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Participating Congregations and Organizations
  • American Muslim Voice
  • Bahá'í Community of Palo Alto
  • Beyt Tikkun Synagogue
  • First Congregational Church (United Church of Christ) Palo Alto
  • First Evangelical Lutheran Church Palo Alto
  • First Presbyterian Church Palo Alto
  • First United Methodist Church Palo Alto
  • Mountain View Buddhist Temple
  • Palo Alto Buddhist Temple
  • Palo Alto Friends Meeting
  • St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Palo Alto
  • St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Palo Alto (Catholic)
  • Social Action Committee of the Redwood City Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship
  • Trinity Church in Menlo Park (Episcopal)
  • Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto
  • Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Los Gatos
  • West Bay Chapter, Buddhist Peace Fellowship

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Let's Support Stable Housing for our Community!

The Palo Alto City Council has established a Safe Parking Program (SPP) to assist individuals who are unhoused and sleeping in their cars on city streets with a safe place to spend the night and support for finding permanent housing. Safe Parking provides a safe place to sleep for individuals living in their cars and helps connect them to more permanent housing options.  The Safe Parking Program is set up in a way to protect the safety of all nearby residents while at the same time respecting the privacy and dignity of the people it will help.  Through SPP local congregations can provide safe parking for individuals who have been sleeping in their cars on city streets.  

The First Congregational Church of Palo Alto (FCCPA) has submitted an application to the City which has been approved by City Staff and is on the Consent Agenda for the Council’s August 22nd meeting. However, a neighbor of the church, acting on behalf of a group of Palo Alto residents has filed an appeal, objecting to FCCPA’s plans for SPP because they feel the program will jeopardize community safety.   Two other Palo Alto congregations (The Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto and the Highway Church) are currently participating in SPP.  Neither program has received complaints from neighbors or community members nor have there been any incidents jeopardizing community safety.

Please consider writing to the Palo Alto City Council to support FCCPA's Safe Parking Program application.

See below for more information about the application process, as well as contact information for City Council Members.

Background Information:

The Palo Alto City Council has established a Safe Parking Program (SPP) to assist individuals who are unhoused and sleeping in their cars on city streets with a safe place to spend the night and support for finding permanent housing.  Local faith communities can apply to participate in SPP by receiving approval from the City Council to provide up to four parking spaces in church parking lots between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. and to partner with a local non-profit to provide case management for SPP participants as they work together to secure permanent housing.

The First Congregational Church of Palo Alto (FCCPA)  has submitted an application to the City which has been approved by City Staff and is on the Consent Agenda for the Council’s August 22nd meeting.  However, a neighbor acting on behalf of a group of Palo Alto residents has filed an appeal, objecting to FCCPA’s plans for SPP because they feel the program will jeopardize community safety.   Two other Palo Alto churches (The Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto and the Highway Church) are currently participating in SPP.  Neither program has received complaints from neighbors or community members nor have there been any incidents jeopardizing community safety.

FCCPA’s application is in full compliance with regulations established by the City of Palo Alto.  FCCPA has partnered with Move Mountain View, a non-profit specializing in assisting the unhoused find safe places to stay and, ultimately, permanent housing.  SPP participants must:

  • Have a car, driver’s license, valid automobile registration, & insurance
  • Agree to work with a case manager to secure permanent housing
  • Check in weekly with the case manager
  • Consent to personal and car identification information being shared with the Palo Alto Police Department
  • Be prepared for a security guard to randomly check on them throughout the night
If you’d like more information about FCCPA's Safe Parking Application, you can find it as part of the agenda for the August 22nd Council meeting starting on p. 134. Click here to download a copy.
 

Palo Alto City Council Contact Information

Mayor Pat Burt              Pat.Burt@cityofpaloalto.org                  (650) 892-0925

Vice Mayor Lydia Kou    Lydia.Kou@cityofpaloalto.org                (650) 308-9893

Alison Cormack              Alison.Cormack@cityofpaloalto.org       (650) 329-2480

Tom DuBois                  Tom.DuBois@cityofpaloalto.org            (415) 377-8455

Eric Filseth                    Eric.Filseth@cityofpaloalto.org              (650) 329-2162

Greer Stone                  Greer.Stone@cityofpaloalto.org            (650) 575-0405

Greg Tanaka                 Greg.Tanaka@cityofpaloalto.org           (415) 968-9436
 

 



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