Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams remembers being in the room more than 20 years ago when the idea for the Safe Parking program was hatched to provide managed care for people living in their cars. This Tuesday, the county supervisors heard a progress report on Safe Parking’s success getting people out of homeless car encampments, onto managed parking lots, and finally into housing.
The news was pretty good. In the past five months, the program — funded by more than $7 million in federal grants — has enrolled 173 homeless people living in their vehicles. Of those, 48 have gotten into housing.
Williams’s take? “More needs to be done.”