As county Board Supervisor from 1999 to 2006, one of Susan’s significant achievements was to initiate the Safe Parking Program in Santa Barbara County. The program enables homeless people to sleep safely in their cars or vans at night in designated parking lots.

The program, now operated by an organization called New Beginnings Counseling Center, has expanded to include the City of Goleta, and some unincorporated areas in Santa Barbara County. As it is becoming a solution that helps keep homeless people, particularly women and children, safe at night, more cities are inquiring about how the program was developed. New Beginnings recently published a manual on how to implement a Safe Parking Program.

You can read more about the program in the article in New Beginning’s Spring 2019 Newsletter.