County Supports Mountain View Safe Parking Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN JOSE – The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously yesterday to fund safe overnight parking and supportive services for the growing number of residents and regional employees living out of their cars and RVs in Mountain View and San Jose.

Access to restroom facilities, off-street parking, and social services is “a modest, but significant step in addressing the area’s affordable housing crisis and getting these folks off neighborhood streets,” says Board President Joe Simitian, who pushed for support of a County partnership with Move Mountain View to operate the Lots of Love Safe Parking Program.

The Board allocated $287,525 for the two-year pilot program, with the City of Mountain View contributing an additional $55,000. Initially located at one site, St. Timothy Episcopal Church, the number of parking lots is slated to increase to ten in 2020, and accommodate 40 RVs/cars.

“I’m gratified to see the hard work of so many different folks produce such a good result,” says Simitian. “We’re all working towards long-term, systemic solutions to end homelessness entirely in Santa Clara County, but we know that won’t happen overnight. We need creative solutions to the problems that our communities are facing right now.”

“I remember well my first conversations with Pastor Brian Leong,” said Simitian. “He was determined to tackle the problem of homelessness in the community. He and his congregation stuck with it, and I’m really pleased the County can do its part.”

“We’re grateful for the County’s support as we’ve worked to get this program off the ground,” said Pastor Brian Leong of Lord’s Grace Christian Church. “We’ll start small so we can make sure the program works well to serve both the clients and the community, and then ramp it up as quickly as we can.”

The funding builds on earlier efforts by Simitian and the Board of Supervisors to address Santa Clara County’s affordable housing crisis and increase services for homeless and low income families in North County, including:

• Opening a new cold weather homeless shelter in Mountain View;
• Opening a new homeless shelter in Sunnyvale (now operating year-round), following the 2014 close of the old Sunnyvale Armory;
• A pilot “house-sharing” program, in partnership with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County; and,
• Emergency stabilization funding for MayView Community Health Center.

​The Board also approved $505,000 for Amigos de Guadalupe to operate safe parking and supportive services in San Jose.

###