City of San Luis Obispo, CA

With hundreds of community members sleeping in their vehicles every night, the City of San Luis Obispo and Community Action Partnership of SLO County (CAPSLO) are stepping up to recommend a safe and supportive path to permanent housing through a proposed pilot program based on successful programs elsewhere.

As of December 2024, there were 232 households on the waitlist for the 40 Prado Safe Parking Program, which is a program run by CAPSLO.

“We know there are hundreds of people living in vehicles right now in our community and they have very few options,” said Daisy Wiberg, the City’s Homeless Response Manager. “We as a community must do something to address this. That’s why we’re working with CAPSLO on the design of a pilot program based on successful programs in other communities.”

One step towards addressing this: A Rotating Overnight Safe Parking Pilot Program, designed to help more community members transition into housing, that can be rolled out countywide if successful in the City of San Luis Obispo. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on January 22, 2025, at 6 p.m. at City Hall to review five proposed sites that could host the Rotating Overnight Safe Parking Pilot Program.

The Planning Commission public hearing is the first step before the proposed pilot program can become operational, as funding sources are still being identified. If fully funded, the program will be managed by CAPSLO and will offer individuals experiencing homelessness a safe place to temporarily park a vehicle overnight as they seek to move into housing.

The pilot program’s goal at this time is to provide up to 12 overnight parking spaces with the program rotating monthly between six different locations, one of which is outside of City limits. Participants will not be allowed to park at the program site during the day but will be allowed to park overnight while they receive help transitioning into permanent housing.

Overnight parking spaces will open for new participants as existing participants move into permanent housing, creating a model that ideally reduces vehicular homelessness as the program progresses. Measures – such as quiet hours, staffed check-in/out, and limiting the number of users – will be in place to minimize any potential impacts to nearby residences and businesses.

“We need the community’s support to make this pilot program a success like we’ve seen in other cities,” Wiberg said. “The program will offer a safe place to park and sleep overnight, in a different location each month, with the goal of moving individuals into permanent housing. We are so grateful to the faith-based organizations and community partners who have all stepped up to offer their property as a safe haven.”

Similar programs in Santa Barbara County, Los Angeles County, and several other communities throughout the state, have successfully helped those living in their vehicles move into housing.

The City has seen success with programs like this, too. CAPSLO currently manages an overnight safe parking program at 40 Prado Homeless Services Center. From September 2023 to September 2024, CAPSLO successfully connected 30 program participants with housing or reunited them with family.

A similar program funded by the City and managed by CAPSLO found success at the City's Railroad Square parking site before it closed in 2023. The Railroad Safe Parking Pilot Program successfully connected 36 individuals with permanent housing, reunified 9 with family and helped 5 find jobs.

CAPSLO hosted a community meeting this week to provide residents and businesses near the sites with an opportunity to learn more about the proposed pilot program and to answer questions about the proposed locations.  

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Media Contact: Daisy Wiberg, Homelessness Response Manager, (805)781-7025, dwiberg@slocity.org