A tow truck removes an RV owned by Wayne Gardiner, 58, for more than 20 years during a sweep at Columbus Park in San Jose.
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Florence Middleton
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CalMatters
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Topline:
Some cities are ramping up efforts to ticket and tow vehicles that shelter homeless Californians.
Tickets and tows: Ordinances that regulate homeless encampments often target people sleeping in tents, not vehicles. As a result, police have used parking ordinances to try to clear vehicle encampments by giving tickets and either towing or threatening to tow. But that approach doesn’t take into account the fact that the cars and RVs are people’s homes.
The backstory: San Francisco passed a new policy this summer banning large vehicles from parking on any city street for more than two hours — effectively making it illegal to live in an RV on the street. Even smaller cities, including Carlsbad outside of San Diego, and San Mateo in the Bay Area, have adopted new policies targeting people living in cars and RVs. The issue has attracted the attention of state legislators as well. Assembly Bill 630, which cleared another legislative hurdle Friday, would make it easier for certain cities to dispose of RVs parked on their streets.
Read on... for more details about this bill and what that means for people living in cars and RVs.
For months, cities around the state have ramped up enforcement against people sleeping in tents on the street. Now, some are focusing on a new target: People who live in vehicles.
Wayne Gardiner, 58, watched his home of 20 years roll onto the back of a flatbed tow truck in San Jose on a recent Monday afternoon. Then he realized he’d forgotten something inside.
He threw open compartments in the bottom of the RV as fast as he could, looking for the pressure-washing tools he uses for cleaning jobs to make extra money. As the RV rose up onto the truck, about to head off to a junk yard, Gardiner found the black backpack full of tools and pulled it out.
Then he stood back with his rottweiler, Buddy, and some of his possessions in green trash bags at his feet, and watched the truck drive away. He held his emotions in check.
“If I get myself involved with that, I’ll be a wreck,” Gardiner said. “I gotta let it go.”
San Jose is towing vehicles from different areas of the city in a new effort to rid the streets of lived-in vehicles. Last month, it started clearing its largest homeless encampment – a makeshift city in Columbus Park, where Gardiner and hundreds of other people had been sleeping in cars, RVs and tents.
San Francisco passed a new policy this summer banning large vehicles from parking on any city street for more than two hours — effectively making it illegal to live in an RV on the street.
Even smaller cities, including Carlsbad outside of San Diego, and San Mateo in the Bay Area, have adopted new policies targeting people living in cars and RVs.
The issue has attracted the attention of state legislators as well. Assembly Bill 630, which cleared another legislative hurdle Friday, would make it easier for certain cities to dispose of RVs parked on their streets.
“We have stories from people who have inoperable RVs that are parked in their neighborhoods, under freeways, that they know are ground-zero for drugs, for prostitution rings, for other criminal activities that are happening there,” said the bill’s author, Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez, a Los Angeles Democrat. “So what we’re trying to do is address this issue head-on.”
The push comes as rows of RVs and lived-in cars line streets in cities across the state, frustrating voters and creating issues with trash, waste water and traffic visibility. The number of lived-in vehicles on San Francisco’s streets has risen over the past year — from 474 in July 2024 to 612 in June 2025, even as the number of tents dropped from 319 to 165, according to the city’s count.
Vehicle homelessness can be more difficult for cities to manage than tent encampments. People often are reluctant to give up the safety and security of their RV or car in exchange for a temporary shelter bed or short-term housing. And many cities have nowhere to store RVs, and nowhere for them to park legally.
Assemblymember Mark González speaks before lawmakers during an Assembly floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Aug. 21, 2025.
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Fred Greaves
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Advocates for the rights of unhoused Californians say doling out punishment to deal with the issue will make the homelessness crisis worse. When cities tow lived-in cars and RVs, their owners often can’t get them back because they can’t pay the towing and storage fees, said Eleana Binder, public policy director for GLIDE, which serves San Franciscans living in homelessness and poverty. They end up with nowhere else to go.
“It does increase street homelessness, because people are right on the edge,” she said. “For a lot of people, a vehicle is their only asset, their last step before street homelessness.”
Tickets and tows
Ordinances that regulate homeless encampments often target people sleeping in tents, not vehicles. As a result, police have used parking ordinances to try to clear vehicle encampments by giving tickets and either towing or threatening to tow. But that approach doesn’t take into account the fact that the cars and RVs are people’s homes.
In some places, new policies that specifically address people living in cars and RVs try to address that problem by providing services as well as tickets and tows.
Gardiner, who watched the city of San Jose tow his home, was luckier than many. The city paid him $2,000 for his RV, as part of a pilot program intended to convince people to give up their vehicles and move indoors. He also got a free hotel room, where the city told him he could stay for up to a year.
Gardiner was one of several hundred people living in San Jose’s largest encampment — a sprawling collection of RVs, cars and tents scattered across a rutted, dirt field in Columbus Park and spilling onto surrounding streets. City crews began clearing the camp in August, and have towed 78 vehicles and moved 128 people indoors, according to the city.
The city estimates 370 people lived at Columbus Park when the operation started, but advocates say it was more. And not everyone has been offered the $2,000 buy-back program, a motel stay or other help.
Valerie Vallejos, who lives in her van at Columbus Park while she studies cosmetology at San Jose City College, said she was visiting her children in Stockton when outreach workers came to the park offering people services. Now she’s trying to get on the list, hoping to get a housing placement or at least a reprieve from threats of towing. So far, she’s had no luck.
“I’m going to keep coming back out until I get something,” she said. “It’s my only option. What else can I do?”
San Jose is cracking down in other places, too. Officials launched a pilot program earlier this year that bans oversized and lived-in vehicles in certain parts of the city. The city first posts signs and puts up flyers warning people to move their vehicles, then tows if people don’t move. Since January, the city has towed 19 RVs and trailers and 45 other vehicles, according to its online dashboard. But many vehicles return after the enforcement blitz. To date, the city has completed enforcement in 38 “tow-away zones,” where there were a total of 1,175 cars and RVs. Ninety days after that enforcement, 671 vehicles had returned to those locations.
Valerie Vallejos has lived in her van for three and a half years and was shortly forced to evacuate Columbus Park during a sweep of the city’s largest homeless encampment in San Jose on Aug. 25, 2025. “I have no idea where I’m going to go. It’s kind of scary, you know,” said Vallejos. “It’s just sad. It’s just sad.”
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“It’s a start,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who acknowledged that towing won’t magically make street homelessness disappear. But he said even forcing RVs to move temporarily can help mitigate the problems the city has seen in long-standing encampments, such as methamphetamine labs, fires and the accumulation of dilapidated, abandoned vehicles.
“This is about providing relief to neighbors and small businesses that have had permanent RV encampments for years on end,” Mahan said.
Since the beginning of the year, San Jose has enforced three “tow-away zones” in the blocks around Barnard Avenue where 51-year-old Esmeralda Herrera lives in a parked trailer with her elderly dog, Kiba. She lost her job as a janitor for the Santa Clara County school district during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then a rent increase drove her out of her apartment.
Herrera is on a waitlist for affordable housing, but she hasn’t seen any progress, she said. In the meantime, Herrera said she bounces all over the city, moving to a new block every time the police threaten to tow her trailer. She’s afraid to leave for job interviews, because she worries that when she gets back, the trailer and her beloved dog will be gone.
“I don’t know what I would do,” she said. “I don’t want to be in the street.”
An RV marked for removal at Columbus Park, the city’s largest homeless encampment, in San Jose on Aug. 25, 2025.
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Florence Middleton
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CalMatters
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A sign reading “Where do we go?” is posted on an RV at Columbus Park, San Jose’s largest homeless encampment, on Aug. 25, 2025.
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Florence Middleton
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'Public road is not permanent housing'
San Francisco is set to begin enforcing its new RV parking rules this fall. Like San Jose, it plans to pay people to give up their RVs. In addition, people can get a temporary reprieve from towing if they agree to work with a case manager on a housing plan. But only people who have been on the city’s radar since May 2025 are eligible.
“I’m really worried that people are going to end up slipping through the cracks of the permit program, or losing their permit and getting towed,” Binder said. “And for so many people, getting towed means ending up on the streets. That’s my biggest fear: That we’ll see people suffering and more people ending up on the street that weren’t before and don’t have to be.”
In March, Carlsbad expanded its camping ban to include sleeping in vehicles on public property — an infraction that carries a $100 penalty for a first offense, a $200 penalty for a third offense, and a $500 penalty for subsequent offenses. Since the change, the city has issued 34 vehicle camping citations and 77 oversized vehicle parking citations, and towed 12 vehicles, said Mandy Mills, the city’s director of housing and homeless services.
The city received a $3 million state grant to help people living in vehicles move indoors, both by paying for temporary housing subsidies and funding the salaries of two outreach workers to connect people with housing.
In San Mateo, sleeping in a vehicle on public streets has been illegal since the 1990s. But it wasn’t enforced. In June, City Council voted to start giving people tickets after they refused two offers of shelter.
“The public road is not permanent housing,” said City Manager Alex Khojikian.
Gonzalez’s bill was intended to help cities like San Mateo clean up their streets. The bill cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday with a last-minute amendment that limits its scope to Alameda and Los Angeles counties.
The bill would give cities in those counties more freedom to dispose of abandoned or inoperable RVs. Under current law, a city can trash abandoned RVs valued at $500 or below, but anything more valuable is sold at auction. Someone else can buy that RV and return it to the street, Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez’s bill would raise that threshold to $4,000, allowing cities to more easily junk RVs and get them off the street for good.
Wayne Gardiner, 58, right, watches as a tow truck removes the RV he has owned for more than 20 years during a sweep at Columbus Park, the city’s largest homeless encampment, in San Jose on Aug. 25, 2025. The city offered Columbus Park residents $2,000 for their RVs. “The facts of life is that things like this will happen. You have to take the deal because they’re gonna take it anyways,” he said. “I have to just let it go.”
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Florence Middleton
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While Gonzalez says his legislation wouldn’t target RVs in which people are currently living, the bill doesn’t define what makes a vehicle “abandoned.” Opponents, including the California Public Defenders Association, worry that will allow cities to tow too broadly, and remove much-needed shelter from California’s homeless population.
A separate piece of legislation, Senate Bill 692, would have lowered a different threshold cities have to meet before they can tow “abandoned or inoperable” vehicles. The bill, by Oakland Democratic Sen. Jesse Arreguín, is dead for this year, but may move forward again next year, as Arreguín says he will continue to work with stakeholders on amendments.
In the meantime, in San Jose, Herrera will continue bouncing around the city’s streets with her dog.
“I don’t know what is my next step if they tell me to move, because I've been everywhere,” she said, “and I’m not getting anywhere with the homeless programs.”
Elly Yu
reports on early childhood. From housing to health, she covers issues facing the youngest Angelenos and their families.
Published April 3, 2026 5:00 AM
Under a new law that went into effect this year, childcare providers are barred from asking about a child's or family member’s immigration status.
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Maria Gutierrez
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Topline:
Under a new law that went into effect this year, childcare providers are barred from asking about a child's or family member’s immigration status.
What’s new: California Attorney General Rob Bonta provided guidance this week to childcare providers on new legal requirements to protect children and their families from immigration enforcement activities.
The backstory: Lawmakers passed AB 495 last year aimed at helping and protecting families in light of immigration enforcement, including allowing a broader definition of relatives to step in as a caregiver if a parent is detained.
The details: Under the new requirements, childcare centers have to regularly update a child’s emergency contact to make sure someone can be reached in the case of a parent being detained.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta provided guidance this week to childcare providers on new legal requirements to protect children and their families from immigration enforcement activities.
Under a new law that went into effect this year, childcare providers are not allowed to collect information about a child's or family member’s immigration status, unless necessary under state or federal law. Bonta’s office says there currently is no such requirement, though that could change with federal programs like Head Start.
“Childcare and preschool facilities should be safe and secure spaces so children can grow, learn and simply be children,” Bonta said in a statement.
His office says daycare centers also should not keep information about a formerly enrolled child longer than is required by state law.
The new law also requires facilities to inform the attorney general’s office and the state’s licensing agency if they get any requests for information from law enforcement related to immigration enforcement.
Facilities also must ask families to regularly update a child’s emergency contact information to make sure someone can be reached in case a parent is detained by federal immigration officials.
Warnings and advisories: Wind advisory, High Wind Advisory
What to expect: Partly cloudy skies, warmer weather and strong winds courtesy of the Santa Ana winds.
Read on ... for more details.
QUICK FACTS
Today’s weather: Partly cloudy
Beaches: Mid-70s
Mountains: Mid-60s to around 70 degrees
Inland: 75 to 81 degrees
Warnings and advisories: Wind advisory, High Wind Advisory
The Santa Ana winds are here to welcome us into the weekend, bringing warmer temperatures.
The winds will reach Point Mugu to the Santa Clarita Valley, down to Orange County and parts of the Inland Empire valleys and foothills east of the 5 Freeway.
Peak gusts are expected to reach 35 to 55 mph. The western San Gabriel Mountains, Highway 14 corridor, Santa Susana Mountains and the western Santa Monica Mountains are under a high wind warning until 6 p.m., when gusts could reach 65 mph.
As for temperatures, highs for L.A. County beaches will reach the upper 70s and up to the low 80s for inland areas.
Parts of Orange County and Coachella Valley will see temperatures in the mid- to upper 80s, with the warmest areas expected to reach 88 degrees.
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Jill Replogle
covers public corruption, debates over our voting system, culture war battles — and more.
Published April 3, 2026 5:00 AM
Green Cheek Beer Company in Costa Mesa is one of many local breweries that welcomes small humans and furry friends.
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Topline:
Getting together with friends at a bar or pub tends to get a lot harder when children and needy pets enter the mix. But Orange County has a solution — dog- and kid-friendly breweries.
Key ingredients: Spacious patios, a water bowl for the pooch, and food — either made onsite or, at the least, easy and quick to order and get delivered from somewhere else. Plus, of course, great beer from small, independent, local breweries.
Where to go: We have recommendations in Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, and Fountain Valley.
Getting together with friends at a bar or pub tends to get a lot harder when children and needy pets enter the mix. One solution — Breweries! Beer gardens! Brewpubs!
Because parents (of kids and pets) want to go out, too — and not necessarily to a fast food restaurant with an indoor playground and no beer.
Thankfully, the Orange County suburbs where I live have gotten on board with my family- and pet-friendly craft brewery dreams. The key ingredients for me are spacious patios, a water bowl for the pooch, and food — either made onsite or, at the least, easy and quick to order and get delivered from somewhere else. Board and pub games are an added bonus.
Plus, of course, great beer from small, independent, local breweries. On the beer front, I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of beer I encountered on my self-arranged tour of breweries in the Costa Mesa-Huntington Beach area.
Gone are the dark, dank days of nothing but IPA (IYKYK); now, you can find everything from pickle-tinged blondes, to mild sours, to rich and creamy stouts. If you’re not a big beer fan, every place I visited also had their own craft-made hard seltzers on the menu, as well as some non-alcoholic beverages.
Here are some of my favorites:
Riip (Huntington Beach)
Riip in Huntington Beach has two spots with full kitchens specializing in pizza and a wide variety of IPAs and other beer styles.
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Riip has been a family favorite since the company opened its first tasting room in Sunset Beach in 2015, with board games and tables the kids could write on. They have since expanded a lot, with a pizzeria next door and another location near Fountain Valley, which also serves excellent pizza, and has a small arcade to keep the kiddos busy.
One thing they do especially well: For serious IPA drinkers, Riip is your place. They usually have at least half a dozen different IPAs on tap, along with a decent variety of other beers, lighter and darker.
This place is great for … dinner after the kids’ [insert sport] game. Also for date night.
Locations: 17236 Pacific Coast Highway; 19171 Magnolia Street #12, Huntington Beach Hours: Monday through Thurs, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
At Flashpoint Brewing Company in Huntington Beach, you can check out the brewing vats and other machinery up close while enjoying the results.
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Flashpoint Brewing Co. (Huntington Beach)
I only recently discovered Flashpoint, which opened in 2020 on an industrial street near Huntington Beach Central Park. I actually love this aspect of craft brewery taprooms: they’re often located outside of trendy food and retail areas because they need to be able to actually brew beer there as well as serve it.
Flashpoint has a big patio lit with fairy lights. The tall doors of their brewing area, and an adjacent room with the taps and more tables are rolled up during opening hours, giving it a spacious, indoor-outdoor feel.
One thing they do especially well: All the beers I tried were highly drinkable. In other words, not crazy hoppy or overly heavy on flavors. The nectarine sour was especially good, refreshing with just the right amount of tartness.
This place is great for … An early evening toast, watching the clouds turn pink.
Location: 7302 Autopark Drive, Huntington Beach Hours: Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday, 1 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 12:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Sunday, 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Green Cheek Beer Co. in Costa Mesa serves great beer and food, including shareable, snackable items like pad thai cauliflower.
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Green Cheek Beer Co. (Costa Mesa)
Green Cheek Beer Co. now has three locations in Orange County and one in Oceanside. Their Costa Mesa spot is conveniently located not far from the city’s Bark Park. So, naturally, after my pooch has fun, I deserve a cold one.
Green Cheek has a huge covered patio filled with long picnic tables. My dog, Ace, was very happy to find a bowl of water set out for their canine visitors, and lots of pets from the humans.
One thing they do especially well: Green Cheek makes great beer. But what I love most about their Costa Mesa spot is that you can soak up the alcohol with food, including smash burgers, tots, and pad thai cauliflower, from their good and reliably fast kitchen.
This place is great for … reading a book, or making a new friend! Their long picnic tables make it easy to opt in or out of the surrounding social scene.
Location: 2957 Randolph Avenue, Unit B, Costa Mesa Hours: Sunday through Wednesday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Bootlegger's Brewery outside the LAB Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa has a quiet patio for day drinking, and a lively trivia night scene.
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Bootlegger’s Brewery (Costa Mesa)
Within walking distance of Green Cheek is Bootlegger’s Brewery. Bootlegger’s started in Fullerton, and now also has tasting rooms in Costa Mesa and Redlands.
Their Costa Mesa spot is on the outskirts of the LAB Anti-Mall, a collection of small businesses and restaurants, at least one of which will deliver food to your table. A section of the parking lot has been turned into a nice outdoor patio with sun shades for daytime and heat lamps for chillier evening hours.
One thing they do especially well: Their Kosher Crusher pickle blonde ale. They debuted it last fall and it is seriously good — light, refreshing, and just a little bit zesty.
This place is great for … “working” on a Friday afternoon (I was not the only one there typing one-handed on my laptop with a beer in the other), and then inviting friends to join you for happy hour.
Location: 696 Randolph Avenue, Suite B, Costa Mesa Hours: Sunday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.
There's an ambiance for everyone at Salty Bear Brewing Co. in Costa Mesa.
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Salty Bear Brewing Company
Salty Bear is part of The Camp, an uber-cool retail and restaurant complex also within walking distance of Green Cheek and Bootlegger’s (you can do a tasting tour!).
Salty Bear is worth a visit for the aesthetics alone. It has a great bar with midcentury tiling and dimpled red leather. The sprawling, leafy outdoor patio provides plenty of room for the kids to wander.
One thing they do especially well: Their Coastline Strawberry Blonde made me nostalgic for the fruity beers that got me hooked on craft beer in my 20s — but so much better.
This place is great for … Kickin’ it on the patio with friends, either listening to live music, or letting your kids practice performing on the teepee-themed outdoor stage.
Location: 2948 Randolph Avenue, C, Costa Mesa Hours: Monday through Wednesday, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday: 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, noon to 11 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 8 p.m.
Aaron Schrank
has been on the ground, reporting on homelessness and other issues in L.A. for more than a decade.
Published April 2, 2026 4:23 PM
Supervisor Holly Mitchell, L.A. County Department of Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer, actor Danny Trejo and others gathered at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Wilmington.
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Topline:
A new private foundation called The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA launched Thursday, aiming to raise $2 million to shore up county health services this year. It comes after the Department of Public Health closed seven clinics following $50 million in funding cuts since early 2025.
Who's behind it: The foundation's board includes Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, the CEOs of Blue Shield of California Foundation and LA Care Health Plan, actors Sean Penn and Danny Trejo and more. Board member Saree Kayne of the R&S Kayne Foundation pledged $150,000 at the launch. Ferrer acknowledged it's "a hard day" when a public agency has to turn to private donors to fund basic services.
Deeper cuts ahead: The federal "Big Beautiful Bill" slashes Medi-Cal funding, and the department anticipates losing up to $300 million over the next three years. Federal dollars account for nearly half the public health budget.
Some government funding streams for L.A. County’s public health system are drying up, and officials are turning to private philanthropy to fill the gap.
A new privately funded foundation launched Thursday to strengthen public health services after $50 million in federal, state and local funding cuts to the county’s Department of Public Health since early last year.
“It is really a hard day for our community when we have to ask for private donations to fund a public good, but unfortunately, we've lost too much money to not take this important step,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
In February, the county’s Public Health Department closed seven clinics, with six remaining open. About half of the patients seen in those clinics are uninsured, according to county officials. The department also cut hundreds of staff positions.
She said the fund will help the county maintain its basic public health infrastructure, including disease prevention, health promotion, environmental health, and emergency response efforts.
Other board members include several health insurance executives, as well as actors Sean Penn and Danny Trejo. Board member Saree Kayne of the R&S Kayne Foundation pledged $150,000 to the fund Thursday. Kayne said she hopes the donation encourages others to give.
The foundation aims to raise $2 million this year.
More cuts expected
L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said it’s crucial to have an alternative funding stream to protect services for the county's most vulnerable residents.
“We are saving public health,” Mitchell said. “This fund represents a new approach, one that brings together government philanthropy in the private sector to invest in community-based solutions, protect vulnerable populations, and strengthen our public health infrastructure.”
Officials say more public health cuts are coming, through the federal budget law known as the "Big Beautiful Bill," which slashes funding for Medi-Cal.
The county Department of Public Health anticipates losing up to $300 million in revenue over the next three years because of the federal budget bill and other potential funding freezes. Federal funding accounts for almost 50% of the public health budget, according to county officials.
Mitchell also led an effort to put a half-percent county sales tax increase to fund public health on the June ballot.
If approved by voters, that proposal, known as Measure ER, is expected to raise about $1 billion a year for county safety net health services, including about $100 million for the public health department.
