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Council authorizes staff to expand New Beginnings’ safe‑parking pilot from six to 12 spaces
Summary
After a report from New Beginnings showing the program’s local uses and rehousing outcomes, the council approved staff recommendation to expand the city’s safe‑parking pilot from six spaces to 12 and to continue coordinating with the Land Trust and partner agencies.
The City Council voted to expand the city’s two‑year safe‑parking pilot from six vehicle spaces to 12, continuing the city’s agreement with New Beginnings to operate the program on the Land Trust property used for the pilot.
New Beginnings Director Christine Schwarz described the program’s 20‑year history in Santa Barbara County and summarized the agency’s approach: safe‑parking sites provide supervised, overnight vehicle spaces for people forced to live in vehicles; concurrent rapid‑rehousing services are provided (security deposits, rental assistance, navigation and retention services) with a multidisciplinary team including housing navigators, retention specialists, nurse and behavioral‑health support. Schwarz said safe‑parking sites have sheltered and assisted hundreds of people countywide and that the county’s point‑in‑time counts indicate a substantial portion of the unsheltered population is vehicle‑dwelling.
Schwarz told the council that New Beginnings has successfully used county and state grants and its own housing resources to rehousing participants; she emphasized the program’s best‑practice model and said sites are operated with written rules, rotating lot monitors, monthly permit renewals and insurance coverage. Christine said the Land Trust had agreed to the expansion under the existing license letter and would consider a permanent arrangement if the council later sought that.
Council members praised the program. Several residents and representatives of the Citizens for the Carpinteria Bluffs publicly supported the expansion at the meeting. Following discussion, the council voted to receive the safe‑parking update and to direct staff to proceed with expansion to 12 spaces under the existing pilot arrangement; staff said a formal amendment to the agreement with New Beginnings and any Land Trust concurrence would be presented at a future council meeting and the Land Trust has already signaled conditional approval for the temporary expansion.
Staff noted the pilot’s two‑year term expires July 1, 2025, and said council could consider a permanent program and potential RV‑specific solutions in subsequent meetings.
