MISSION BAY (KGTV) — San Diego Police were out before dawn in Mission Bay, knocking on the doors of illegally parked RVs and offering residents a choice: relocate to H-Barracks or face a $173 parking citation.
Officers arrived at 2:37 a.m., and Sgt. Michael Wallace noted it was a particularly crowded night.
"This is the largest buildup I've seen in a few weeks," Wallace said.
Under San Diego's Oversized Vehicle Ordinance, parking RVs in city lots and public streets between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. is illegal. The city implemented the rule because of safety and overcrowding concerns. Mission Bay is where police receive the most complaints.
"One of the things is a lot of people living in the parking lot at the beach, taking up a lot of the parking, being double parked, triple parked in the stall," Wallace said.
Wallace describes the cycle of people his squad comes across as a "constant rotation." All are parked for different reasons. They come across 50 to 75 RVs a night during enforcement hours.
"It's San Diego. People come here for different reasons," Wallace said. "They come here for vacation. Some are hard on their luck and just trying to navigate to different areas in the city so they're not getting constantly contacted by the police."
For those living in RVs, accepting a referral to H-Barracks means a chance to connect with resources for housing, health, and other services — and no ticket. Officers then coordinate with the safe parking site by phone to set up the referral.
Every contact with people is different. Not everyone answers the knock. Some people don't want to respond, are asleep, or aren't inside their vehicle. In those cases, officers leave the citation behind. San Diego Police can only cite RVs when there is space available at one of its safe parking sites.
The people in the RVs are all in different situations. Some are vacationing. Some are living in the RV. In some cases, people living in their RV will refuse to go to a safe parking area, like Michael and Michelle Keating. When Officer Wallace made contact with them, he realized he had talked with the couple before.
He asked if they wanted to go to H-Barracks; they declined and asked for the citation instead. They are in a unique situation.
The couple has been living in their RV for the last two years. Before that, the two lived out of their car — until a drunk driver hit them.
"My wife was injured really bad. She broke her back and had to have spinal fusion surgery. She has to walk with a walker now. We got a settlement; we bought an RV and a truck," Mike said.
Having to move the RV every day puts a financial strain on the couple, Michael says. With gas averaging over $6 a gallon in San Diego, the cost to fuel up alone could push them back to living on the streets.
"I'm pretty much living off of putting $5 to $10 in the tank every day. That doesn't get this very far, you know," Mike said.
The couple has been referred to H-Barracks before, but the site only operates overnight. People are allowed to stay until 7 a.m., when the city's permit requires the site to stop operating. At one point, Mike and Michelle stayed at one of the city's safe sleeping sites, where people experiencing homelessness can live. They lost trust in it quickly.
"That place was [expletive] hell, man. We stayed a month, and we were out of there," Mike said.
No matter what they try, Mike feels like they are always a step behind.
"I don't have a job. I take care of her because she's disabled. We're waiting to get her on disability. That's taken a while," Mike said. It just seems like everything is designed to hold you back if you're, if you're down now, you know."
Michael and Michelle say they would be open to something more permanent. However, the city has only two 24-hour parking sites with 108 spots combined. Officer Wallace explained that, in order to get into the permanent housing, a person needs to go through the process at H-Barracks first.
"You have to show that you have some buy-in to the things that we're providing," Wallace said. "You have to take little baby steps."
Sergeant Wallace ultimately gave the couple their ticket and a flyer about H-Barracks. Michael and Michelle told me they are willing to go to H-Barracks if it means accessing the long-term lots.
By the end of the shift, police covered two areas, issued 29 citations and made five referrals. Despite those efforts, only two RVs showed up to H-Barracks.
Even with low turnout, Wallace says since enforcement started last July, he has seen significant changes.
"We're very effective too, and you'll see if you go down to East Mission Bay where I used to have hundreds and hundreds of RVs there and now it's trickled down to there are dozens at a time ..." Wallace said.
For Wallace, even when no one ends up at H-Barracks, those early morning conversations remain an important first step in possibly changing someone's life.
"We both have this moment where, like, I helped you, and then it's also good because I can move on to the next person, and I don't have to keep coming out and I don't have to write the guy a ticket every night," Wallace said.
Since enforcement started again in July 2025, San Diego Police have issued nearly 8,000 tickets through this August. In the same timeline, SDPD has made 888 successful referrals to safe parking.
