Grand jury report showcased problems at safe parking site. Will SLO County change approach?

Responding to a grand jury report on living conditions on the Oklahoma Avenue safe parking site, San Luis Obispo County’s Administrative Office largely denied changes recommended by jurors — saying they would undermine efforts to house residents.

In its report, released June 12, the grand jury said San Luis Obispo County’s first large-scale safe parking site was launched in August 2022 with “minimal thought or planning” and “operated largely in a reactive mode,” which caused a host of problems down the line.

Those problems included security problems, fire risks and illegal drug use among homeless residents, the grand jury found.

Of the 117 households that were participating in the program as of the end of November 2022, the report said, only 17 saw a “positive exit” to permanent housing, or around one household per month of operations.

The grand jury report — titled “SAFE PARKING? OKLAHOMA is not OK!” — required the county Administrative Office’s response to three recommendations.

By Sept. 1, 2023, county administration must establish a policy to “require a fully executable plan for opening or closing of any future safe parking sites” and establish a date to close the Oklahoma Avenue safe parking site, the report said.

County administration must also conduct operational reviews at least quarterly to assess the needs of the safe parking program and determine changes that might be required, the grand jury said.

On Tuesday, SLO County Administrative Officer John Nilon published the Administrative Office’s response to these recommendations.

In a memo detailing that response, Nilon said the county has not yet implemented a fully executable plan for opening or closing future safe parking sites, but will do so before it opens or closes sites.

Nilon also said the county Administrative Office will not implement the grand jury’s recommendation to conduct quarterly operational reviews because “it is not warranted or is not reasonable” and “duplicates existing effort.”

In the memo, Nilon said the recommendation to establish a closing date for the safe parking site “requires further analysis.”

San Luis Obispo County Homeless Services Division manager Joe Dzvonik provided an update on plans to close the Oklahoma Avenue site at a San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors meeting on May 2.

Nilon said that update signaled that the county intends to implement case conferencing onsite.

Multiple service providers will look at each Oklahoma Avenue parking site participant’s case and determine which agency may be best suited to manage the participant, he said.

No new participants have been allowed onsite since March 1, and no participants have been asked to leave until all efforts have been made to place them into a housing solution, he said.

As it stands, the “drawdown for closure” plan is in progress, Nilon said, adding that a “full-time security presence” and services including a food pantry, showers and toilets will be available onsite “until closure occurs.”

“While efforts are in place to expeditiously close the site, setting an arbitrary date may jeopardize (those) efforts,” Nilon said in the memo.