Authorities are cracking down on small boats squatting off Sausalito, where the number of vessels that sit motionless away from shore has doubled over the last year amid a housing crisis in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Sausalito police have began placing bright orange warning stickers on the decks of dozens of small "anchor-out" vessels bobbing in Richardson Bay. It warns that police may remove any vessel left in city water for 72 hours.
The newspaper reports that about 250 boats in the water off Sausalito belong to people who are unwilling or unable to pay $1,000 or more per month to tie up at a marina berth.
Sausalito Police Lt. William Fraass says reports of thefts and other problems have increased along with the number of vessels.
