Washoe County's Pilot Safe Parking Program at Our Place Is Still Waiting for its First Beneficiary

Darting from underneath a grey sky this morning, Sabrina Sweet, the human services coordinator with Washoe County, checks in with staff to ask if any vehicle used the county’s new safe parking space now available at the front parking lot of Our Place off of 21st in Sparks, but is told no. 

No one has used it yet since it kicked off several weeks ago, despite what it has to offer.  Local advocates have long asked for an official safe parking program of which this is now one, with the caveat it requires being an adult with employment or being an adult student with a registered, insured and working vehicle. 

Six spots are available, nightly from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., right by the staffed welcome center for adults fulfilling those requirements.

Sweet gives a tour of the welcome area which vehicle occupants would have access to, with a clean bathroom, a shower, a laundry facility as well as overnight security.

The lack of early publicity and the requirements to qualify to be enrolled in this new program might have something to do with no one benefiting from it just yet.  One target audience, university students, are for the most part not in school right now.  Sweet says feeling uncomfortable about getting into the county and shelter system might also be a reason for no one using the safe parking just yet.  

Still, the program holds promise for those employed or in school, and “just in between housing options, [when] they need a very quick solution so that they're not parked on the street or having to sleep in their car in an unsafe location.”

Six of the eight parking spots in front of the welcome center are reserved overnight for those wanting to try the safe parking program.

“We figured out that the best place to do this would be over at Our Place,” the shelter which serves unhoused women and their children, Sweet told Our Town Reno in a prior phone interview.  

“Just the parking lot itself is on the county property but it's still right outside the gates. We have security officers that are located right inside the building that can help watch over the area and so it's a space that we can help manage people and just also watch over the cars that are parked in those spaces.” 

On arrival, Sweet explains, participants will need to sign a waiver stating that they’re being enrolled in the safe parking program.

“We would definitely take their information with their permission and give it to a case manager and then have a case manager reach out to them within normal business hours just to see if there's anything that we might be able to do to help with housing needs or anything that they're looking for,” Sweet added. 

“It can be more than one person,” Sweet said when asked about a vehicle’s occupancy. “It needs to be adults only in the car and each person in the vehicle would need to enroll in the safe parking program individually.”

Sweet says advocates for the unhoused have been directly asking county employees for such a program as well, and this pilot running until the middle of May will be used to collect data to see if people use it, and “if they do what they like about it, what they don't like about it and just whether or not we could provide something like this long term.”

In terms of security, Sweet said “if somebody saw that or if there was a threat of health or safety then we would respond with calls to law enforcement just like we would in any other situation.”  

Law enforcement in the area have been notified of the new program, even if it hasn’t been shared much to this point. 

“I would welcome people if they are in a situation where they're having to sleep in their car, just come check it out and you know this is a pilot program we're trying it out so we're open to any suggestions to make it better and we really just want to provide that safe space for people to be and hopefully get them access to some resources,” Sweet concluded.  

For those who’d like to help as volunteers in any capacity including with this new program, Sweet encourages them to contact the county’s Housing and Homeless Services division.  

“We are open to creating as many events as possible to make people at the shelters comfortable and also just get as many resources as possible and then as many community members as would like to be involved if we can set up an opportunity for them to be able to volunteer and help that would be fantastic,” Sweet said.  

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