Los Angeles is Attempting to Fix Its Homeless Car Parking Problem

Homelessness is an issue in all major cities across the U.S., but it’s particularly acute in large ones fortunate enough to have a pleasant climate year-round. Los Angeles has both of these attributes, and that means there’s quite a large homeless population. A recent article from the LA Times caught my eye.

With over 6,000 homeless people sleeping in their cars every night, the city is enacting a new ordinance to give them somewhere to (legally) park.

The ordinance takes effect next Monday, February 6th. For the first time, it will be legal to park in the street and sleep overnight in a car. The ordinance was pitched as beneficial to the homeless population; legalizing something they’ve already been doing illegally. Certain streets will now be designated by the city as being okay for overnight parking, providing legal spaces for those living in their cars.

But when the map for the ordinance was published, it reflected only 10 percent of city streets being designated for car lodging. The map appears to have built-in inaccuracies as well.

From the Times:

Officials had said homeless people could park in commercial and industrial zones. But some commercial streets labeled available on the map have restrictions on oversized vehicles, tow-away signs or red curbs.

All other existing signage restrictions on parking will still be enforced, though these restrictions are not indicated on the map. The city has a $4,400,000-plus project underway to digitize all parking signage, but that won’t be ready for two years. In the meantime, the suggestion to the homeless seems to be, “Figure it out.”

The city’s balancing act will be a difficult one. Attempting to facilitate thousands of overnight parking spaces for the homeless within crowded city boundaries, and considering the very real safety, property, and sanitation concerns of private homeowners and businesses doesn’t leave much wiggle room. Incidents like the one cited below are inevitable:

Cassandra Weinman, a social media and marketing freelancer who lives near a big Venice encampment, said a homeless man punched her in the face and took her phone when she tried to report him urinating behind her apartment.

For homeless citizens of Los Angeles fortunate enough to have working cars, using them as mobile apartments is a practical and reasonable solution. But in a large city with a considerable homeless population, that solution creates big capacity problems. And those problems are already here, right now.

With slightly less than 10 percent of streets available for homeless parking, it seems more drastic long-term measures will be necessary.

[Image: Wikimedia Commons ( CC BY 2.0)]