Summary

Safe parking programs provide designated places where people experiencing vehicular homelessness can stay in their vehicles, often while accessing sanitation, housing assistance, or other services. They are one response to a broader affordability problem explored in our analysis of economic inequality and the changing price of the American Dream. Federal homelessness reporting recognizes vehicle residency as a form of unsheltered homelessness under specified circumstances.

Key Takeaway

• HUD includes people sleeping in cars, trucks, or RVs because they lack another place to sleep within its definition and measurement of unsheltered homelessness.
• Safe parking programs can provide more than overnight parking; documented programs offer sanitation, food, Wi-Fi, counseling, documentation assistance, and connections to housing.
• Vehicle residency programs vary in eligibility and services; their role is to connect immediate support with pathways toward stable housing.
• Safe parking addresses an immediate problem, but federal guidance treats short-term interventions as pathways toward permanent housing rather than substitutes for it.

How Safe Parking Programs Respond to Vehicle Residency

For someone living in their car, finding somewhere legal and reasonably secure to sleep can become a nightly problem. That reality has helped produce what are commonly called safe parking programs: designated locations where people experiencing vehicular homelessness can park overnight as part of an organized program.

These programs vary substantially. A U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness review identified services ranging from toilets, showers, and handwashing facilities to food, Wi-Fi, counseling, help with documentation, financial assistance, and housing-placement services.

That distinction matters. A safe parking lot can address immediate safety and sanitation needs, but it does not, by itself, resolve the conditions that forced someone into a vehicle.

Vehicle Residency and the Housing Crisis in America

Vehicle residency also complicates popular assumptions about homelessness. People without stable housing are not necessarily sleeping on sidewalks or in conventional shelters.

HUD's methodology recognizes people sleeping in cars, trucks, and recreational vehicles as experiencing unsheltered homelessness when the vehicle is being used because occupants have nowhere else to sleep.

Federal research also cautions against treating people enrolled in safe-parking programs as representative of everyone experiencing vehicular homelessness. Available demographic information remains incomplete, and local program populations can differ substantially.

Housing insecurity helps explain why these services matter. The broader economic question, therefore, is why a vehicle becomes someone's housing in the first place. Our analysis of income inequality and declining economic security for working Americans examines that problem from the income side, while the cost-of-living crisis and household affordability pressures place housing costs within the larger squeeze on household budgets.

Safe parking can provide an important bridge. It should not be confused with the destination: stable housing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What are safe parking programs?

They are organized programs that provide designated parking spaces for people experiencing vehicular homelessness. Some also provide sanitation, food, counseling, assistance with documentation, and connections to housing services.

Q2: Is living in your car considered homelessness?

It can be. HUD includes people sleeping in cars, trucks, and RVs in unsheltered homelessness counts when the vehicle is being used because occupants lack another place to sleep.

Q3: What is vehicular homelessness?

The term generally refers to people living in cars, vans, trucks, or recreational vehicles because they lack stable, conventional housing.

Q4: Do safe parking programs provide services besides parking?

Many do. USICH has documented programs providing sanitation, food, Wi-Fi, counseling, housing assistance, child care or tutoring, and other services, although individual programs differ.

Q5: Do safe parking programs solve homelessness?

They are generally an interim response rather than permanent housing. Federal guidance says short-term shelter strategies should provide dignified conditions and pathways toward permanent housing.

Related Episodes

• Cost of Living in America: Why is Everything So Expensive?
• Income Inequality in the United States: Work No Longer Guarantees Economic Security
• The Cost of Living Crisis and the 2026 Midterm Elections: America on the Brink

Sources & Further Reading

• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — https://www.huduser.gov/portal/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
• U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness — https://www.usich.gov/guidance-reports-data/federal-guidance-resources/faqs-about-usichs-19-encampment-strategies
• U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness — https://www.usich.gov/prevention
• U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness — https://www.usich.gov/sites/default/files/document/How_Communities_Are_Responding_to_Vehicular_Homelessness.pdf

1

1: Exactly. For this Deep Dive, we've got a bunch of different sources, news articles from The Guardian and the Los Angeles Times. We've also found a really interesting opinion piece and even, like, a pretty honest discussion on Reddit.

2

2: Oh, nice. Yeah.

3

1: So, we're going to try and put it all together for you so you can really understand why this is happening. Like, what challenges people living in their cars face and what some communities are trying to do to address it.

4

2: So, when we think about people living in their cars, it might seem, like, uncommon. But how many people are we asking? What are we actually talking about here?

5

1: Well, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, their annual report, they found there were something like 582,000 homeless people in the U.S. Wow. And of those, between 20 and 30 percent who don't live in shelters actually live in their vehicles. Okay. So, when you do the math, that's, like, between 45,000 and 67,500 people.

6

2: That's a lot of people. And I'm guessing that number is even higher in cities. In cities where, you know, everything is more expensive.

7

1: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, take Los Angeles, for example. They reported that around 40 percent of all their homeless population is living in vehicles. Yeah. And San Diego County, you know, they went from one in five people living in vehicles in 2019 to one in four in 2022.

8

2: That's a big jump in just a couple of years.

9

1: Yeah, it is.

10

2: But, you know, I was reading through the Reddit discussion. Uh-huh. And some folks were saying that it can be hard to, like, get accurate.

11

1: That's right. This one Reddit user, AnybodySeeMeKeys, they said they used to be a journalist. Okay. And their take was that groups advocating for more resources might be overestimating the numbers of people, you know, to get more attention and funding.

12

2: That makes sense.

13

1: So, it's important to remember that, you know, while these figures give us a good idea, it's really hard to say the exact number for sure. Yeah.

14

2: So, we know it's a big problem even if we don't know the exact number. What leads to people having to live in their cars?

15

1: The sources we looked at all pointed to a few things. Yeah. But, like, the most common reason was housing costs are going up much faster than wages for a lot of people. Yeah. I mean, you end up having to choose between, you know, paying rent or putting food on the table and gas in the car.

16

2: Yeah, for sure. It's not just about making enough money, though, right? It's also about whether there is even, like, affordable housing available.

17

1: Yeah, exactly. There's a huge shortage of affordable housing basically everywhere. And, you know, there are wait lists for public housing. A lot of people end up with almost no other options.

18

2: That's rough. And it's interesting how this article about Sedona brought up, like, Airbnb and those kinds of rentals.

19

1: Oh, yeah. That's a really good example. So, in Sedona, short-term rentals make up 17% of all the housing. Wow.

20

2: 17%. Yeah.

21

1: And landlords are choosing to do short-term rentals because they can get a lot more money than from long-term renters. Okay.

22

2: Yeah. So, less housing available for the people who work there. Exactly.

23

1: You know, people working at gas stations, laundromats, shops. Like, the people who keep Sedona running. And it was interesting. The Guardian interviewed this woman, Jodi Jackson. She lives in an RV there.

24

2: Oh, wow. Yeah.

25

1: She moved to Sedona looking for a fresh start. Okay. She got out of an abusive relationship.

26

2: Oh, wow.

27

1: But she just couldn't afford an apartment. So, now she lives in her RV.

28

2: That's really tough. Yeah.

29

1: And she's not alone. They talked about a teacher who ended up homeless and even someone making $75,000 a year who lost their housing and just couldn't find anywhere else to live that they could afford. Yeah.

30

2: So, it can happen to, you know, pretty much anyone. I mean, I really connected with Brian Ramian's piece in the LA Times. He's a writer and he, like, had good jobs but still ended up living in his car for a bit. Yeah.

31

1: His story shows just how easy it is to lose your housing, you know, even if you've had decent jobs. He lost his job and then, like, right after his lease ran out.

32

2: Oh, bad timing. Yeah.

33

1: It was, like, a perfect storm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that could happen to so many of us.

34

2: And that kind of leads into something that came up in the Reddit thread. Okay. There's a difference between people who end up living in their cars because they have to and people who choose to, like, for van life. Right.

35

1: The Reddit thread was really interesting for that because you saw both sides. Yeah. On one hand, you have people who literally have nowhere else to go. Yeah. And on the other, you have people who are choosing to live in a van, maybe to travel or save money. Yeah.

36

2: One person even said they were, quote, Yeah. converted school bus. Yeah.

37

1: That's funny. It's like a spectrum, you know. Some people are in older RVs and it doesn't seem like they want to be there. And then you have these, like, decked out vans and stuff. Mm-hmm. But, like, someone else on Reddit pointed out, even if you're choosing that life, it's not always easy. Right. They mentioned, you know, worrying about getting your stuff stolen or getting towed or hassled by the cops. And, obviously, it's a really small space to live in and it can be hard to, like, build a community. Yeah.

38

2: It's not like on Instagram where it all looks so glamorous. Yeah. So, no matter how you end up living in a van. Or in a vehicle. It's got to be a tough situation. Totally.

39

1: I mean, it's really hard on you mentally. You're constantly stressed. Mm-hmm. You know, you have to worry about finding a safe place to park every night. Yeah. And, like Brian Ramian talked about, you're always scared of getting a ticket or even arrested just for sleeping in your car. Yeah. And then there's the physical side of it. I mean, living in such a small space. Yeah. Not having regular meals. Not sleeping well. And not having access to a bathroom or shower. It's hard on your body. Right. And one article talked about how people end up using, like, 24-hour gyms just to take a shower. That's rough. And they're eating fast food all the time. Yeah. Because it's cheap and easy. Yeah. And then they have to rely on food banks and things like that. It's just constant struggle. Yeah.

40

2: And it's scary how, like, getting a ticket or arrested can make it even harder to get out of that situation. Exactly.

41

1: Like, Brian said he was worried about that. If you have, like, a criminal record, it can be almost impossible to find housing or a job.

42

2: Yeah. But it's good to see that some communities are realizing that's not helping anyone and are starting to try different things. Like, I've been hearing about these safe parking programs. Yeah.

43

1: Those are becoming more common. The idea is to give people a safe place to park at night so they don't have to worry about getting in trouble. Yeah.

44

2: Like, the article in The Guardian mentioned a program in Berkeley. I think it was called SPARK. Right.

45

1: Yeah. The SPARK program was run by the Dorothy Day House. They had this parking lot where, like, 40 RVs could park for free. Okay. And they had... Portable toilets, water, and you could even bring your pet.

46

2: Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01: They were pretty flexible, too. Like, you didn't have to be back by a certain time every night.

47

2: That's awesome. It sounds like they really thought about what people would need.

48

1: Yeah, they did. It's about treating people with dignity. Yeah. But we also saw that there was a similar program proposed in Sedona. Really? It was called Safe Place to Park.

49

2: Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01: And it was going to be at the cultural park. And it sounds like they were planning to have bathrooms and showers there.

50

2: Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01: But it got a lot of pushback from the community. Really?

51

2: Why?

52

1: Well, there were a few reasons. Like, some people wanted to use the cultural park for, like, concerts and things. Mm-hmm. They didn't want it to be a parking lot. Okay. And there was this fear that it would attract more homeless people to Sedona.

53

2: Oh, interesting.

54

1: And some people just didn't like the idea of, like, a parking lot being the solution. They thought it was inhumane and that the focus should be on getting people into actual homes.

55

2: Yeah, I get that.

56

1: And then there was, like, the usual worries about, you know, noise, trash, and safety, even though the people running the program said they would make sure everything was managed well.

57

2: Ah, the not-in-my-backyard thing. Exactly.

58

1: And this woman, Christine Schwartz, who runs New Beginnings in Santa Barbara.

59

2: Oh, okay.

60

1: She said this happens all the time.

61

2: Oh, really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: New Beginnings runs a bunch of safe lots, and they've even helped other cities set them up. She said the property owners and businesses often try to push the lots into more, like, out-of-the-way places.

62

2: Oh, so kind of hiding them.

63

1: Yeah, kind of. They even suggested putting them next to police stations, which is, you know.

64

2: Not great.

65

1: Not the best look.

66

2: So what is it that makes a safe lot program successful?

67

1: Well, she said the number one thing is trust. You have to build trust with the people who are going to be using the lot and with the surrounding community.

68

2: That makes sense.

69

1: And, of course, you need funding. But she emphasized keeping the administrative costs low so that more money goes directly to helping people. And they also try to be really flexible with the hours. You know, so people can come and go as they need to.

70

2: That's good.

71

1: They also help out with, like, gas money or car repairs, which can make a big difference. It was interesting. They don't usually pay for the parking lots themselves.

72

2: Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: Churches, businesses, or the city will often donate the space. Okay.

73

2: And I bet talking to the community, like, the people living near the lot makes a big difference to you, right?

74

1: It's huge. Yeah. Schwartz said they spend a lot of time talking to people who live nearby, explaining the program, answering questions, and addressing any concerns. They might have. Yeah.

75

2: Because, ultimately, the goal isn't to have people live in their cars forever, right? Exactly.

76

1: These programs are meant to be a bridge. Okay. You know, a safe place where people can get back on their feet. Mike Phillips, who works at Jewish Family Services in San Diego, he described it as a place where people can feel safe. Yeah. They can save money, look for a job, and get connected to resources. And we read about this guy, Casey Villicana, a Navy veteran. He was living in his car in Santa Barbara. And he stayed at one of these safe parking lots. Okay. He got sober, got a job as a lot monitor, and eventually even got a housing voucher.

77

2: That's great. It sounds like these programs can really help people turn things around.

78

1: Yeah, for sure. It proves that with a little bit of support, people can get out of these situations.

79

2: So, going back to Sedona, what do you think were the main reasons why people were so against that program?

80

1: It seems like it was a few things, like we mentioned before. Some people really wanted that park. To be used for other things, like for the community, not for people living in their cars. Okay. And there was, you know, this worry that it would bring more homeless people to Sedona, which they might not have had the resources to help. Yeah. And some folks just didn't think it was the right way to deal with the problem. You know, giving people a parking space didn't solve the bigger issue of homelessness.

81

2: Makes sense.

82

1: And, of course, there were worries about it impacting the neighborhood, even though the people organizing the program said they'd keep things under control.

83

2: It sounds like the mayor of Sedona, Scott Jablo, was in a tough spot. The Guardian quoted him saying it wasn't a perfect solution. Yeah.

84

1: He was pretty honest about it. He actually said it was a, quote, sucky idea. But he also said it was something they had to do. Yeah. Especially because there just wasn't enough affordable housing and Airbnb was making things worse. It was frustrating for him because the people who opposed the program didn't seem to have any better ideas. Yeah.

85

2: And it sounds like the political situation in Sedona. It made it even more complicated. Yeah.

86

1: This guy, Graham Pruss, who works with the National Vehicle Residency Collective, he said that kind of pushback is pretty normal. People are often afraid of programs that help homeless folks.

87

2: That's unfortunate.

88

1: And Steve Segner, a hotel owner in Sedona, he actually supported the program. He pointed out that this fight was really just a small version of the, you know, bigger political fights happening all over the country.

89

2: It's interesting how even something like this can become so political.

90

1: It really is. It really shows that, you know, the problem of people living in their cars isn't simple. Yeah. It's connected to so many things like how much money people make, the cost of housing, and even our, like, social safety net. And like we saw in Sedona, even when people want to help, it can be really hard to actually do something.

91

2: So to wrap things up, it's clear this issue is a lot bigger than we might think. Yeah. There are a lot of people living in their vehicles because they can't afford housing, not because they want to. And there's so much more to it than meets the eye.

92

1: You got it. We hope this deep dive has helped you see the issue in a new light.

93

2: So here's something to think about after the show. What do you think needs to change? I mean, to really fix this problem, like, at the root. What can we do about housing policy, wages, you know, those big things so people don't end up living in their cars? Yeah.

94

1: It's a really important question. Yeah. And if you want to learn more or get involved, there are a ton of groups out there working on these issues.

95

2: You know, both of us are working on these issues. Yeah. Both locally and nationally. Yeah.

96

1: Definitely check them out.

97

2: Thanks for listening.

98

1: See you next time.