Santa Barbara County’s Safe Parking Program sees dramatic increase in enrollment in past year
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — In the heart of paradise, several locals are hanging on by a thread.
“A lot of folks that have just fallen on hard times, whether it's due to just not making enough money at their work or they've had a job loss. Often times it's due to divorce or folks that have been caring for a dying parent who then does pass away, and they don't have any rental history recently, they don't have employment history recently. And so they're left to be living in their vehicle and try to pick up the pieces,” said Safe Parking Program Director, Cassie Roach.
Cassie Roach oversees the Safe Parking Program — a subset of the non-profit New Beginnings.
Roach says they have seen a 60% increase in the number of families who have enrolled in this program in the last year.
The program has also seen an 18% increase in the number of people who are currently employed who are entering the program.
Roach says more people are using the program because of rising inflation and the cost of living.
“We are housing more people than ever. We just unfortunately are not stopping the inflow of folks experiencing homelessness,” said Roach.
And the current housing crisis isn’t helping.
“When you would step outside and look at the other people in the community, I mean, there's ten people living in a three bedroom house. It's that was the first sight that I saw. this isn't this isn't working. This is people making it work. But this isn't the community making it work for the people,” said Safe Parking Program Manager, Nicolas Torres.
Even with help from the program drivers still have to maintain their vehicles.
“They have to keep up their license, their registration, their insurance. They have to utilize the gas money to get to the lot at night and then leave the lot in the morning to go to work, to doctor's appointments, to any activity that they do throughout the day. And that can be a big hurdle,” said Roach.
Through partnerships with different community organizations, the Safe Parking Program continues to tackle the growing issue of homelessness county wide.
New Beginnings received an $8 million dollar grant last summer to the California Encampment Resolution Fund, also called the SURF program.
They’ve enrolled over 200 people in the project and housed more than 90 of those enrolled in the past year.
The Safe Parking Program operates 31 parking lots in Santa Barbara County.
