Encinitas enacts tougher rules on homelessness as ‘safe parking’ program ends

Encinitas leaders adopted tougher rules aimed at homelessness just as another shelter option for unhoused people comes to a close. 

On Wednesday, the City Council voted unanimously to expand its ban on camping in public, which aims to prevent homeless encampments and deter people from living in their vehicles. It is set to be adopted on Jan. 21, and will go into effect 30 days after. 

Additionally, unhoused people will no longer be able to sleep in their cars at a designated, secure city parking lot after the City Council declined to fund the program for a full year. In response to the city’s action last month, the nonprofit provider said it would be forced to end the program at year’s end. 

The decisions impacting unhoused residents came in a series of meetings last and this month. In the other votes, the City Council approved a contract with the nonprofit San Diego Rescue Mission to extend outreach aimed at connecting unhoused people with services.  

The safe parking program in Encinitas, run by the nonprofit Jewish Family Service, was founded in 2020 and has allowed people experiencing homelessness to sleep in their cars in a secure parking lot at the city’s Community and Senior Center. It had 25 spots per night. The program has also provided resources to help people transition back into permanent housing. 

With its contract with the Regional Task Force on Homelessness ending this month, Jewish Family Service asked Encinitas for a $610,000 contract to share the funding to continue operating the program for another year. The City Council rejected that request, instead offering $150,000 to extend the program for six months. 

Councilmembers said they were shocked by the request given that in prior years Encinitas has not provided any funding to the program. They questioned the clarity around the program’s data, noting that only a quarter of the people served during the program’s existence – 78 of 306 total – were from Encinitas.  This past year, the program served 49 people total.

Councilmembers said money would be better spent on other programming. 

“They’ve failed us,” Councilmember Luke Shaffer said of Jewish Family Service. “They’ve negotiated themselves out of the deal by basically pinning it on us. It’s pretty sad that they’re trying to use the heart strings on us and put it on us, when in fact you’re the ones who failed the citizens that need this service.” 

Jewish Family Service CEO Dana Toppel said in an email to inewsource that she appreciated the city’s offer of a six-month extension, but that wouldn’t be enough to fund the program, so the nonprofit will end the program Dec. 31. As city staff worked with the nonprofit to extend the program, Jewish Family Service had begun winding down the program and referring clients elsewhere. 

“At this time, this offer does not make the program sustainable, and JFS is unable to continue the program,” Toppel said. 

Penalizing encampments

Encinitas also took a step in cracking down on homeless encampments and people sleeping in vehicles in the city, a move aligned with the city’s goal of adding enforcement strategies to its homelessness action plan. 

Camping on both public and private property is already illegal in Encinitas. But the changes expand the city’s definition of camping from only including sleeping supplies to also refer to an array of personal items including cooking and hygiene supplies. It also clarifies what does not include camping: picnicking or sleeping in an outdoor area that is not being used for living accommodation purposes. 

With the new camping definition, the law clarifies that it is illegal to camp on private property any time. The revisions also expand the ban on sleeping overnight in a vehicle by an additional two hours, starting at 8 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. 

Under current rules, sheriff’s deputies issue a warning or have a conversation with someone found to be violating the camping ban for the first time, North Coastal Sheriff’s Office Lt. Mike Davis told inewsource. After that, the penalties could result in a misdemeanor arrest.

“It’s not a crime to be unhoused,” Davis said, adding that there are laws people must follow. 

“The deputies will contact the individual and see what’s going on, and see if they are willing to accept our resources, and we can put them in touch with a social worker to maybe change their situation.”

Mayor Bruce Ehlers said last month that many unhoused people in the community aren’t accepting help, so the goal of the new rules is to offer resources first, and then enforce stricter laws if those are declined.

 “The fundamental question in front of us is, if people are offered an alternative, do they have any obligation to follow the local laws, if they turn down that? And I believe they do have an obligation to follow our laws,” Ehlers said.

The city has more unhoused people than it does beds for them.

Encinitas had 135 people in need of shelter in January during the annual count of homelessness. Of those, 91 were unsheltered. And the city’s 90 shelter beds located in the emergency shelter, transitional housing and rapid re-housing options were nearly full. Some public commenters worried the law could lead to profiling of who authorities assumed was unhoused. Research has shown that camping bans are ineffective in reducing homelessness. 

A new outreach program

The City Council approved a $344,000 contract with the nonprofit San Diego Rescue Mission for outreach and housing help, another goal of the city’s homelessness action plan. With the funding, which comes in part from the city’s opioid settlement payments, the nonprofit will hire two full-time outreach specialists to reach at least 80 people in the first year and one person to work as a housing navigator, hoping to reach at least 10 people in the first year. 

“The expectation is that our team is engaging with people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and we’re building a rapport with them, and we’re trying to help figure out a path forward,” Paul Armstrong, the Rescue Mission’s chief of staff, told inewsource. 

The housing navigator helps people in need of housing find a pathway to it – sometimes that’s through a housing transition program or a drug and alcohol treatment program, Armstrong said. Navigators also help clients manage what is often a significant amount of paperwork, including what’s necessary to obtain required identification documents. 

“It’s kind of like that person experiencing homelessness gets a superstar who comes alongside and helps them figure out and navigate through the system of getting housing,” he said.