The city is considering adding commercial lots to the program, which provides safe parking and amenities for people living in cars.
The Palo Alto city council voted to make its Congregation-Based Safe Parking Program permanent, reports Lauren Martinez for ABC 7. The program lets people living in their cars park in designated church parking lots overnight and access restrooms and other services. “The city said this year, 34 individuals were connected to housing from these sites.”
According to a city survey, 88 percent of unhoused people in Palo Alto were sleeping in vehicles in January 2023. The new rules allow the churches to let more cars use their space and increase available safe parking space for RVs in a separate lot.
Read the full story: Palo Alto makes safe parking program at churches permanent to help unhoused population
Oakland Mayor, City Council Offer ‘Radically Different’ Plans for Reducing Homelessness
Mayor Barbara Lee wants to reduce encampment sweeps and focus on improving sanitation while city council members want to increase enforcement, particularly against illegally parked RVs.
Michigan Capital's $640K ‘Pod’ Homes for Homeless Residents not Approved for Winter Use
Lansing officials approved a plan to purchase 50 modular micro-housing units as emergency shelter for the city’s unhoused residents.
San Francisco Mayor Backtracks on Homelessness Goal
Mayor Dan Lurie ran on a promise to build 1,500 additional shelter beds in the city, complete with supportive services. Now, his office says they are “shifting strategy” to focus on prevention and mental health treatment.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
Satanic Place Names
From streams and lakes to valleys and canyons, I mapped more than 1,000 places named after the Devil.
California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO resigns after $600,000 scandal
Under Ian Choudri, the authority used taxpayer dollars to fund first class flights and trips to nightclubs.
Want to study the Missouri River? Soon, you may need unanimous approval from 10 states
Legislation would require 10 governors’ permission to study or build projects moving water outside the basin.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority