Venice (Creative Commons)

City Councilman Bill Rosendahl proposed the ordinance after seeing the growing number of homeless people living in their vehicles, the current number at 252 in Venice alone.

“I’m taking a lot of hits with this program and this residential group is furiously angry at me,” said Rosendahl. “They think I’m going to make the area around their homes a parking site and the residents are going to suffer more than they already have in dealing with this issue.”

In California, it is illegal for people to sleep in their cars overnight unless in a designated area, and police can issue tickets and tow the owner’s car.

"I got a $35 ticket. Santa Monica Police towed away my $20,000 car, bought and paid for. So now I'm basically homeless on the streets of Venice," said Brian Bodie.

The program was adopted from similar models currently in effect in Santa Barbara and Eugene, Oregon.

Homeless people drive to a designated lot equipped with bathrooms, showers and trash facilities and can sleep in their vehicles overnight without being disturbed by police.

In Santa Barbara, one lot is open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and offers job and counseling services to people looking to get back on their feet.

Rosendahl took $750,000 from the Venice Surplus Property Fund, in which a percentage of local property sales are put into the reserve, to kick-start the overnight parking program.

“This seed money will let us hire the group that’s going to manage the program, and if the pilot is successful enough then maybe the city will change a dumb, bad law,” said Rosendahl. “Where are they going to sleep, the sidewalk?”

The program will be administered by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). A draft request for proposal (RFP) is being circulated to service providers and constituents detailing the proposed program for feedback and potential bids. A final RFP will be issued in August. Rosendahl aims to have the plan up and running by the end of the year.

Specified locations for the designated parking lots will be determined later in the year after the final RFP has been sent out and potential servicers come forward, said Mike Arnold, LAHSA’s executive director.

“Where they are living right now is right in front of your house or in front of your neighbor's house or some other location that is around the area," said Arnold. “There’s no plan to get them out of here and off the streets."

Some residents in a Tuesday Venice Neighborhood Council Meeting were not convinced by the proposal and feared that the program, once in effect, will attract even more homeless than they already have.

A 10-year resident who lives across the street from a parking lot that attracts many homeless people living in their vehicles said that he had experienced many violent encounters with the homeless, including, "using my garden as a toilet, my fountains for bathing and washing their arms, my garden hoses for a shower and rooting through my trash at all hours, waking me repeatedly and leaving a mess, and bringing flies and the rotten smell of open trash bags."

Rosendahl remained firm in his proposal. The problem is that people don’t like it if it directly affects them, he said. Rosendahl hopes to get the program running before last month's approved amendment to limit RV street parking is implemented.

“I don’t just want to push people around which is what we’re doing and for that, I’m ashamed of Los Angeles,” said Rosendahl. “I think we can do more.”

To reach staff reporter Roselle Chen, click here.

Follow her on Twitter: @roselleUSC