Some San Diegans who live in their RVs have formed a union to fight ticketing of their vehicles. On Tuesday, members of the San Diego RV Residents Union held a protest seeking support from city council members.
“These are hardworking San Diegans who are trying to put food into their kids' bellies just like all of us. Right now, they're getting penalized nightly. Sometimes twice in the same night, they've gotten ticketed. And all the money that they're making trying to survive is then going into these parking tickets,” said Frances Yasmeen-Motiwalla, a member of the union.
She said the tickets run about $170 each.
In 2024, the city of San Diego reached a legal settlement with the RV dwellers, which stopped tickets for a while. That changed when the city opened the H Barracks safe parking site in June 2025.
In a written statement, the city said it has created "a lawful, safe place for RV residents to park overnight where they can also access services that help move them toward permanent housing — and the taxpayers of this city have paid to make that happen.”
Yasmeen-Motiwalla said that with most cases, the safe parking sites aren’t suitable for RV residents. "A lot of individuals ... they don't have the gas money, or they're disabled, or they're working seven days a week,” she said.
The city statement also said, “While we empathize with their situations, the city has a responsibility to insist people living in their RVs avail themselves of these resources. There is capacity for them today, and participation comes with case management, housing navigation and other critical supports.”
After their protest, the RV dwellers delivered handmade Valentine's Day cards to the council.
The two sides are now in litigation to resolve the issue.
