Carbajal announces bill to bring Santa Barbara-inspired safe parking policy nationwide Thursday
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Twenty years ago, Santa Barbara County created the nation's first safe parking program in partnership with New Beginnings to help those who are unhoused have a safe space to park overnight.
On Thursday, one former Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors staffer who participated in getting the policy off the ground and now sitting U.S. Congressman Salud Carbajal announced bipartisan legislation to bring the potential lifeline for unhoused people nationwide.
“I am proud to have played a small part in helping get this critical program off the ground – one that now has served hundreds of Central Coast residents across the County through the remarkable stewardship of New Beginnings. But I am also proud to see the inspiration our program has been for communities across America," explained Carbajal during the event. "There’s no reason why the federal government should not be recognizing the difference these programs make in responding to the housing crises we are facing."
The Naomi Schwartz and Susan Rose Safe Parking Act, named in honor of the two County Supervisors who developed the policy, is a bipartisan bill that would open up federal housing funds by making safe parking programs eligible for federal housing grants.
A previous version of the bill was introduced by Congressman Carbajal during the 117th Congress and was even approved by the House Committee on Financial Services, but ultimately did not become law.
Other safe parking programs have been inspired by the success of the program in Santa Barbara County and have sprung up in fellow California locales as well as Colorado, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
These programs are in direct contrast to a rise in laws outlawing unhoused people from living in their vehicles.
In fact, the National Homelessness Law Center documented a 213% increase in laws nationwide targeting people living in a vehicle between 2006 and 2019.
Congressman Carbajal was joined on Thursday by former County Supervisor, and partial namesake of the announced bill, Susan Rose, 1st District County Supervisor Das Williams, and New Beginnings Executive Director Kristine Schwartz.
“There is a critical need for dedicated funding to support families and individuals who have no viable option but to live out of their vehicles. This population is represented in an increasing number of communities across the country and includes so many people who are on the precipice between returning to stable housing and falling further into homelessness," said Schwartz. "New Beginnings wholeheartedly supports Congressman Carbajal's bill."
