In recent news an online article was published by the local Los Angeles Times entitled “In Sonoma County, a heartwarming safe-parking program for the homeless” which described the unique response of this affluent county to both the freezing temperatures and the spike in homeless persons sleeping in their cars. This article was unique in the fact that it described all kinds of people who have found themselves needing to utilize these safe parking spaces at night for a place to sleep. With the waiting lists for shelters growing increasingly long and the temperatures continuing to drop, the homeless were out of options besides sleeping in their cars, which is against the law in Sonoma County as well as many other places. As Supervisor Shirlee Zane is quoted in this article, she states “It was just stupid to say it’s illegal to sleep in your car. For some people, all they own is their car.” This is why several other counties including nearby San Diego County, have began adopting this idea of safe parking spaces that allow people to sleep in their vehicles without being hassled by police.
As the article also stated “in Santa Clara County, four homeless men had frozen to death on the streets”. This was a huge catalyst for people like Shirlee Zane to get these safe parking spaces going. This quote was very powerful to me because despite this tragedy, there are still policymakers and community members who are advocating for anti-camping ordinances to ban homeless from sleeping in vehicles which could be their only way of survival. While this article was describing the recent situation in Sonoma County, it is obvious from our recent coursework in homeless counts around the nation that this is not an isolated occurrence and that this is going to continue to happen in many areas. Because of this, anti-camping ordinances need to be reconsidered and altered as a temporary bandage to the problem while long-term solutions are formed.
I found this same article and thought it was so uplifting. It was good to see how the government is taking action and how this has helped so many people.