By Pamela Cruz / Bay City News
When Lupita Lara became homeless a decade ago, she had to deal with the problem on her own. Now, as a case manager for WeHOPE, an East Palo Alto nonprofit that serves people who are homeless or living in their vehicles, she's providing the help she never received.
The high cost of rent sometimes pushes low-income people out of their homes, out of state or onto the streets. In 2019, 1,512 people in this county were counted homeless in San Mateo County.
Since that same year, WeHOPE has operated a secure RV parking program at 1798 Bay Road. The parking lot provides a safe place for up to 20 RVers to park their vehicles for free. Residents also receive free services and meals so they can save money for future housing.
Half of Bay Area renters are rent-burdened. They spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, according to the Bay Area Equity Atlas, a regional data center that analyzes data and reports on inequality trends.
Of those, 494 lived in mobile homes, had to park on the streets and deal with city laws that might prohibit parking in certain areas or at certain times.
Rising rents pushed Maria Elena Vasquez and her husband to move into an RV, where they now live in WeHOPE's safe parking program. Vasquez has lived for the past two years at the Bay Road site, where she feels safe and secure after living on the streets.
"It's ugly to live on the street," Vasquez said in an interview. "Here we feel protected."
After Vasquez's landlord doubled the rent on their Menlo Park studio -- they would have had to pay more than $3,000 -- Vasquez's husband bought a mobile home for a one-time cost of about $4,000.
Buying the trailer was cheaper than paying monthly rent. But living on the street brought its own challenges.
"We would park wherever we could find a spot," Vasquez said, adding that she worried she would be robbed or that "someone was going to shoot me because I worked nights and got home early in the morning."
In the secure RV parking program, residents receive free water, electricity, showers, daily meals and 24-hour security. Renting a spot in some private RV parks can cost $80 per night or more than $1,000 per month on the Peninsula.
"Thank God they haven't charged us anything since the day we moved here," Vasquez said. "All of that helps us save the little money we receive... We have a lot of help from the program, but it's not enough because we want to have a place to live."
But the search for permanent housing has been long and fruitless so far. Vasquez, unemployed because of the pandemic, said she has filled out multiple applications but hasn't heard back from any of them. The waiting list for affordable housing can be months, sometimes years.
A "ladder" out of homelessness
Since the program's inception in 2019, WeHOPE has helped 34 of its last 73 clients move into permanent housing, which is their ultimate goal. This May, the park was full, with five people on the waiting list.
As WeHOPE's lead case manager, Lara helps connect residents with health care, housing applications or life logistics, such as getting a license, for example.
"I advocate for them as much as I can," Lara said. "My clients know they can call me whenever they want ... I work eight to five, but I'm always there for them."
His proudest moment was when one of his clients bought his own house with the money he saved while living in the park.
"A lot of customers say I'm a little strict, but in the end they thank me," Lara said.
There are also two modular homes on the Bay Road site that offer temporary housing while families seek permanent housing. Modular homes are prefabricated steel units complete with bedrooms, kitchen space, common spaces and amenities.
For the Samaniegos, a family of four, moving from their mobile home to the three-bedroom modular home in April has given them much-needed space.
"We are very grateful... We have more space to cook and our own rooms. We are more at peace," said Teresa Samaniego.
Their sons, high school students Edwin and Jose Samaniego, said moving into a house means they'll have their own space to play video games and enjoy their mother's home-cooked meals.
The modular homes are a project of United Hope Builders, a nonprofit organization that builds modular steel homes to help create affordable housing.
Pastor Paul Bains, founder, president and CEO of WeHOPE and United Hope Builders, said they plan to produce three to four modular homes each year.
As for the parking program, Bains said WeHOPE initiated the RV parking program in partnership with the city of East Palo Alto to create a safe place for families to live. The program has about $374,000 annually.
Most of the families living in RVs in the city are working families, Bains said, not people trying to cause trouble.
During the pandemic, demand for their services has increased. They had to add hand-washing stations to accommodate the pandemic because public restrooms and libraries, places where people who need access to water would normally go, were closed, she added.
Bains and Lara emphasized that the program is not a permanent place for people to stay, but a "ladder" to get them out of the cycle of homelessness.
Residents in the safe parking program must participate in cooking, financial literacy or anger management classes, and meet with case managers regularly to remain in the park.
Breaking new ground in the midst of deep-seated inequality
East Palo Alto was the first city in San Mateo County to create a safe parking program for RV residents, and led the way for other cities to do the same.
Redwood City started its own program in October 2020. Its program can support about 40 RVs and is run by LifeMoves, a Silicon Valley nonprofit dedicated to finding solutions for the homeless.
LiveMoves Vice President of Programs and Services Brian Greenberg said the creation of parking programs like those in East Palo Alto and Redwood City are a response to the growing number of homeless people over the past two years.
"A lot of cities have been interested in creating safe parking programs," Greenberg said. "Both East Palo Alto and Redwood City took a leadership role in setting this up and not looking to push people to the next community, but to work with them in their own communities."
Researcher David Grusky, a professor of sociology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, applauded programs like these, but said systemic change is needed to address inequality in the country.
"We have to fight on two fronts," Grusky said. "One, is to try to bring about big systemic change, which would mean more redistribution, providing basic services to people who can't afford them, and reorienting our institutions related to the labor market."
While Grusky noted that there is a movement to make those systemic changes, the RV safe parking program helps "plug the holes" by directly supporting people in need.
