Eyesore NYC corridor has homeless shacking up in RVs, trucks and trailers: ‘It looks whack’
Residents along an unsightly stretch of the Bronx are fed up with an eyesore corridor where the homeless have been bedding down in old RVs, trailers and trucks for years, The Post has learned.
The “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” along a section of Webster Avenue has been a headache for locals for at least two years — but the desperate folks calling the rundown vehicles home said they were driven to a bare-bones existence by the Big Apple’s sky-high rents.
“It’s starting to become an eyesore,” said neighborhood resident Rae Henry. “It’s just too many.
“I don’t mind having one or two or a couple,” Henry said. “But there’s so many now. It’s starting to become a bit too much for the neighborhood. I’m used to the tractor-trailers because they’re allowed to park on the street. But not the RVs.”
Locals said the recreational vehicles and trucks began popping up in the neighborhood during the COVID pandemic, and just never left — even as cops towed abandoned cars around them.
The situation was reported by CBS-TV News in 2024, but nothing has changed nearly two years later.
“It looks whack,” said Williamsbridge resident Alex Ramos. “I see them every day. It’s weird. Cops came and swept up all the cars that were abandoned, so I assume that’s why they haven’t taken those because people live in them.”
Those people told The Post they were driven to live in RVs and trucks by the city’s rents — which left them a choice between the streets, risky city shelters or the vehicles they now call home.
“We need housing,” said Rita Freeman, who said she’s lived in her RV since last November. “I mean, this is absurd. This is bizarre. There’s so many of us.
“I went into hotels, I maxed out my credit card for the first time since I had it since 1994,” she added. “Because I did not want to go to a shelter or the street. It’s very dangerous.”
Camille said shelters won’t allow her to keep her dogs, so she opted for the corridor six months ago.
“None of us can afford the apartments they have, and they want you to go into a shelter,” she said. “They don’t let you into a shelter with dogs or cats. I have three dogs.”
She said she makes ends meet by working as a dog walker and pet sitter, and is on the waiting list for an apartment after being priced out of her Westchester County home by the $1,800 monthly rent.
“Where do you want us to go?” she added.
Other encampments have raised eyebrows in the five boroughs, including a row of vehicles in the shadow of Citi Field in Queens, where vagrants drained city power and water and ran illegal car repair gigs.
Another caravan of RVs was spotted along Bronx Boulevard earlier this year, some with solar panels and dumping their waste onto the street — all despite neighborhood complaints.
Shantytown encampments of tents and makeshift shelters have plagued locals for months near the Intrepid Museum along Manhattan’s West Side, which simply relocated after the city finally moved in.