FREMONT — Some Fremont residents are pushing back against a “safe parking” pilot program that allows people living in their cars to park overnight in church parking lots, saying they are worried crime will increase in their neighborhood and encampments might spring up if the program goes forward.
“Let them know that this is our neighborhood and we don’t want a homeless parking program,” read a flier that someone distributed on mailboxes around the Parkmont neighborhood this week.
Christ the King Lutheran Church in Parkmont is planning to host a safe parking program for one month, possibly in May or June. The flier, as well as some residents who posted photos of it on the social media site Nextdoor, have been encouraging residents to oppose the plans.
However, city officials, advocates for homeless people and a pastor whose church previously hosted the nascent program in south Fremont say it offers critical stability to those participating — often the working poor — and has virtually no effects on people living nearby.
The Fremont City Council last year approved an ordinance that allows any faith-based organization to volunteer to host a permitted safe parking program for one month at a time.
Four churches have signed up for the pilot, according to city and church officials, and the program’s second month is being hosted at Niles Discovery Church.
“Our experience was very positive, our guests were very respectful, we had no issues with them being here,” said the Rev. Tammy Long, lead pastor at South Bay Community Church in the city’s Warm Springs district, which was the first to host the program in February.
Long said only a handful of people took advantage of the safe parking at her church. In addition to allowing parking there, church members pulled together gift cards for meals and blankets and warm clothing for the people in the program.
The city provided portable bathrooms and hand-washing facilities, and volunteers through a nonprofit contractor, Compassion Network, who helped check people in and out.
“This is a challenge in the city of Fremont, and we’re just trying to find the best ways to support people in need and keep people safe,” Long said.
While Long said she didn’t hear any complaints from the neighborhood around her church, residents around the Parkmont neighborhood, such as Narda Mamou, say they are alarmed about the program coming to a church near their homes.
“When the word gets around that there’s a place that people can go, other people will follow. This is a residential area. What’s going to stop people from pitching tents in the parking lot?” Mamou said in an interview.
“Where are they going to go when they ask them to leave in the morning? There are several schools in the area,” she said. “I don’t want to have to worry about who is walking in my neighborhood.”
One Nextdoor commenter wrote, “This is completely unacceptable and cannot be supported. My sympathies are with the homeless, but safety issues, crime statistics and drug use can not be ignored.”
Christ the King’s lead pastor, the Rev. Tia Pelz, said she has seen the opposition online, and has also received emails from people worried about the program. About four dozen people showed up at the church Tuesday evening, many hoping to voice opposition to the program during a church council meeting, which was being held online.
“My first thought is it’s a very typical ‘not in my backyard’ reaction. And while it’s unfortunate, it’s not very surprising,” she said of the response from some neighbors.
Pelz said the church is planning to host a community meeting to answer questions about the program. She said she understands worries about safety, and has spoken with other churches in the South Bay who have hosted similar programs with no problems.
City spokesperson Geneva Bosques said the city has ground rules, including a ban on anything being set up outside of cars, such as tents or stoves, and each person taking part must enroll in advance through the city’s human services department, where they are screened.
The flier circulated in the neighborhood includes assertions that crime has increased in places where similar programs have been run, which Bosques said is not true.
“It’s unfortunate that they’re spreading misinformation saying that crime has gone up because that’s just not the case. They’re essentially creating a false narrative and creating a false panic,” she said.
Those using the safe parking program are also connected to a case manager to help them find other services and possibly permanent housing, according to Suzanne Shenfil, the city’s human services director.
“Quite candidly, I think just about every neighborhood has homeless people in it, whether you see them or not,” Shenfil said.
“So when they say we don’t want homeless people in our neighborhood, chances are they have them already, and it’s better they be in a place where they’re welcomed and treated well.”
Marie Hughes, a resident and leader in the group Fremont for Everyone that advocates for affordable and inclusive housing, said the safe parking pushback is following the same pattern seen whenever an initiative for aiding homeless people comes up in Fremont.
She referenced the months-long debate over where to place the city’s homeless navigation center, when many residents had said the center would attract encampments and more crime, which has not happened, city officials said.
Hughes said she also was “pleasantly surprised” to see many people supporting the program on Nextdoor.
Pelz said the church has a long history of helping people in need, and hosting the parking program is an effective way to continue those efforts and help the broader community, too.
“As a pastor, this program is something that really aligns with our mission, helping the poor. We need to do what Jesus did, and Jesus totally aligned himself with the poor and the marginalized,” Pelz said.
“I don’t think public opinion should stop us from doing the right thing when we’re sure it’s the right thing.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com