MONTEREY — Monterey Peninsula Unified School District is considering implementing a safe parking program for families experiencing homelessness.
At the most recent Board of Trustees meeting, the Monterey County Department of Social Services presented a proposal to create a Safe Parking program on district sites for families within the local school district.
“We’ve been seeing an increasing number of homeless individuals living in their vehicles as a last resort for housing,” said Alex Soltero, management analyst for the county’s Department of Social Services. “Our shelters throughout the community continue to be at capacity with long waitlists.”
According to the 2022 Monterey County Homeless Point-In-Time count, there are currently 2,047 people experiencing homelessness in the county, 20% of whom live in their car.
Additionally, around 9,305 students within the county identify as homeless according to the McKinney-Vento definition – 2,195 in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District – according to data from the Monterey County 2021/2022 Count of Homeless Students in Districts and Charter Schools.
Under the program, the district would allow families to park and sleep in their vehicles on district sites from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily. The program would also provide participants with additional supportive services, including job and housing search assistance.
“I really just want to emphasize that this is not just a parking lot where someone can just park. It is with those additional housing and employment services to try to connect families with permanent housing,” said Soltero. “The safe parking (program) is really meant to be a temporary solution to a long-term issue that families are experiencing.”
Currently, the county Department of Social Services is operating two Safe Parking programs – one in Marina and one in Seaside. The city of Marina implemented the $150,000 Safe Parking program in December 2017 for up to 15 vehicles in a first-ever pilot program.
The community partner and nonprofit, One Starfish Safe Parking and Supportive Services, operates both the county’s programs and other unaffiliated Safe Parking programs throughout various locations on the Peninsula.
Soltero and other county staff explained to the board the program’s design is flexible based on the chosen site, resources available and the needs of the participants. Participants at Marina’s Safe Parking site don’t have building access, so the county brings in portable toilets and hand-washing stations.
“One of the most intriguing thoughts of MPUSD hosting a site is that one, many families are experiencing homelessness, but also there are some schools that do have showers actually located there. And we can be very creative in programming,” explained Roxanne Wilson, Monterey County’s Homeless Services director.
The board responded positively to the presentation, with some trustees questioning who will be responsible for financing the program, what security will be required and additional resources that would be included, such as Wi-Fi hotspots.
Board members Alana Myles and Bettye Lusk requested more research be done on whether other school districts have implemented similar programs in the past and their success.
Lusk also pointed out that the district needs to collaborate with the community and hear feedback on which potential sites might be used for the program.
The question of which location would be used was also mentioned a few times, with board member Veronica Miramontes pointing out that a school parking lot might not be the best choice for students.
“I’m thinking about our students and their comfortability,” she said. “Of course being on campus all day and then sleeping (there) at night might be kind of hard for them. And also being mindful of maybe other students seeing them there. I know we have a lot of sites so maybe there’s a location we can consider.”
Board president, Amanda Whitmire, said she would prefer to connect families with the district’s partnership with Motel 6 – which provides short-term emergency housing for students and families experiencing homelessness – and leave the Safe Parking program open to adults.
“I’d also really like to see this happen,” she said. “There’s kind of an indication in the proposal that this would be a support for MPUSD families but I – speaking only for myself – would not seek that limitation. I would like to see this program opened up to the community in general, given what we know about the safety and success of programs that are already existing in other places.”
As for next steps, the district’s superintendent, PK Diffenbaugh, said the district has more research to do and questions to answer before the program is implemented. Diffenbaugh said the district will reach out to the county’s partners and get more information to share with the board and the community in the future.
