Homeless move in to new safe parking lot

By Gary Warth

Oct. 24, 2017 6:50 AM PT

San Diego —

A third safe parking lot for the homeless is up and running.

“This place has been a Godsend for me,” a man who gave his name only as Raymond said about the new Dreams for Changing lot just off Aero Drive and west of Interstate 15.

The nonprofit has operated a parking program for homeless people since 2010, but has only been able to serve a fraction of the estimated 1,000 people who sleep in their cars throughout the county.

Dreams for Change CEO Teresa Smith said she usually has a waiting list of about 60 or 70 people for her organization’s two parking lots, and the third lot will significantly help reduce that number.

Last week, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced that Dreams for Change could use the Kearny Mesa parking lot, which the city owns and had been using to park emergency vehicles.

The 60-space lot brings the program’s total spaces to 150. The program also includes a 30-spot parking lot at a church on 28th Street in Golden Hill and 60 spots at Jewish Family Service of San Diego on Balboa Avenue.

Monday was a quiet night at the new Aero Drive lot. By 7:30 p.m., only two clients had shown up, including Raymond and a woman who said her name was Rachel Om.

Ohms said she’s been living in her car for two and half years, and Raymond since February.

“A lot has to do with somebody’s attitude,” Om said about her philosophy of making it on the street. “I’m looking at this experience as a spiritual awakening. Moses wandered in the desert 40 years. I hope it won’t be 40 years for Rachel.”

The parking lot at Jewish Family Service recently added 20 spots after MG Properties Group donated $50,000 to allow Dreams for Change to hire somebody who can help homeless people at the lot find housing.

On Monday night, two case workers set up a table in the Aero Drive lot to help clients who would be staying there.

“The case workers do a little bit of everything,” Smith said, explaining that the staff members help people get benefits and find work, among other things.

Smith said Dreams for Change had a waiting list of 73 on Monday morning, but she did not want to call everybody at once because it would overwhelm the case workers at the new site. Instead, about five or 10 are being called at a time to gradually fill the lot.

Smith also has invited a few people staying at the other two sites to move to the new site to help establish the culture there.

Raymond had been staying at the 28th Street lot since February, but wanted to move to the Aero Drive site because he has possessions in a storage facility nearby. Asked what tips he had for the new arrivals, he advised that people should be good to one another and follow the rules.

“You get to know other people,” he said about what life in the parking lot is like. “People are supportive, and it’s like a family.”

Raymond said he had a career in information technology, but developed stress-related health problem from working long hours and not taking care of himself. He has 11 doctors appointments in the near future, he said.

No longer able to work, he lost his job and had to move out of his apartment in February.

After a couple of weeks on the street, Raymond said a police officer knocked on his window to tell him it was illegal to sleep in his car, but he got off without a warning. He soon learned about Dreams for Change.

“Number one, it just gives you the peace of mind that a police officer isn’t gong to knock on the window, and it’s just safe here,” he said.

To learn more about the program and for information about how to volunteer or donate, visit DreamsForChange.org.

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