A Message From Nezzie on the Humboldt County “Safe Parking - Safe Shelter” Ordinance
to be discussed at the County Supervisor’s Meeting on June 7th, 2022.

Dear AHHA Community,

Please look at the proposed ordinance for Safe Parking and Safe Sheltering which would allow up to 10 pilot projects designed in three different plan styles ranging from overnight parking only, to a quasi-village environment with lots of resident and volunteer participation, to a full blown navigation center offering a variety of shelter types and required services.

Let your supervisors know that this is definitely a step in the right direction!

While true, the ordinance also establishes some significant hurdles to overcome, such as an 18 month maximum period for these pilots to operate before a mandatory end date. It is hard for providers and smaller non profits to vest themselves in creating the physical space due to associated costs and the efforts required to meet the ordinance standards. It is also hard for potential residents to truly vest themselves in a site that seems like it might be temporary. It is going to be tough to accomplish all the way around. We must do it anyway.

What would it mean if the county passed the ordinances for safe parking and safe sheltering?

If there is collaboration among significant players, including AHHA, to create some alternative spaces for people according to the management plans and the flexibility that we hope the providers have with implementing them, people could very possibly get a place to be out of the fray, gather their lives up, their wits, their paperwork, and their sanity and dignity.

With the Safe Parking-Safe Shelter ordinance , we can facilitate options that those without a roof haven't even been able to entertain. Options that are productive and engaging. Working together could create access to some very important things that we all need. Working with other service providers and advocates we could all be getting in the queue for more permanent housing alternatives.

No matter which towns these pilots are happening in, please get to know your neighbors and participate in effective ways by being good community members. Let’s invite those who have really been pushed to the margins to become part of the mainstream, if they so choose. This ordinance will hopefully develop bridges that would make safe, warm, and dry housing alternatives possible.

AHHA will continue to work on transitional housing like the tiny house villages and the continuum of affordable cooperative housing development envisioned.  Please call or write to all your supervisors and encourage them to approve the ordinances on the Shelter Crisis and Safe Parking - Safe Shelter ordinance at the June 7th Board meeting.

Thank you tor continuing to support AHHA’s efforts to bring on safe, warm, dry spaces with our unhoused neighbors.

Nezzie
for AHHA

County Safe Parking - Safe Shelter Web Site: https://humboldtgov.org/3200/SAFE-PARKING-SAFE-SHELTER-PILOT-PROGRAM#:~:text=Humboldt%20County%20Planning%20proposes%20adding,on%20public%20or%20private%20land.

Humboldt County Planning Commission Video discussing Safe Parking - Safe Shelter Ordinance: https://youtu.be/eU_dot1vIew