Venezia: Should homeless people be allowed to sleep in their cars?

A new bill being proposed in Sacramento “prohibits local governments from penalizing, by impoundment or other method, the act of sleeping in a lawfully parked motor vehicle.”

Assembly Bill 718 basically paves the way for the homeless living in cars or other vehicles to park on city streets for an undetermined amount of time.

More importantly, critics say it could tie the hands of local governments and law enforcement.

In Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, you can’t park a vehicle on the street for more than 72 hours.

Parking in some neighborhoods is sparse to begin with. Having someone living in a car indefinitely raises health and safety concerns.

So how do you balance the needs of the homeless living in vehicles with taxpayers who don’t want their streets turned into campgrounds?

Costa Mesa residents have already raised concerns with their council members about the rising rate of property crimes in neighborhoods. Would passage of this bill add to these numbers?

And what about sanitary conditions for those living in vehicles?

I called state Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) to talk about the local impact.

Moorlach reviewed AB718, which recently came before the Governance and Finance Committee, on which he sits.

As a former Orange County supervisor, Moorlach is sensitive to the homelessness issue. He participated in the annual county homeless count and told me there were times, while walking the streets at 5 a.m., that he’d see people sleeping in their cars with makeshift coverings on the windows.

Moorlach said “we were not permitted to knock on car windows” to see how many people were in those cars. For that reason, he feels the county’s homeless count was understated.

As a longtime Costa Mesa resident, Moorlach has also seen city leaders grapple with ongoing homelessness.

Opposed to AB 718 in its current form, Moorlach offered modifications that he hopes will be considered when the bill comes back to his committee this week.

He said there should be places where the homeless can park and not be bothered — like city-owned lots, the Orange County fairgrounds and government building parking lots after working hours.

Moorlach explained that these areas have lighting and security that would offer those parking overnight some level of safety and confidence that no one would shoo them away.

Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff, who serves on the county’s Commission to End Homelessness, thinks Moorlach’s ideas make sense.

And he would not be opposed to bringing the concept to Newport council members, provided there were time restrictions on parking in the city lots.

During a recent count, the commission counted 45 cars with people living in them in a five-block area around a Walmart in Aliso Viejo.

In talking to some of these folks, Kiff said, he found out that they moved around and didn’t opt for parking on residential streets, preferring more-commercial areas at night.

He said the commission works to get the homeless into “rapid rehousing” and provide them with social services.

Moorlach has a larger issue with AB 718, saying he’s “frustrated with Sacramento dictating to local municipalities.”

Costa Mesa Mayor Steve Mensinger agrees.

“Once again Sacramento, which operates in a vacuum, is dictating how local governments address issues that affect our communities,” Mensinger told me.

Mensinger and I talked about how Costa Mesa has been proactive with its homeless task force. He tells me social workers have helped folks with jobs, housing and counseling, but there isn’t a magic bullet.

Mensinger said, “We have restated our interest in dealing with these issues individually and addressing safety concerns associated with the homeless sleeping in their cars to Sen. Moorlach.”

Moorlach suggested I read the bill analysis from his committee meeting, which I did.

Advocates of the bill say it doesn’t limit local municipalities’ parking restrictions and thus does not tie their hands entirely.

But would it leave city leaders no other options than banning overnight parking on residential streets or allowing parking only by permit?

That would be a huge inconvenience to residents.

“We don’t need more laws passed by bureaucrats in Sacramento who want to institutionalize homelessness,” Mensinger said.

He plans on bringing the issue to the City Council in the hopes that its members will all get on the same page and send a letter to Sacramento voicing their concerns.

Kiff personally likes Moorlach’s idea of using city parking lots after hours, but ultimately it would be up to Newport’s council, though he too isn’t a fan of Sacramento intervention.

“There needs to be a balance,” he said. “Every city needs to take some big steps to solve our homelessness problem.”

BARBARA VENEZIA lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at [email protected].