by On Thursday morning, San Diego County launched a new overnight safe parking location in Grantville.
The lot will start providing services to the neighborhood right once. The facility is open to users as early as 5:30 p.m. and requires them to depart by 7:30 a.m. the next day.
Twenty families and homeless people will be able to park their cars at the location. The county owns the parking lot, and construction is anticipated to begin in late 2026 on 300 affordable housing units.
This aids individuals in moving past that and into a secure environment where they can develop their lives and their families. Additionally, it’s a wise move because, according to San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo, there’s no reason why this parking lot should stay empty while we wait a few years for about 300 residences for seniors to come online.
The lot will offer more than simply a secure place to sleep until construction is ready.The parking lot will be run by Dreams for Change, a group that provides affordable programming for homeless people. The group will link people to job and health resources and assist them in locating more stable housing options. There will be a continental breakfast, dinner, and restrooms provided.
The property is expected to fill up in a few days, according to Teresa Smith, Dreams for Change’s CEO.
Raul Campillo, a member of the San Diego City Council, County Supervisor Joel Anderson, United States Representative Sara Jacobs, and Dijana Beck, head of the county’s Office of Homeless Solutions, joined Dreams for Change Thursday morning to reveal the location. Both the Jacobs and Campillo districts have parking lots.
Case managers, daily meals, and restrooms are all available here. According to Jacobs, people can find safety, stability, dignity, and hope here.
The Grantville parking lot is only one component of a larger county-wide initiative to increase the number of emergency housing choices available to homeless individuals. According to Beck, the county has opened comparable locations in Spring Valley and El Cajon, serving over 260 people to date.
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According to Anderson, about 52% of the residents of the safe parking lots in El Cajon and Spring Valley have moved into permanent residences.
However, the county has other programs besides the overnight safe parking lot. Additionally, the county has a program that provides emergency lodging in hotels and motels. According to Beck, over 40% of participants in the program have moved into permanent housing.
Everybody’s path to homelessness is unique, and their exit from homelessness is also unique. Therefore, it is crucial that we have a variety of options, according to input from our community, which includes those who have lived through it, Beck stated.
