December 3, 2024
Dear Friends:
Five years ago, a group of volunteers and local faith communities came together to figure out how to provide safe places for people sheltering in their vehicles to park overnight.
From 2020 – 2023, with funding streams related to the COVID19 pandemic and ARPA (the American Rescue Plan Act), CSPI grew to offer “safe lots” in five counties. More than 100 people slept safely every night, formed communities, and found their way into stable living situations and the organization’s central operations were supported by government funds.
In 2024, available government funding is no longer sufficient to support operations of the Colorado Safe Parking Initiative, and we do not expect that situation to improve in the coming years. The federal government considers people living in their vehicles to be unhoused. As a result, many city and county governments have diverted funding from safe parking to programs that immediately move people into housing or indoor shelter.
Thus, we have made the difficult decision to cease operation on December 31, 2024. While CSPI will no longer provide centralized services, many of our partners will continue to operate in partnership with nonprofit and government partners in their communities. In this way the work of safe parking continues in Metro Denver, and we are working with them so they can be set up for success.
The need for safe parking remains great. CSPI received over 1,700 calls for help last year and at least 799 people (MDHI 2024 Point in Time Survey) in the Denver Metro area have been identified as living in vehicles. In the four short years since our founding, CSPI is proud to have demonstrated the effectiveness of safe parking as a community-based intervention for those experiencing homelessness and living in their vehicles.
We are so grateful to all of our government, nonprofit, and faith community partners, and especially to the generous donors who supported this vital work. Together, genuine change came for hundreds of families. Additionally, CSPI could not have even been created without the support and generosity of our fiscal sponsor, The Barton Institute for Community Action.
For immediate questions, please reach out to terrell@colosafeparking.org or gary@colosafeparking.org.
Gratefully,
Terrell Curtis, Executive Director
Gary Sanford, Board Chair
Colorado Safe Parking Initiative
Colorado Safe Parking Initiative is a community driven initiative to provide a safe environment for people in the Denver metro area who are sheltering in vehicles because they’re experiencing homelessness.
Sheltering in vehicles is often a first stop for individuals who have been forced to leave their home, for a variety of reasons and perhaps cannot find a new place because of limited affordable housing options. Without intervention and support, many fall deeper into homelessness and may eventually end up on the streets.
Safe parking provides many benefits including safe, legal overnight parking with restroom access, connection to additional supporting services and a caring community to be a part of while they strive to get back on their feet and into suitable, long-term housing.
The Need for Safe Parking
According to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative Point-in-Time Survey and various municipal and county-level counts, hundreds of individuals and families are estimated to be sheltering in vehicles in the seven-county Denver metro area, and there are nearly a thousand statewide. But because most surveys of people experiencing homelessness exclude or undercount people living in their vehicles, the actual number of individuals experiencing vehicular homelessness may be even higher.
Sheltering in vehicles is often a first stop for individuals who lose permanent housing. Without intervention and support, many fall deeper into homelessness and may eventually end up on the streets.
