Safe ParkingLA is a public/private partnership that utilizes parking lots across the City for overnight parking for people living in their vehicles. From about the hours of 9pm to 6am, people who just need a safe place to sleep are able to sleep in a lot with the safety of a security guard and restroom, and leave before the start of the day. Safe ParkingLA vets each person who enters the program and, as a condition, helps them with services such as housing assistance and job training. Only 5 to 10 spots per lot that are being used for this program.
Councilmember Blumenfield converted the parking lot outside his district office into a Safe Parking site for vehicle dwellers at night. Click on the thumbnail below to watch Blumenfield's video on Safe Parking. With the success of the Safe Parking site in Reseda, Blumenfield opened a second site in Tarzana in March 2021.
Currently there are several lots up and running including one at a parish in Koreatown and one at the VA in West Los Angeles, with several more to be rolled out soon across Los Angeles. Blumenfield has a motion to create a buffer zone around these Safe Parking lots where “No Dwelling” in one’s vehicle can be enforced. This will help incentivize more Safe Parking lots.
Councilmember Blumenfield and Councilmember Joe Buscaino visited the site in Koreatown to assess impacts on the surrounding community, hear from a few parishioners who wanted to be a part of the solution as well as meet some of the homeless people who are taking advantage of this program.