash.
Danny says he has always made sure he is a good neighbor.
“I don’t leave a mess,” he said. “There are a lot of people who live in trailers and they pretty much think they own the street. They leave the street all the time, they leave a mess, and there’s stuff all over it.”
AJ Bal has seen the RV communities spring up in his neighborhood. He has noticed some problems and is concerned not only about his safety, but also that of the people on the street.
“There’s so many things, like people living behind the trailers,” Bal said. “That’s another concern for me. You don’t know who lives behind the trailer and for how long. So that’s something else I would think about.”
The city says it is working to expand its safe parking, as well as provide an alternative to living on the streets.
However, Danny loves his camper and can’t imagine being crammed together with dozens of other people so often.
“That scares me, because those kinds of things bring their own thing,” he said. “I’d rather be out here alone on the streets than somewhere where crime can happen and things can happen to it.”
