As the cruelty of the second Trump administration continues to come to bear, the recent executive order directing states to states to criminalize unhoused people and institutionalize those with mental health disabilities creates an interesting dilemma for Sacramento politicians.
Over the past few months, legislators have been pushing Assembly Bill 630, legislation that would facilitate the towing, dismantling and essentially the destruction of many RVs statewide under the guise of health and safety. If passed, the state would allow cities to destroy the last lifelines for Californians already pushed out of their homes by skyrocketing rents — and force them into the harsh, punitive systems now championed by the White House.
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This is personal
Lawmakers should choose compassion and reject AB 630.
This issue is deeply personal for me. In March of 2020, I was working two well-paying jobs in downtown San Francisco yet could only afford to rent an RV. When COVID hit, my medications were cut off. It took nearly three years to have them reinstated. Without medication or steady income for rent, I lost the RV. My dog Rex and I then endured 15 traumatizing months in a shelter, where daily harassment by staff made life unbearable.
Living there was far worse than being in an RV. After speaking out against the harassment, I was kicked out with one hour’s notice, two hours before sunset, with no chance to collect my belongings. We slept on the ground that night in 40-degree weather.
After two more months in a tent, with the help of social service providers, I finally secured disability benefits and found an apartment.
Currently, cities and counties can destroy “inoperable” or “abandoned” vehicles valued at $500 or less after towing and storing them for 30 days. This policy already puts many peoples’ homes at risk because many cities declare vehicles inoperable simply if their engine won’t start, or deem them abandoned even when they’re inhabited. AB 630 raises that threshold to $4,000 for RVs, dramatically increasing the number of RVs subject to summary towing, storage and destruction.
As the bill’s author, Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez, acknowledges, this will affect most of the tens of thousands of RVs that are used as last-resort shelter. And yet, the bill does nothing to address houselessness itself — all it would do is strip away protections.
Only remaining refuge
Proponents of this bill frame RVs as threats to health and safety, but for many Californians, RVs are their only remaining refuge. Removing these mobile homes directly threatens their personal health and safety.
Genuine public safety concerns should be addressed without destroying last-resort housing of tens of thousands of Californians. Removing and dismantling someone’s RV takes away their shelter from wind, rain and the dangers of the street, as well as their ability to store water and cook food. It erodes their agency and autonomy.
Even after these actions, the same number of police officers will be tasked with moving people along — people now more desperate, having lost any semblance of home or privacy.
Living one’s private life in public view is highly distressing to begin with. Given the pressures of ticketing and towing from law enforcement, the situation becomes nearly unbearable. For people with homes, basic needs — getting clean, warm, seeking solitude, accessing water, using a restroom, eating a meal, or disposing of garbage — take just moments. For the unsheltered, these tasks can each consume the whole day.
Those that would suffer the negative effects from passage of this bill are our fellow community members struggling the most. There are none more affected by public safety issues than those living them without respite.
It’s far easier to elevate individuals when we don’t begin by knocking them down. California’s leaders should reject this inhumane bill and focus on positive, effective remedies to our housing crisis that leverage peoples’ potential instead.
Sean Geary is a former unhoused man who lives in his hometown of Pacifica. In 2021, he led a class-action lawsuit against Pacifica over a local ordinance that banned people in RVs from parking on city streets. He wrote this column for CalMatters.