By Blake Nelson | [email protected] | The San Diego Union-Tribune
Homeless shelters throughout San Diego County regularly reach capacity. Detox beds remain in such high demand that elected leaders are scrambling to create dozens more.
So what’s up with safe parking lots?
The city of San Diego has recently struggled to fill places where homeless people may sleep in their vehicles, and officials now plan to at least temporarily close one site in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood. Leaders announced this week that the 60 parking spots at the Aero Drive Lot will shut down by the end of the month.
A spokesperson stressed that spots remain open elsewhere, including at H Barracks, the massive lot near the airport that launched earlier this year. “The City is always looking at ways to improve programs,” Matt Hoffman wrote in an email. “With the opening of the H Barracks site, the City nearly doubled the Safe Parking Program capacity.”
Indeed, the system regularly ran out of room before H Barracks’ 190 spots came online, and the potential demand is certainly there: One recent tally found more than 1,170 individuals countywide living out of vehicles, an increase from the year prior.
Yet the lots haven’t filled, at least not immediately. H Barracks had an average utilization rate of 29% in September, the most recent month available, according to the city spokesperson. Aero, the lot slated for closure, hovered around 38% during the same period.
Notably, both sites are only accessible overnight. Two other lots with higher utilization rates — Mission Valley, which was recently 67% full, and Rose Canyon, at 68% — are open 24 hours.
Some homeless people have said in interviews they’re not willing to stay at places that require participants to pack up and leave every morning around 7 a.m. That’s especially true for those living out of RVs who may not be able to afford the gas money.
Closing three of the city’s five sites during the day does save cash at a time when budget cuts threaten a range of aid. And in the case of H Barracks, the lot’s permit from the California Coastal Commission only allows overnight parking.
There are also quality-of-life issues.
Safe parking lots come with security guards, case managers and basic amenities like restrooms, but some advocates for homeless people have said services can nonetheless be lacking. The attorney Ann Menasche, for example, believes the city is violating a court settlement detailing how people living out of vehicles should be treated, and she’s been especially critical of the state of the Mission Valley lot.
Jesse Mendez, director of safe parking at Jewish Family Service, the nonprofit overseeing the program, said Mission Valley did have its flaws. “A lot of parking lots are just empty spaces and pavement,” he said last week at an unrelated news conference. “Not a lot of places like that come with running water or electricity.”
At the moment, staffers at Mission Valley are relying on stopgaps like plugging a long extension cord into a nearby fire station for power. “I know that there’s a plan of action for improvements,” Mendez added, but he directed questions about the timeline toward San Diego officials.
Hoffman, the city spokesperson, confirmed that San Diego was committed to spending up to $900,000 to improve the Mission Valley site and said more information would be released “in the coming months.”
The safe parking program overall served more than 1,070 people during the last fiscal year. Officials said 260 individuals had so far made it into housing.
Later this month, the city plans to open a site in City Heights specifically for families with school-age children. There is also the possibility that H Barracks is shut down because of a lawsuit filed by a developer who’s building a new hotel in the area. That case is scheduled to go to trial next year.
Closing the Aero Drive Lot should save around $23,000 a month, according to a news release. Officials pledged to re-open the site if there’s a surge in demand.
Anyone interested in staying at a safe lot can fill out a form online or call 858-637-3373.
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