3 Key Components for an Effective Safe Parking Program
In the Spring of 2022, the Lunous team had the opportunity to work with a safe parking program in the Puget Sound area. This program is operated on-site by a faith-based organization. While the program had limited staff and funding, it served 100+ households over the course of 2021. As we interviewed some of its former and current guests, our goal was to surface insights about the safe parking program that the leadership team could use to make informed, guest-centered decisions based on the experience of those they serve. We are sharing our findings in the hopes that the knowledge and insights we have gained might be helpful to emerging and existing safe parking programs.
1. Program Fundamentals
If you're about to start a safe parking program, build community support and connect with existing community resources, such as housing resources and other safe parking programs. This can open access to resources for guests that helps to have their basic needs met and can help them gain stable, permanent housing.
We learned that it’s essential to set clear community guidelines and rules right from the start and ensure these are communicated to all incoming guests, volunteers, and staff. This helps to prevent social conflicts and creates a welcoming, friendly, safe environment because everyone knows what to expect from the program and each other. It will be beneficial to have these in writing as a part of a welcome package or on the program website for guests and potential guests to access. We recommend having a transparent conflict resolution process that clarifies how complaints are made and what steps are taken to align the parties or, ultimately, which repercussions conflict can have for the offending party.
Staff and volunteers can benefit from training on trauma-informed care and equity, diversity, and inclusion. Volunteer and staff development investments result in better conflict resolution and social environment within the program. Our findings showed that this particular program experienced most of its challenges on a social level, because of this focusing on responding to and managing social conflicts held unique promise for them. What we don’t know is whether the social environment is impacted by the fact that the program has no strict limits on how long guests can stay. It is possible that safe parking programs hosting guests only for the short-term could experience less social friction.
Beyond securing a healthy and safe social environment, programs should make a plan for general safety measures. General safety could be improved by registering guest vehicles, periodically doing a round of check-in with guests, and creating rules around visitors. Depending on the community and its relationship to local law enforcement, it may benefit the program to make a connection to local law enforcement to gather support and advice on what safety measures would be most helpful. For example, the program we spoke with had connections to King County Regional Homelesness Authority, transitional housing providers like Sofia’s place, and other local safe parking programs. Some guests will be fleeing from domestic violence situations and might need extra safety procedures during their stay in the program. Any program should also consider protocol for environmental emergencies such as freezing temperatures and wildfires. Consider resources for evacuating or keeping guests safe indoors during these events.
2. Amenities
Fulfilling physical and hygienic needs is vital to running a safe parking program, this includes providing potable water, a bathroom with a sink or handwashing station, and space for the guest to park.
A safe parking program doesn’t necessarily need fully developed processes for food distribution depending on its size. Due to the smaller size of the program we worked with, we learned that a case-by-case basis for food distribution along with a weekly congregation-run dinner and kitchen availability worked best for them. We recommend that, if possible, guests should have the ability to make their own food or the program might consider organizing a congregation-run, church-supported, or community-driven pantry or weekly dinner. Guests of the program informed the Lunous team that because of the kitchen inside the building, they could prepare their own meals with self-provided food. While we recognize that many churches and faith-based organizations tend to have areas for food preparation, many buildings cannot implement these amenities if they do not already have the infrastructure to maintain them. Programs can still be run if the building supporting the program does not have the infrastructure available to offer kitchen amenities. However, our research showed us clearly that kitchen access and the ability to make their own meals vastly improve the quality of life for guests.
Beyond physical and hygienic needs, people need internet access and a mailing address in order to take advantage of resources available to people experiencing homelessness. Cars often have the ability to charge electronic devices while running but with high gas prices, this wasn’t a sustainable option for guests. Providing access to outlets inside a building and allowing guests to have mail delivered is essential to supporting guests who might be trying to access additional state or local resources, jobs, or permanent housing. If it isn’t possible for guests to receive mail via the host building address we recommend sponsoring a P.O. box for guests instead. When talking with guests we learned about another invaluable service that the program provided. The program would coordinate appointments and provide the funds for any parts and services when guests required car maintenance. Many guests reiterated the importance of car maintenance as they had jobs that required them to have working transportation.
While these amenities are essential to running a safe parking program, the Lunous team learned about other useful amenities a program could provide from the guests of a local safe parking program. These amenities include onsite showers, storage units or onsite storage lockers, fans for hotter months, onsite washers and dryers, gas cards, supplies for sleeping in a car (sleeping bag, window covers, hand warmers, hats, blankets, etc.), and hygiene supplies.
3. Social Services
While having shelter and amenities covers basic needs, we found that guests in these programs are more likely to succeed when having access to social services. These services should help guests navigate the housing market, connect them to jobs, and provide professional mental health services.
We found that when a program offers these services it can make the difference between getting into permanent housing or remaining without access to housing. Some guests emphasized that their main hurdle to getting into housing was accessing well-paying jobs that would allow them to afford housing in the greater Seattle area. Several guests even had jobs that paid well above minimum wage, but some reported that this pay alone was not enough to access housing. While these services may be costly or infeasible for smaller programs to provide with limited funding, new and existing safe parking programs will benefit from connections with existing government and community resources that might help the program gain access to these services.
Housing access is not a standalone issue. Access to healthcare, well-paying jobs, and social connections all factor into a person's ability to access housing in a pressured housing market. When establishing a program, consider how connections to other existing housing, job and healthcare services might make guests more successful in moving on to safe, reliable, and permanent housing.
When guests attempted to transition out of the safe parking program they were met with what felt like confusing and unclear processes for gaining permanent housing. Guests experienced difficulty navigating waitlists, knowing what resources exists, figuring which subsidies could be relevant, understanding which program is right for them, and managing information overload. When developing a safe parking program, consider how guests might exit the program and what resources the program might offer to help in that process. This could include connecting to permanent housing providers in the area or providing access to a case manager.
To help guests access existing housing and service resources, consider creating a resource directory. This can be done by collecting print-outs of resource information on a corkboard in the building hosting the program or by utilizing a website to host this information. When talking with guests, many mentioned how information overload can take over when searching for helpful resources. Having a curated directory of resources specific to the guests in the program can help accelerate the process of getting into permanent housing. General service provider resources such as food banks, free healthcare clinics, and social services should also be included in the directory. Another tactic to explore would be to facilitate meetings directly between guests and housing providers. This could look like inviting a service provider representative to visit the program guests and talk about their services. Also, consider investing staff time and resources into follow-up appointments with guests who have exited the program to ensure their continued social connections to the program as well as ensure that exited guests maintain stable housing.
Based on our findings from interviews with safe parking guests, the team put together a collection of deliverables consisting of a journey map and a written report. The journey map serves to communicate the current state of the guest experience by taking the reader through the different stages of being in the program from finding the program to exiting. The journey map also illustrates what the guests might do, think, or feel during each phase and includes opportunities for staff to impact guest experience. The written report details the needs and experiences of guests through key themes that are divided into bright spots and opportunities. Bright spots are positive aspects that should be upheld and learned from, while opportunities describe potential areas for improvement. The written report also included quotes from our interviewees and suggested next steps for the program. The program ultimately used this research to dedicate funding to additional amenities.
If your program or organization is interested in chatting with the Lunous team to explore how we might help, whether for a safe parking program or other programs, you can contact the Lunous team at www.lunous.org/contact.