In Kayode’s case, more than five months after his car was impounded, it would cost him more than $21,000 to get his car back. On top of all of that, it usually costs $71 for every day the car is stored at the tow yard. They also need to pay off their original tickets and the accrued fines on those tickets, which can be $1,000 or more. Offenders must reimburse the tow charge, roughly $500. But for homeless people, it’s a permanent loss, because most of them can’t afford to recover their cars. Because losing those cars to impoundment can mean the loss of work and home, it can be a tipping point into a life on the streets.įor many people, having their car towed for overdue parking tickets is a major annoyance and life disruption. Tens of thousands of Californians are living in their cars. “We cannot completely avoid the removal of the vehicle as this would create an unintended exemption for vehicles that are in violation of city or state law.” If there is no urgency regarding the towing of the vehicle we will make an effort to delay the tow to allow services to respond,” Rose said. “There will be times when the will not be available to respond. In San Francisco, officers towing a car with a homeless occupant will contact the police department and social services to help that person get services, according to Paul Rose, spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, who responded by email. “We’re hoping that this case sets the precedent that the city should not take people’s only asset, in this case their car, for the purpose of satisfying a debt, based on just outstanding parking tickets,” Pond said. And in the case of the homeless who live in their cars, city officials are taking their temporary home from them, which raises the stakes above the taking of a vehicle, Pond said. Parking officers just show up and take it away.
That’s doubly true because these vehicles weren’t used in a crime, but were towed simply for financial reasons - just to collect fines.Ĭities do not issue warnings, outside of the fine print on a parking ticket, that they’re coming to impound a vehicle. The government should not be allowed to take someone’s property without any notice and without a warrant, he said.
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