So many Californians are just one missed paycheck away from being homeless. I know | Opinion
Twice in my life I have been unhoused. During my undergraduate and graduate years at the University of Southern California, while on a full-ride academic scholarship, I “couch surfed” — which, I recently discovered, means I was homeless. Just like many Cal Poly students I now work with, I was financially independent of my parents, and my academic scholarship covered my tuition but not my living expenses. I worked during the school year and then worked two jobs during summers, but it was never enough for my living expenses, even in the ’80s.
Shortly after I moved to North Carolina and got a job, I had to leave my violent ex-husband. A colleague referred me to a United Methodist Pastor who offered a minister’s cabin as a housing option. It was temporary shelter, and my daughter and I lived there for several month so I could save enough to find a rental. It was a stop on my path — a Safe Parking spot — until I could access permanent housing.
Opinion
Right now, when I take my daily walks in my Flora Street neighborhood, I feel as if I’m a character in a ’50s movie, waving hello to neighbors, spotting the quail families and the occasional rattlesnake. It is challenging for me to walk by Safe Parking sites and reflect on my own wealth, privilege and the sheer luck I’ve had in life. Maybe that’s the real fear of this program and the source of the misinformation about the program being circulated by some people: That it’s easier to not see our racism, classism and our sheer luck and, instead, just repeat myths that surround homelessness.
It’s much easier to vilify those who have less than me and blame city staff and elected officials for the homelessness problem and their “government solutions.” Accepting and addressing the pain and suffering of others while embracing the unpredictability and uncertainty of our own lives, especially after a global pandemic, is difficult.
It might surprise many San Luis Obispo residents to really see the faces of the individuals and families that use Safe Parking sites; they skew older and look like our neighbors. The reality is that a monthly subsidy of $300 would have kept many housed. According to a 2023 UC San Francisco comprehensive housing study, losing income is the number one reason people end up homeless in California.
In the six months prior to becoming homeless, Californians surveyed in the study were making a median income of just $960 a month. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in California is nearly three times that, according to Zillow. And though survey participants listed myriad reasons why they lost their homes, more people cited a loss of, or reduction in, income than anything else.
Until we provide affordable housing commensurate with minimum wages, strong tenant protections and universal access to counsel, we must use programs like the Safe Parking Program to address this crisis.
I want to ensure Safe Parking is a tool we use here in San Luis Obispo, and I will work to ensure it happens. I hope you will, too.
“We are all responsible to one another for our very lives, and we must take care of each other as a result,” said Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg.
I live three blocks from the Nazarene Church Safe Parking site and I’m so glad that we can welcome people into our neighborhood. When I was unhoused and in a difficult spot, it was the kindness of a pastor and neighbors who didn’t know me that changed my and my daughter’s lives.
Dona Hare Price is a local Jewish activist with Bend the Arc and a Facilitator of Dismantling Racism From the Inside Out.
