Redwood City RV park: ‘This is a community’

Without a job and with nowhere to live, Swecker was forced to sleep in a RV parked near the freeway in San Mateo’s YMCA parking lot. She had purchased the vehicle four years prior as a short-term housing option, having been allowed to park in a lot owned by the transportation agency instead of driving home often while dark.

“It was just kind of scary because you didn’t know who was around,” said Swecker. “You just didn’t know. There were a lot of people around there.”

It was there that Swecker was found by a homeless outreach team and temporarily housed at the Maple Street Homeless Shelter. Because of a sensitivity to cigarettes, she was moved to a motel room a few months later. The shouting and door slamming at the shelter made the motel a welcomed change, she said, noting the noise exacerbated her post-traumatic stress disorder developed after a fatal bus accident in December of 2019.

At the motel she had privacy, quiet and regularly delivered meals, but to Swecker’s displeasure, she was informed she would be moving to the Redwood City Safe RV Parking Lot, being managed by the nonprofit LifeMoves. The two-year program formally opened in October after more than a year of community engagement by the city to better understand the needs of RV dwellers and the businesses and neighbors by which they parked.

“It’s cold in there,” said Swecker who moved onto the lot Jan. 7. “There’s people still in the motel but I have nowhere to go.”

In the future, Swecker said she’d like to move in with her son, the oldest of three children who all live in Concord where she grew up. While trying to remain optimistic, Swecker acknowledged, “I’ve been dealt a hard hand in life.”

With a $1.7 million budget the city provided LifeMoves, lot residents and those permitted to live on the street have access to financial assistance for RV repairs whether that’s to get the vehicle properly running, patching leaks from the rain or bringing in heat. Hannah Blankenship, the LifeMoves program manager overseeing the lot, said she’s confident the budget will last the two-year contract.

Providing support

Reflecting on Swecker’s case, Blankship said her difficult situation mirrors that of many aging clients. Swecker is an independent spirit, aging without a support system. The site is home to roughly 10 single residents over the age of 60 with no family to care for them, said Blankenship.

Seniors, families with school-aged children and those with disabilities living in RVs on the street were given priority to access the lot at 1405 Maple St. After conducting its own census, city staff estimated that 120 RVs were parked in Redwood City, but only up to 80 of them would fit on the grounds.

The rest, if willing to participate in other services to find permanent housing, would receive renewable permits to park within city limits. Those unwilling to sign up for the additional assistance left themselves vulnerable to tickets or being towed following the approval of an ordinance banning overnight RV street parking which took effect in October.

Once the order took effect, Blankenship said many RV dwellers either left town to find somewhere more affordable to live, found other legal places to park their vehicle like on a friend’s property or opted to get rid of their RV altogether to enter into a different housing program.

“A lot of people just decided, ‘you know what I’m going to go somewhere else where it’s easier to pay for my living,’” said Blankenship, estimating that a total of 76 RVs are still in the city either on the lot or with permits.

But not all 76 are on the lot. Because of COVID safety concerns, LifeMoves and the city agreed on a new 40-vehicle capacity. With so many children living on the lot, Brian Greenberg, LifeMoves’ vice president of programs and services, said providing residents ample space is also important.

“We try to give them that space so that they’re not like on the street,” said Greenberg. “There will be pressure to put them closer together but we want to give people some semblance of privacy if we can.”

‘Everybody helps each other’

Unlike Swecker, Kaiky Freitas, the first to move into the Maple Street lot, was relieved to find a safe place off the streets to park his RV. He had a pregnant wife, Patricia, and a 5-year-old daughter, Maria, he would often have to leave alone at night while he worked for the app-based food delivery service DoorDash. For six months, while living in the RV on the street, he feared what could happen while he was gone.

Freitas, 31, and his family had moved to California from Brazil four years ago after having visited the state. Before the pandemic, he was driving limousines to supplement his DoorDash earnings while his wife also occasionally drove for app service.

Midway through 2020, Freitas had purchased his motorhome, having struggled to pay rent for a South San Francisco room he shared with his family. Despite being on the street, in the motorhome he felt independent knowing it was his to keep.

“I have a family and it was really hard,” said Freitas. “The motorhome is not that different from the apartment. I like it and it’s a good experience. This is my motorhome. To me it’s the same.”

A month after moving onto the lot, his wife gave birth to a baby boy named Kauli. Days earlier, another family gave birth while living on the lot, adding to the dozens of children who will temporarily be raised among the vehicles.

Freitas admitted he was slightly worried about raising a newborn in an RV but now having done it, reiterated the similarities between an RV and apartment space. Living there, his daughter gets to play with neighboring kids, something she never did while they rented a bedroom. And some of the friends they made while living on the street, now too live on the lot.

“This is a community,” said Freitas, adding he’d like to move to a more permanent RV park. “The motorhome families are one big family. Everybody helps each other.”

Visit www.lifemoves.org/get-help/ for more information about support services offered through LifeMoves.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106