Seeking a solution for people living in recreational vehicles has become the next phase in the Bay Area’s homelessness crisis.
Finding a location to legally park RVs is the current challenge facing a community of vehicle dwellers who were evicted from a marina parking lot in the East Bay.
Folks living in RVs who were evicted Monday from the parking lot of the now-closed Hs Lordships restaurant in the Berkeley Marina have relocated to Marina Boulevard.
“It’s ridiculous that we are fleeing from our own government as economic refugees,” said Amber Whitson with Berkeley Marina Friends On Wheels.
Whitson explains why the people living in these 15 recreational vehicles, who call themselves the Berkeley Marina Friends On Wheels, moved back to this location after the city forced them to leave here a couple of months ago.
“Well the city manager advised us to move anywhere else in the Marina except the parking lot we were in previous to this so we moved somewhere else in the Marina where we are sure that we are not taking up parking spaces that would be utilized by park visitors or Marina guests and where we could stay together as a community because that is what is most important to us,” said Whitson.
But parking overnight at this location means they will face the same risk of being cited and or towed that they faced in the parking lot of Hs Lordships, says Berkeley City Spokesperson Matthai Chakko.
“We are not allowed by law to let people live in their vehicles at the Marina,” saisd Chakko.
Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin says vehicle dwellers have become a regional problem.
He is seeking help outside the City of Berkeley.
“Berkeley is committed to working with our neighboring cities and within the County of Alameda to help our most vulnerable residents. While we have the second largest homeless population in Alameda County, we need to look at regional solutions for those who are living in vehicles and those who are living on our streets,” said Mayor Arreguin.
However at this point Mayor Arreguin and the City of Berkeley have no immediate solution for this community of RVs in the Marina.
“We are individuals and families who would otherwise be unsheltered if we were not for our vehicles and we want them to leave us somewhere, wherever we are at that time, until they can find us some place to be,” said Whitson.