Nearly 69% of the homeless population in Santa Barbara County lives in their cars.
Leading into the rainy and cold season, city officials are looking to partner with churches to open their doors to the homeless.
“Along East Beach, someone folds a blanket around their shoulders and wonders, ‘where will I sleep tonight,’” said Wayne Mellinger, board member of the Clergy and Laity United for Economic Injustice, or CLUE, Santa Barbara.
Mellinger led an opening prayer at the event moderated by Santa Barbara City Councilman Oscar Gutierrez and co-hosted by CLUE Santa Barbara on Thursday evening at the David Gebhard Public Meeting Room on Garden Street.
Representatives from multiple faith groups and churches across the city filled the room to discuss strategies and plans around the issue of homelessness in Santa Barbara. City officials and program leaders also presented data on housing and homelessness.
Cassie Roach, director of the Safe Parking Program at New Beginnings Counseling Center, presented an overview of the city-funded program which provides overnight parking in Santa Barbara, Goleta, Isla Vista, Lompoc and Carpinteria.
Within the program, 31% of those living in their cars are over the age of 63, and 27% overall are chronically homeless.
But with limited space, Roach said she seeks more help acquiring empty lots to house the community.
“People are waiting weeks on end because we don’t have enough space for them,” Roach said.
She added that an increasing number of families, around 5.2% in the Safe Parking Program, are also living in cars.
Gutierrez said that the city has about 1,000 acres of unused land. Most of this space, he added, lives on church properties.
“We don’t have enough safe parking spots,” said Caroline Paine, housing and homelessness manager for the city. “So that is one thing that we can absolutely use help with.”
Paine said there has been a growing response to homelessness across Santa Barbara for the last seven years.
While parking lots can help aid the homeless who live in cars, Paine said, “at the end of the day, homelessness is a housing issue, and we want to focus on building as much housing as we can.”
The city allocates about $10 million to homelessness services, Gutierrez said.
But money is only one part of the solution, and Gutierrez said he could not influence his colleagues on the dais alone.
Gutierrez urged church leaders at Thursday’s event to utilize public comment at City Council meetings to raise awareness over homelessness and the ways congregations can help step in.
“If hundreds of people, thousands of people start to reach out to the city saying, ‘we want this,’ it’s not just my idea, it’s the people’s idea,” Gutierrez said.
