San Diego creates overnight parking and shower for the homeless and people living in their cars. | Stock Photo
San Diego creates overnight parking and shower for the homeless and people living in their cars. | Stock Photo
A $20,000 grant from the San Diego COVID-19 Community Response Fund to the organization Dreams for Change has allowed a new "safe parking site" built off Imperial Avenue.
The San Diego Foundation said in a release that the new site offers a place for those homeless and living in their car to have a safe place to park and shower nightly.
"When you're talking about a safe parking program, you're talking about the working poor, people who are employed at minimum-wage or moderate-wage jobs and can only afford to live out of their cars," Dreams for Change CEO Teresa Smith said in the release. "A lot of people in our Safe Parking Program are essential workers, health care aides, grocery store clerks, restaurant workers, who have gym memberships so they can take a shower and suddenly weren't able to take a shower before going to work. This was a desperate need."
Approximately 100 homeless people through San Diego access the safe parking sites each night, but COVID-19 made accessing a shower "next to impossible" because of regulations, the release said.
Smith founded Dreams for Change after the Great Recession of 2009 to help underserved individuals and families with innovative and cost-effective programs to help them get back on their feet.
"The nonprofit's outreach encompasses myriad initiatives, including workforce development, financial literacy and education and free tax preparation to ensure that those who qualify for the earned-income tax credit are filing for the benefit," the release said. "In all, some 11,000 are impacted by Dreams for Change each year, including 250 or so through the safe parking program — established in 2009 and the first program of its kind."
Most of the people who participate in the program are employed individuals who cannot keep up with the city's rising cost. Before the pandemic, these individuals could access showers at local gyms and other public areas that were ultimately shut down during the nationwide lockdown.
"Living in your car makes showers hard to come by, especially since the pandemic," a client of Dreams for Change said as reported in the press release. "The average person wants to wash the germs away and keep a pleasant body odor. In short, I'm very appreciative, so glad that the shower is available."
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