A widely accepted solution to lowering the stress levels of people living in their cars in Sunnyvale is to give them a safe place to park.
The Sunnyvale City Council unanimously passed a policy on Tuesday to allow safe parking spots for cars in the city.
Councilmembers Alysa Cisneros and Omar Din were not there. Safe parking sites are places where homeless people who live in their cars can park, get help, and use comforts like bathrooms and water. About 147 people, or more than 30% of Sunnyvale’s 471 homeless people, live in their cars.
The policy lists two types of safe parking spots: “small sites,” which can hold two to ten cars, and “large sites,” which can hold up to seventy cars. For big places, the city Planning Commission has to give their OK first, and people can fight this decision in the city council.
Only the city’s head of community development needs to agree to small sites before they can be built on.
During the summer, the city asked locals for feedback, and 10 of them live in their cars. Amanda Sztoltz, Manager of Homeless Services in Sunnyvale, talked to the people living in their cars and found that their top goals for a safe parking spot are being open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and allowing pets.
It was only one of the 10 people she talked to who said they might stay in a safe parking lot. Five of them said they would stay in one no matter what.
At the meeting, Sztoltz said, “Many people live in their cars; it’s a last resort.” “It is very powerful to be able to help them get back on their feet by giving them the care they need.”
Sztoltz said that the city will look for places where it might be possible to build a safe parking lot. A nonprofit organization will need to run the page and money will need to be found. She thought it would take about nine months to finish.
Estimates of costs change based on size. Staffing and running a site with nine spots might cost $518,000 a year, while running and staffing a site with thirty spaces might cost $640,000 a year.
The policy was largely backed by the council, who saw it as a cost-effective and effective way to help the city’s homeless and address concerns made by residents about parked cars.
According to Councilmember Linda Sell, a truly great program is one that has a lot of support from the community and that staff has studied and gone the extra mile.
This program shows that they have done all of that, as shown by how thoughtful and thorough it is. “I fully support this, and I can’t wait for it to open.”
There were more than a dozen residents, charity leaders, and activists who spoke in favor of the policy. Alpana Agarwal and Pratima Gupta, co-founders of Helping Hands Silicon Valley, said it would make a big difference for homeless people in the city, especially those who have jobs.
Agarwal told San José Spotlight, “It will make them less anxious, which will help them concentrate better.” “Once they feel better, they can work on getting a better job or things like that.” It will make a big difference in Sunnyvale.
Rev. Brian Leong, co-founder of MOVE Mountain View and manager of seven safe parking lots in Mountain View and Palo Alto, said that Sunnyvale’s plans are “kind and thorough.”
In the same policy, council members agreed to a possible grant that could help groups that want to offer safe parking pay for one-time costs like putting in bathrooms or showers.
Leong said that the pandemic stopped MOVE Mountain View from starting its own grant program in the same way.
“I was amazed to see it come back to life here, because no one else has been able to do it,” Leong told San José Spotlight.
