Church to host unhoused parking

Published 1:30 am Saturday, June 27, 2026

PORT ANGELES — A church in Port Angeles will host unhoused people who are part of a Sequim Safe Parking Program for four nights in July.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 510 E. Park Ave., has received a temporary use permit from the city of Port Angeles to host the Safe Parking Program participants the nights of July 4 as well as July 16-18.

Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 N. Blake Ave. in Sequim, is the official host of the Safe Parking Program, but the church is near Carrie Blake Park, which is expected to be loud and not conducive to sleep during the Fourth of July as well as the LavenderStock Music Festival on the nights of July 16-18.

As part of the temporary use permit process, St. Andrew’s hosted a community meeting Thursday afternoon to explain the program as well as answer questions and discuss the concerns of those who live nearby.

St. Andrew’s officials have been wondering for a while what they can do to help mitigate homelessness in Port Angeles, Rev. Laura Murray said during the meeting.

The opportunity to temporarily host the Safe Parking Program offered a good trial run for St. Andrew’s, she said.

“We, St. Andrew’s, is still in discernment whether Safe Parking is something we want to take on full-time,” Murray said.

If the church does decide to start its own program, it will go through the city’s process for a permanent permit, which would include a public hearing, Murray said.

Trinity United Methodist Church’s journey with the Safe Parking Program started in 2023.

“We talked with people at Serenity House and at the county and they said they really needed a Safe Parking Program,” said Joe Cress, the church’s coordinator of the program.

The Safe Parking Program is a partnership among several organizations, including Peninsula Behavioral Health, Serenity House, REdisCOVERY/Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic (OPCC), Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP) and Good Man Sanitation.

Staff members from OlyCAP are at the parking lot each day from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. to welcome participants and get them settled, and then again from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. to help them on their way, Cress said. There is a staff member on call all night in case of emergencies.

The Sequim Police Department drives past the lot a couple of times each night to look for problems, something the Port Angeles Police Department also has agreed to do.

All program participants have to apply, be vetted through background checks and agree to mandatory case management with the goal of getting participants back on their feet and into more permanent housing.

Nine people have applied for the program. Six have been approved and four have used the program, Cress said. Of those four, two have moved into more permanent housing since the program started in February.

“We’ve not really had any problems so far,” Cress said. “We’re very pleased with that.”

The program had operated for 247 guest nights by the end of May: The number includes the guests times the number of nights they’ve used the lot.

All program participants are paired with a case manager, said Viola Ware, director of housing at OlyCAP.

“One thing that encouraged me to work with (Cress) is there are a lot of restrictions for people living in their cars,” Ware said.

She stated that many people who live in their cars are women escaping domestic violence situations who don’t feel safe going to shelters, or veterans who feel safe being able to move from location to location.

“Vehicles allow people to move from place to place to be safe,” Ware said. “As a community, the more options we give people to meet their needs, the fewer people fall through the cracks.”

Terry Strickland, OlyCAP shelter manager, directs the OlyCAP staff at the parking lot.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Strickland said. “When you feel safe, you’re more able to move on in your life.”

Strickland provides all volunteers and staff members with de-escalation training in case of problems.

“These programs are vital,” he said. “These people feel safer in their vehicles. They’ve owned homes but don’t feel safe in them.”

One issue for organizations working with the unhoused is making a connection with a person and then struggling to find them again to continue providing services, said Helen Kenoyer, chief operations officer at OPCC.

“What we like about the Safe Parking Program is we always now where our people are at,” she said.

OPCC provides individualized services based on each person’s needs, Director of Programs Kelly Hall said. All of the Safe Parking Program participants are interviewed, told the rules of the program and talk to about what the next steps are while digging into the barriers for housing the participants have experienced.

“When you’re living in your car … it’s really difficult to get somebody to take those next steps,” Hall said.

During the public comment period for the temporary use permit, which ended May 30, the city of Port Angeles forwarded any concerns staff received to Murray, she said.

Those concerns were all things that would concern her if she lived near a Safe Parking Program: violence, criminality, fires and “drugs and sex and rock ‘n’ roll,” Murray said.

“If, in fact, the people even want to come and stay here in July, we’re talking about two people,” Murray said. “This isn’t ‘open the gates and y’all come.’ The people are vetted; there’s no fires, there’s a Sanican and a handwashing station.”

The temporary program at St. Andrew’s would not be an invitation to the whole world to come and park in their lot, Murray assured meeting attendees.

“We have an obligation as Christians to love and protect our neighbors, and I have an obligation to protect St. Andrew’s,” she said. “We will be doing all we can do to see that all protections are in place.”

While discussing the program further, neighbors expressed their concerns about the unhoused using the lot, including whether there would be any problems when the Soroptimists use the church at 6:30 a.m.

“Being homeless, being without shelter is exhausting,” Ware said. “People will spend all night looking for a safe space to sleep. There’s a good chance people using this will just be using it to sleep.”

Before using the Safe Parking Program, participants would spend most of their days thinking about where they would sleep that night, where they could use a bathroom and where they could dispose of their garbage, Cress said.

Murray assured community members there are no plans to allow participants access to the inside of the church.

“Right now, the only thing this church can provide is a safe space for people where they can rest and not be harassed,” Murray said.

A concern was brought up that St. Andrew’s lot might not be the best place for program participants because the neighborhood “sounds like a war zone” during the Fourth of July, and there have been safety issues such as crime, assault and rape since Serenity House opened nearby.

One neighbor mentioned he has found drug needles on the ground, has been assaulted and has had law enforcement check his property’s cameras for possible evidence in a rape case.

Strickland promised to make several passes through the area each night to check on participants.

“I want to acknowledge the need for safety, that’s always the No. 1 priority,” Ware said. “The last thing we want is to ask people to sacrifice their safety.”

When a concern was stated about St. Andrew’s expanding the program in the future, Murray said “expansion makes this sound a whole lot bigger than I’m thinking.”

“We haven’t done the work to see if this program is a good fit for us,” she said. “It might not be. If it is, it would be four cars max.”

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.