City council restores some funding for safe parking program

Salem city councilors voted Monday to partially fund a program giving homeless people safe places to sleep in vehicles which had been cut in earlier budget proposals.

Councilors voted 4-3 in favor of allocating $50,000 from a state sheltering grant toward the program in next year’s budget. It’s run by nonprofit Church at the Park.

Church at the Park served 171 people last year through the program. It gives people a safe place to sleep in their vehicles at eight local churches, and provides access to trash, and case management among other amenities, the organization’s founding pastor DJ Vincent said at the council meeting. 

The program also includes a day center at 2640 Portland Road N.E. which offers showers and other services, Vincent said. That costs about $55,000 per year to run.

Vincent said the program costs about $700 per month for insurance, trash services, portable toilets and security at the local churches where car campers stay. 

Vincent said the $50,000 will allow safe parking to operate through February. 

In the meantime, Church at the Park will seek out alternative funding from grants and elsewhere to help keep the safe parking program running long-term. 

Councilors Deanna Gwyn, Irvin Brown and Shane Matthews voted against restoring the funding while councilors Micki Varney, Linda Nishioka and Paul Tigan joined Mayor Julie Hoy in voting in favor. Councilor Vanessa Nordyke left the council room during the vote. She told Salem Reporter she was acting out of an abundance of caution to avoid a possible conflict of interest by not voting on any aspect of the city budget.

That’s because her family owns a piece of property covered within the city’s capital improvement plan. She said she supported allocating money to safe parking.

The city council with the exception of Nordyke then voted unanimously to advance the budget proposal with the additional funds. The council will then vote on adopting that budget on June 23. The new city budget would take effect on July 1. 

The funding for the safe parking program was restored following testimony from a man who successfully utilized its services. 

Patrick Geier told councilors the program was critical for getting him and his wife from being unhoused and living in a vehicle to now moving into a new apartment. 

“If it wasn’t for the safe parking program that we have here today, my wife wouldn’t be employed at Amazon, I wouldn’t be going back to school. We wouldn’t have a safe place to go. Any kind of resources,” Geier told councilors. “Because of them, we are moving on. Getting ready to move into a newer place, and getting into a better place. And if it wasn’t for programs like Church at the Park safe parking, none of this would have been possible.” 

Geier appealed on behalf of others who are in similar situations that he and his wife were in. He said stopping the program would prevent others from succeeding too. Geier’s testimony was met with applause.

The money councilors put toward the safe parking program was originally earmarked for the Salem Outreach and Livability Services Team, a parks and police team that cleans up encampments and does street outreach.

That program is fully funded in the upcoming year. The $50,000 comes out of money that would have been used in 2027. 

Salem Chief Financial Officer Josh Eggleston said the city has about $250,000 left in state sheltering grant funds. He said moving money to safe parking wouldn’t have immediate effects on the city outreach team.

“This will be a conversation for the budget committee and the city council over the next year,” Eggleston told Salem Reporter in an email. 

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.

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