RVs Need Safe Spaces, Not More Restrictions

Commissioners,

As a resident of the City of Santa Cruz I believe that new and tighter restrictions on recreational vehicles and the people who are forced by circumstance to call these vehicles home does a disservice to this community. The Transportation and Public Works Commission has a unique opportunity to recommend that a more creative and humanistic approach be considered. By exercising your advisory power to recommend to the City Council that it consider the Safe Spaces Parking Program outlined below, you can take the lead in moving public policy away from punitive measures and toward positive outcomes. In that spirit and with that hope, I respectfully offer the following:

Safe Spaces Parking Program

A Model Program for Recreational Vehicle Overnight

Program Overview:

Safe, even temporary, shelter is one of the most pressing needs in our community. According to the 2013 Homeless Census and Survey more that 3,500 people in Santa Cruz County are without shelter of any kind every night. Of those, 28% reside in recreational vehicles, vans or automobiles. It is estimated that more than 200 recreational vehicles, vans and automobiles serve as the primary home for families. Many families see this option as the only way to keep the family unit together in the absence of affordable housing. Most of these vehicles are forced by circumstances to park overnight on city or county streets in violation of local ordinance. This is the problem and the need.

Although parking for the purpose of overnight camping on a public thoroughfare is unlawful in all local jurisdictions, parking a vehicle overnight on private property or public property designated for that purpose is not. The Safe Spaces Parking Program is designed to provide a limited number of recreational vehicles with a safe, secure place to pause overnight.

We understand that governmental agencies that oversee public property are responsible to their neighborhoods and their communities at-large when regulating the uses such properties are put to. To insure that all questions are answered and each concern is addressed, this program specifically details a process through which it hopes to make participation in our Safe Spaces Parking Program both easy and ultimately successful.
Program Description:

The program as developed consists on clearly defined elements, duties and responsibilities. Here’s what we propose:

1. We propose that the city or county designate a parcel of currently unused public property for the purpose of establishing a Safe Spaces Overnight Parking Program.

2. The Program would accommodate no less that 10 but no more than 15 recreational vehicles. Potential sites would be located on city or county owned property in commercial or industrial areas.

3. Overnight parking would be from 6:00pm to 6:00am without exception. Registration for overnight stay would begin at 5:00pm and end at 5:45. Staff and security personnel would then review the overnight roster and set the night’s security procedures. Under the proposal, volunteers or a non-profit agency would manage the site.

4. Garbage service and portable toilets would be provided at no cost to the city or county.

5. A general liability insurance policy would be provided to indemnify and hold harmless the city or county for any loss, harm or injury suffered by it or any overnight guest.

6. Perimeter fencing would be erected at no cost to the city and county to define the boundaries of the site and provide additional security. A secure entrance would be created and staffed by qualified security personnel throughout the night.

7. City and/or county Public Works would be consulted as to the requirements of each of these structures.

8. Funding for the program would be obtained through private sources administered through a Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement with a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit agency.

9. Volunteer staff would be on site at all times. The program would assume the cost of at least one private security officer to be on site one hour before registration until one hour after all overnight guests have exited the site.


Program Agreements and Understandings:

The program coordinators understand that a number of important questions must be discussed and resolved before a project of this scope can go forward. To that end, we are ready to work with city or county staff at their convenience. Any and all Memoranda of Agreement or Understanding will be drafted at the program’s expense and submitted to the City Attorney or County Counsel for his or her review.

Summary:

If we are ever to effectively address the challenges of homelessness in our community, we must embrace all reasonable approaches to the issue. That means that ideas which hold the promise of positive outcomes for the unsheltered among us must be given full and fair consideration. Smart Solutions, the Santa Cruz Sanctuary Village, Faith Community Shelters and the Homeless Services Center all can and must contribute to these outcomes. The Safe Spaces Parking Program asks only the opportunity to make its contribution. For more information, please contact:

Steve Pleich at (831) 466-6078 or by email at spleich [at] gmail.com

Thank you in advance for your consideration of this program.