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City pilots vehicle triage center near Balboa BART; advocates call for rapid expansion
Summary
San Francisco opened a 30-spot Vehicle Triage Center pilot at 2340 San Jose Ave to serve people living in vehicles; early data show the site reached capacity and most guests were in housing-referral status. The Budget & Legislative Analyst estimated $3.2M–$6.1M to open an additional comparable site, and Real Estate staff identified 14 potential sites under consideration.
The committee heard an update on the city’s Vehicle Triage Center (VTC) pilot and broader safe-parking planning on Feb. 24.
The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) described the VTC at 2340 San Jose Avenue (District 11), which opened in December 2019 as an interim use of an SFMTA lot pending affordable housing redevelopment. The pilot was designed as a high-service, low-barrier site modeled on navigation-center practices and built in partnership with Urban Alchemy (site provider), SF HOT (case management), dignified service providers (mobile showers), and DPH street medicine.
HSH presented early operational details and a budget snapshot: the pilot’s preliminary budget is about $1.5 million (approximately $500,000 one-time capital and $1.0 million operating) though outreach and HOT case-management costs are separately funded. A Feb. 12 snapshot showed the site reached capacity on Jan. 31: 26 vehicles on site, 35 people served, 14 dogs and three cats among pets, and roughly 90% of guests identified as housing-referral-status (i.e., high vulnerability and already in the city’s housing queue).
The Budget and Legislative Analyst provided cost estimates to open an additional VTC like the pilot (capital $550K–$1.3M; operating $1.5M–$2.7M; staff $1.3M–$2.1M), and total per additional site of roughly $3.2M–$6.1M (higher if on-site bathrooms, showers and prepared meals are added). Real Estate staff said they have an evolving list of 14 candidate sites across several districts to evaluate for additional safe-parking capacity.
Community members and service providers who worked on the pilot said the program required substantial local outreach but now draws community support; volunteers are providing tangible donations and services. The Coalition on Homelessness urged creative problem-solving (e.g., small grants for batteries or tow-fee assistance) to prevent people from losing vehicles and becoming homeless while HSH vets expansion options.
The committee asked HSH to return with a proposed target number of safe-parking/VTC spaces for budget consideration and continued the item to the call of the chair.
