Pasadena Council Takes Step Toward Addressing Vehicular Homelessness

The City Council approved a contract with the Shower of Hope to operate a safe operating parking program.

The program would provide the homeless with essential services and a secure space to park without the risk of citations or impoundment fees.

Safe parking programs are designed to provide a safe place for people sheltering in their vehicles to park without risk of a citation.

The Shower of Hope program will provide up to 25 homeless individuals in Pasadena with a safe place to park, sleep, and access vital services.

According to the Department of Housing’s agenda report for the City Council, chronically homeless individuals living outdoors have different needs than those sheltering in their vehicles.

The report states, “By maintaining access to vehicular shelter, individuals participating in safe parking programs may maintain work and community ties not afforded to individuals living on the street. Without safe parking, people living in their cars risk citations, towing, or impoundment fees that increase instability and threaten those ties.”

Safe Parking offers on-site services including restrooms, handwashing stations, and case management services. Safe parking programs provide a stabilizing foundation upon which homeless and other social services can facilitate movement toward permanent housing.

The needs of individuals sheltering in their vehicles are typically different from chronically homeless individuals living outdoors. By maintaining access to vehicular shelter, individuals participating in safe parking programs may maintain work and community ties not afforded to individuals living on the street. Without safe parking, people living in their cars risk citations, towing, or impoundment fees that increase instability and threaten those ties.

A 2019 National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty study found that 30 to 50% of people experiencing homelessness in West Coast cities lived in their cars. In Pasadena, likely due to the overnight parking ban, vehicular living is not as widespread. The 2023 Pasadena Point-in-Time Homeless Count found 27 individuals (5% of all people experiencing homelessness) to be residing in their cars, which may indicate that those sheltering in their vehicles are displaced from their home city, at least during overnight hours. Anecdotally, this type of displacement is corroborated by Pasadena-based street outreach workers.

The recently adopted Pasadena Continuum of Care Homelessness Plan recommends “increas[ing] the number of safe parking program sites” in support of Strategy 14: Strengthen and Increase Access to Essential Services within the Crisis Response Action Area.

The plan states, “People living in their cars often lack access to safe and secure places to park, which can create safety concerns, including the risk of crime and harassment,” and points to the stabilizing effect that safe parking programs have on people experiencing homelessness.

On June 12, the City Council approved zoning code amendments to allow safe parking as an accessory use at certain sites occupied by colleges, transit stations, and religious facilities. Sixty-nine of the 74 identified sites belong to religious institutions.

Any proposed safe parking program must go through a minor conditional use permit process. Ordinance 7414, which codified these amendments, was signed on September 11 and went into effect 30 days later.