Everybody Is Still Salty About the School Safe Parking Lot that Never Was

It’s been several months since plans for a proposed safe parking lot site for homeless families and children fell apart. 

Still, supporters of the project are not giving up.  

On Tuesday morning, community members, teachers and elected officials gathered in the shadow of the old Central Elementary campus, which San Diego Unified had offered up to the city of San Diego as a safe parking site for families with children. The supporters, including San Diego Unified trustee Richard Barrera and Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, had one goal: pressure Mayor Todd Gloria to allocate funding for a safe parking site in the upcoming city budget.  

“This issue of homelessness facing our families is as big an issue as we face in this city, and we know that the solution has to include partnership between local government agencies,” Barrera said. “So, we are here as a school district once again offering our property to the city … it’s time to actually move forward and get this done.”  

Behind him, some advocates held signs reading, “Mayor Gloria, Don’t Abandon Homeless Children.”The press conference was the latest attempt by community members and city and district leaders to revive the currently defunct project. Despite their push, it doesn’t seem like the city will bite.  

Background: Back in mid-2023, district officials offered the former Central Elementary campus to the city as a potential site for safe parking free of charge.  

Initially, leaders on both sides seemed optimistic. San Diego city officials touted the site as an option for expanded shelter during a Council meeting on the then-proposed camping ban in 2023. They then secured grant funding for the project from the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, but the funding only covered about one third of the $1 million estimated price tag for the project. According to city officials, that was the project’s death knell.  

In the following months, city leaders attempted to reallocate the funding meant for the Central Elementary site to another project without telling the district or other elected officials, Voice of San Diego revealed earlier this year. The Task Force, however, ultimately rescinded the funding because the proposed project would not match the 2024 spending deadline. By August, city officials notified some district leaders that the grant funding had been pulled back and the city was pulling out of the project. 

None of that stopped advocates – who included teachers, nonprofit worker, religious leaders and more associated with the Education Justice Coalition – from staging Tuesday’s press conference. 

The messaging at the event clearly didn’t sit well with Gloria. 

In a release sent out during the press conference, Gloria accused the advocates of mischaracterizing his position on homeless children. He pointed to the creation of more than 600 beds for homeless youth, women and families with children and a handful of safe parking sites as evidence of his commitment to helping homeless families, and homeless children, get access to a stable place to stay. 

“With 18 cities, the county government, and dozens of school districts in the region, only one entity has created multiple dedicated shelters for homeless youth and family – my city,” Gloria wrote in the press release. “Instead of criticizing the one entity that is actually working to address youth homelessness, I would encourage other local government entities to step up as the city of San Diego continues to do.” 

Gloria framed the course reversal on Central Elementary as a dollars and cents issue. Ultimately, his officials determined city money was better spent on other projects like the 190-spot safe parking site at H Barracks, which is set to run for five years, rather than filling the funding gap at the Central Elementary site, which city officials say can fit 30 parking spots and is only set to run for two years.  

Gloria spokesperson Rachel Laing wrote in an email to Voice that the school district could still open a safe parking lot – just without the city. 

“It should be obvious but still needs to be stated: If the school district is so committed to this concept, they are free to explore it with other partners,” Laing wrote in an email. “They can do what the City does – contract with a service provider to operate a Safe Parking lot (Jewish Family Service operates all of ours). We even offered to provide advice and guidance to the district on contract administration.”  

District officials have in the past said they do not possess the funding or expertise to go it alone on a safe parking site. And Barrera, who’s been a key player in some of the efforts to stand the safe parking site up, said during Tuesday’s event that while the district has its role to play, “the city has to take the lead in solving this problem.” 

“I think it’s counterproductive to be in this sort of defensive blame-game conversation. That’s certainly not where we intend to be. We’ve got a good project, a good project site that we continue to offer up, and we’re doing that in a sense of partnership with the city,” Barrera said. 

He also added that the district is open to approaching other funders should they be unsuccessful getting funding allocated in the budget. Unfortunately for district leaders, though, officials in the mayor’s office have indicated they’re not willing to bite on reviving the project. 

Councilmember Elo-Rivera, who has been one of the most forceful advocates for the opening of the safe parking site at Central Elementary, said during Tuesday’s event he would fight with “every fiber of his being,” to ensure that funding for the safe parking site makes it into the city budget. Elo-Rivera said he spoke with Gloria the night before the event and told the mayor the city had, “made a commitment and we need to do right by (the district).” He didn’t share what Gloria’s response had been. 

He’s sympathetic with Gloria’s recent messaging castigating elected leaders and government agencies he feels haven’t been pulling their weight on homelessness. It’s been frustrating to watch “quote-unquote leaders throughout San Diego County who are running from being a part of the solution,” Elo-Rivera said, but that frustration is partly why he feels it’s so important to make this project work. 

“San Diego Unified is trying really hard to partner with us and when we have partners who are willing to do that we need to meet them where they’re at and try our best to leverage the assets or resources that they’re offering,” Elo-Rivera said. 

He’s also still disappointed by how the grant process shook out last year. After all, it’s not like the rescinded grant funding for the Central Elementary project is being utilized on some other project in the city. 

“The grant money that we secured is now just sitting in an account somewhere,” Elo-Rivera said. 

He acknowledged that the city’s looming budget deficit made finding city money to spend on the safe parking site more difficult, but funding decisions are about elected officials expressing what things they prioritize. They find the money to fund the things that matter the most, Elo-Rivera said. 

“On my list of things I think the city should prioritize, homeless children are right at the top,” he said.  

Lisa Halverstadt contributed reporting.