A parking lot that will house homeless people living in their vehicles
San Jose's second safe parking site for homeless people living in their vehicles will open next month at 1300 Berryessa Road. It will accommodate up to 86 RVs. Photo by Joyce Chu.

A safe parking site for people living in their vehicles will open next month, and San Jose officials have chosen who will manage it.

The San Jose City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to award WeHope, a nonprofit homeless services provider, a $2.8 million contract to oversee the city’s second safe parking site on 1300 Berryessa Road. The site can accommodate up to 86 RVs and will give homeless residents a place to park without fear of being swept. Vehicles will not be required to have up to date registration or insurance to be admitted.

The money will be taken from the Homelessness Prevention System, which provides financial assistance to families facing eviction. A city memo shows no fiscal impact as property transfer tax funds will cover the reallocation.

WeHope will provide case management, classes, sanitation services and food at the site. There will also be 24/7 security.

CEO Pastor Paul Bains said he’s excited for the new opportunity.

“We started one of the first RV safe parking sites in Northern California. That was highly successful,” Bains told San José Spotlight. “So we have quite extensive experience in running safe vehicle parking (sites).”

WeHope operated a safe parking site in East Palo Alto for three years, which ended in 2023 because the nonprofit had achieved its goals of moving people into housing. WeHope helped place 61 households into housing over a two-year period, Bains said. In East Palo Alto, WeHope offered financial literacy and conflict resolution classes to help people move toward self-sufficiency. Case management was integral in assisting residents find permanent housing, he said.

Bains wants to continue implementing the same model and best practices learned from East Palo Alto at the Berryessa site.

“I think our track record speaks for itself, so we’re excited about this new contract,” Bains said.

WeHope runs three homeless shelters in the Bay Area: A 100-bed shelter in San Francisco, a 50-bed shelter in Half Moon Bay and a 73-bed shelter in East Palo Alto, which is being expanded to 113 beds. Last August, Sunnyvale contracted WeHope to provide shower and laundry services to homeless people. In San Jose, it already provides free showers and laundry services, as well as medical assessments and case management to people living in encampments.

“This site will provide a safe, secure place for our unhoused neighbors to park while connecting them with vital services to help transition into stable housing,” District 4 Councilmember David Cohen, whose district covers the safe parking site, told San José Spotlight. “It will also bring much-needed relief to residents dealing with the impacts of blight, reflecting our commitment to practical, compassionate solutions that support everyone in District 4.”

The Berryessa safe parking site is coming online next month as the city has begun temporarily banning RVs in designated areas.

The city has chosen 30 temporary tow-away zones to clear RVs for street sweeping and cleanup throughout this year. It will establish a new temporary tow-away zone every week.
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The Berryessa safe parking site will prioritize slots for RVs in a 1.5-mile radius around the site. The location sits across from the San Jose Flea Market, and nearby restrictions are set to begin next month along Las Plumas Avenue between Education Park Drive and Mabury Way, where roughly 35 RVs are parked. There are about 21 RVs parked along Mabury Road between East Taylor Street and Timothy Drive, where restrictions are set to begin the week of March 17.

Paul Peterson, a man living in his RV parked on Chynoweth Avenue, worries he’ll have to continue moving to avoid getting towed, as there will not be enough safe parking sites for the estimated 1,000 lived-in vehicles throughout the city.

“It’s like a cat and mouse, you know?” Peterson previously told San José Spotlight. “Now we’re gonna go … find (another) place to park.”

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or at @joyce_speaks on X. 

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