The Deschutes County Commission allocated $200,000 in American Rescue Plan Act Funding to Mountain View Community Development’s Redmond Safe Parking Program, which helps those living out of their cars gain access to homelessness services and gives them a legal place to park their vehicles.

In a unanimous vote Wednesday morning, the commission approved $50,000 less than what Mountain View Community Development requested from the county. But Rick Russell, Mountain View’s executive director, said $200,000 should be enough to keep the program going until the 2025 funding cycle.

“We’re still very grateful,” he said. “The county has been a solid supporter of the program, and it will really help extend our runway for funding. I think we can get through 2024 and then we’re going to go to bat with some of the other funding sources to see if we can extend that into 2025.”

During his request at the commission meeting Wednesday, Russell explained that Mountain View requested funds from the county because of an unexpected shortfall in its budget. Although the organization has been working hard on the state level to expand the definition of what qualifies as a homelessness shelter to include safe parking areas, narrow definitions used in the Legislature precluded Mountain View from accessing previously anticipated funding.

“It is frustrating to us that we often fall in the cracks of these narrow definitions of what’s shelter or what’s homelessness or what’s outreach. The county has shown great flexibility. Now we hope to see if we can find that kind of flexibility at the state level,” Russell told The Bulletin.

Safe Parking served 96 people in 2023

To put the Redmond safe parking program’s impact in perspective, Russell told the commission that in 2023, Mountain View served 96 people. Eighteen of those residents moved into permanent housing, 12 to “another positive destination,” and 50 remained in place. Only 14 people were either evicted or left the program voluntarily. Commissioners acknowledged those positive figures, stating they felt strongly that the safe parking program helped decrease homelessness throughout Deschutes County.

“The Point-in-Time counts showed that the city of Redmond and the city of Bend and the surrounding areas are the only places in all of Central Oregon where homelessness leveled off and declined in the last year after 15 years of steady increases,” said Commissioner Phil Chang. “I have no doubt that the safe parking program was a key piece of that success.”

However, Chang and the other commissioners had concerns about the limited nature of the county’s American Rescue Act Plan Funding because there is only $2 million left. Specifically, Chang alluded to the county’s need to repurpose a property owned by the county after vocal community opposition led to a cancellation of the Wilson Avenue parolee housing project.

But the commissioners could not deny the importance of the Redmond Safe Parking Program, especially after hearing testimony from former resident Colton Hill. Two years ago, when Hill moved into the program, he was struggling with homelessness and addiction. The stability he saw at the safe parking site gave him the time to work on turning his life around, Hill told the commissioners. “The program really saved my life and gave me the time to work on myself, get clean and realize what I want to do is show people that are homeless and have addiction that there is a way out,” Hill said. “Safe parking is a crucial role to that problem.”

Police find safe parking program reducing calls

Redmond Police Capt. Aaron Wells also spoke to the benefit of the safe parking program during the commission meeting. From a police perspective, he said the program has benefited the community by reducing the number of calls to homeless encampments and discouraging illegal activity in those areas. It also allows police to more safely direct people away from private property to a space where resources are available.

“If we were to lose this service, 50 people — 35 individuals and 15 children — will live out in the street again,” Wells said. “Trying to get out (to more remote areas) to provide services is not easy, nor is it cost effective. In this instance, this program is going to help us do a fantastic job of managing those areas.”

With the $200,000 provided by Deschutes County, the Redmond Safe Parking Program will continue providing residents access to services, including sanitation and case workers, in the same way Mountain View Community Development has since 2021.

For more information on how to apply to the program, visit Mountain View Community Development’s website, www.mvcdredmond.org.

More Coverage

More Coverage

The hardest part of homelessness? Hopelessness.