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As part of its long-term vision to stem the tide of homelessness, the city of Mountain View is planning to convert two of its safe parking lots into affordable housing.
The two projects – being developed by Alta Housing at 1020 Terra Bella Ave. and Affirmed Housing at 87 E. Evelyn Ave. – will create more than 300 units of affordable housing for low-income residents. But for some of the city’s most vulnerable residents, the closure of the safe parking lots is cause for concern.
Many vehicle residents are worried about what will happen to them once the lots close, said David Arnone, an advocate for the unhoused who delivers meals at the safe parking sites every week.
What began as a novel pilot program at a few local churches in 2018 has since expanded to a systemic network of safe parking sites. Operating in partnership with the county and non-profit providers, the lots can accommodate up to 114 oversized and passenger vehicles.
In June, the city opened up more spaces at its largest safe parking site, the Shoreline Lot on Crittenden Lane, which now has capacity for 46 oversized vehicles. The city also plans to extend the lot’s parking area to accommodate 23 commuter vehicles, according to a recent council report.
In total, the safe sites serve about 150 to 160 people each month, which the city expects will increase to 175 with the expansion of the Shoreline Lot. These developments put Mountain View on the map for being the largest safe parking provider in the county. But this might not be the case for long.
The Terra Bella and Evelyn lots offer about 45% of the city’s safe parking spaces, with 39 spaces designated for RVs and 21 for cars. They offer residents a place to park their homes and provide basic amenities like restrooms, water and wash stations, as well as case management services.
The lots were not intended as a permanent solution to addressing homelessness, however. They were set up as a temporary measure, meant to help residents move on to more stable housing. “This has been part of our analysis and planning processes all along,” said Deputy City Manager Kimberly Thomas.
Offering some reprieve for RV dwellers, the use of the Terra Bella lot has been extended until the end of 2024, and the city is looking to add more safe parking sites in the interim. “We have some potential opportunity for a lot that is actually owned by Alta Housing. But that is still under review, and it would have to go through a number of review and analysis components to make sure about suitability,” Thomas said.
Carlos Castellanos, vice president of real estate development at Alta Housing, confirmed the possibility of a new site for safe parking participants but did not disclose the details. He also said the Terra Bella project likely will be completed in 2026.
This puts it on a contiguous timeline with the Evelyn lot, where construction is expected to begin in 2026. Similar to Terra Bella, the city is looking to relocate the Evelyn residents to other safe parking sites. “We will ensure that they are potentially offered alternate locations if we have them, as well as capacity at our existing pipeline, which would be locations like Shoreline,” Thomas said.
But this might be a difficult task, as the Evelyn lot is substantially larger than Terra Bella. It accommodates 30 oversized vehicles and 21 passenger vehicles. Finding space for all of them will not be easy.
Acknowledging some of these issues, Housing Director Wayne Chen raised the possibility of interim housing. While typically focused on tenants in rent-stabilized units, a similar concept could be used for safe parking participants, he said.
As another option, the city is participating in a regional portal system that lists housing opportunities in neighboring cities. It’s kind of a “one-stop shop” that can help residents find housing in places that aren’t far-flung, Chen said.
Once the affordable housing is built, it could potentially accommodate safe parking participants. Affirmed Housing proposed preferential tenant occupancy for vehicle residents, specifically those who stayed at Evelyn prior to construction, when it submitted its bid to develop the site. The issue is that this could violate federal and state fair housing laws.
But the legal landscape is changing. Last year, the state senate passed a bill, SB 649, that allows local governments and developers to enact tenant preferences for lower-income households at risk of displacement and still receive state housing funds.
“So, we have to turn to that analysis to see whether that could be something that we do in the city, and whether that could be applied here to safe parking participants,” Chen said.
“And that’s the dynamic environment that we’re in, where we’re charting some new territory and new laws that are coming down from the state,” he added.
Who’s going to pay for this?
Neither paying property tax or renting an apartment with a landlord paying property tax. How is this good for Mountain View?
This may be a pessimistic viewpoint, but I do not think it is practical for the City to designate safe parking lots for RVs as a long term solution. Land in Mountain View is simply too valuable, and designated parking lots will eventually be redeveloped to meet housing targets. I think the best (least bad) solution is what is happening now; RVs distribute themselves along commercial/industrial roads around the city. Since Mt View began enforcing RV parking regulations in late 2022, we have typically had 5-10 RVs and/or work trucks park along the street where our office is located. As long as they do not take over the entire street, IMO this is better and safer than having them park in residential areas. If what I am describing is the de facto solution, I suggest the City be mindful of the following issues: 1 – Large RVs sometimes park immediately adjacent to office park ingress/egress driveways, creating a visibility hazard for drivers leaving the parking lot (when this happens, we typically leave notes on their windows asking them to move). 2 – Dumping of work materials or other items on the sidewalk.
“Acknowledging some of these issues, Housing Director Wayne Chen raised the possibility of interim housing.”
What now? If there is any interim housing capacity available for this, why isn’t it already being occupied? Or are existing people going to be kicked out?
Time to start building on the Cuesta Annex. Saving it for no reason. Everything else has been built on. It’s needed now. Everyone that wants to keep just wants a place for their dogs to take a dump. You have all of Cuesta park for that. It’s time. Why does everything have to get flipped upside down North of El Camino and nothing at the top of town. Same goes for Cooper Park. It’s the school districts land. They wanted to build housing for teachers and the NIMBY residents said NO. Cuesta Annex belongs to the City. Why does everyone think they can tell other people what to do with their own land?
@Ron. Thank you for bringing us up-to-date in what it’s like out-in-the-commercial /industrial zones where RV living happens. I almost wrote “has moved” but I have seen apparently occupied RV out in our industrial areas – as long as I have seen such nomadic living on El Camino Real in Palo Alto next to Stanford’s fields.
With the 1000+ units coming online this year. When are these people being transitioned to a more permanent solution? Especially since Google laid of 1300 workers in the city. And so many others have let go more. The facts are in Zillow I noticed the majority of homes for sale are getting price cuts, and not selling. There is in fact a major change occurring here, and it doesn’t look good.
other Steve in Cuesta Park / yup, the Annex is just ripe for minimalist rework as a temporary housing/RV site. The strip along the far Eastern boundary next to the parking lot is furthest from the Western boundary single family housing, and abuts the developed park. The Annex even has a driveway access on that Eastern side because of its history as a bought-out condo development! The RV facility process is not That complicated / particularly with all the new laws and maybe a Council Emergency Declaration on Housing (or – we Got That Already?)
YIMBY. This will be diagonally-adjacent to the census block that I live on (though not across the street).
Put in a sewer connect system, a water supply (on coin meter) and electric supply (on credit meters) and we have a credible upgrade replacement. There used-to-be such an RV park down in the North Whisman area near 101. It was replaced by market-rate townhouses.
Your “Viewpoint” depends on where you live, what housing you own, and what was under your home – before IT was developed. 🙂
peace and love and take Care of your Poor