The measure has the support of the Chaffee County Board of Commissioners and the Salida City Council, which together will allocate spaces in city streets, parking lots, and campsites where workers can sleep in their vehicles, and will provide sanitation services and police surveillance.
Taken from EFE
The city of Salida, in southern Colorado, passed an ordinance that allows local workers (the vast majority of whom are Hispanic) to sleep in their vehicles since last Friday because, due to the high cost of rent, they cannot find housing and could leave local businesses without employees.
The program, known as "Safe Outdoor Space," or SOS, is the first of its kind in Colorado and is a pilot program that could later be extended to other cities and counties in the state facing similar situations.
In Salida, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is about $1,200 per month, close to the average rent of $1,300 per month in Denver for a similar apartment. But while the average annual income in Denver is $65,000, in Salida it is $26,000, according to the Census Bureau.
That means that while Denver residents allocate on average almost 25% of their income to paying their rent, in Salida workers must allocate just over 55%.
That's why "many restaurant employees, many tour guides, and even many professionals have trouble paying for a place to live in Chaffee County and end up sleeping in their vehicles in various locations, with or without authorization," explained Cory Riggs, a local activist who spearheaded the project.
The measure has the support of the Chaffee County Board of Commissioners and the Salida City Council, which together will allocate spaces in city streets, parking lots, and campsites where workers can sleep in their vehicles, and will provide sanitation services and police surveillance.
In addition, the county's Housing and Public Health departments will provide assistance, as needed, to people sleeping in their cars. Local businesses (restaurants, grocery stores, laundromats) are also expected to offer discounts to these individuals.
So far, according to Councilwoman Jane Templeton, speaking to Colorado Public Radio, two people have already been approved for the program and "several others" have completed their applications and are expected to be approved in the coming days.
Municipal authorities estimate that dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of people could participate in SOS from now until the program ends, probably at the end of October; that is, during the fall and with the arrival of low temperatures.
Simultaneously, with the help of the state government, Salida and Chaffee County are working to provide affordable housing for workers, whether through subsidies, agreements with short-term rental property owners, or new construction.
"It's not going to be perfect. I want the citizens to know that. But we have to act," the councilwoman asserted.
So far there are no federal or state laws in the United States that explicitly prohibit sleeping in the car, but there are numerous prohibitions against parking on private property or "camping" in urban areas or even in public areas (such as rest areas along highways).
In that context, the new ordinance implemented in Salida that allows sleeping inside a vehicle on city streets is considered a pioneering measure at the national level.
