A few months ago, Nancy Huntington had the idea of having a safe place for homeless individuals and families to stay overnight in their cars. Huntington is a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Covington. She brought the idea to Rose Kinsella who is the pastoral assistant for administration at the church.

They are getting closer everyday to making this idea come true. Kinsella started to develop a plan of action right away. She did research on what the church had to do and who they had to talk to in order to make this idea a reality.

Their goal is to provide a safe car parking ministry to those who are homeless and have no place to stay except in their vehicles. This ministry is intended to serve as a temporary respite, not a permanent housing choice.

“There is a church in Kent and others in the Seattle area that offer this type of program, but we are the first Catholic church in the area to do it,” Kinsella said.

There is more to this plan than most people might imagine. After making a plan, one of the first things Kinsella and the rest of the team did was talk with the parish community within their church to gain information and hear concerns, she said. They wanted to see if this idea was something the parish was willing to support. Huntington held presentations during mass and they also met with the homeowners associations in neighborhoods around the church.

“As you would expect, neighbors had concerns,” Kinsella said. “While we have support, there are people on the opposite end with the ‘not in my backyard’ mentalities, but we are working through those issues.”

After discussing it with everyone, they approached the city. They are now in the process of getting permits. If they can get through the hurdles of the city and any permit issues, they don’t believe there will be other problems, Kinsella said.

The new Covington Elementary School, which will be going across the street from the church, did throw another curve ball their way. It is another group of people they have to speak with since the site will be close to children. The ground breaking of the new elementary school happens next month. Until then they will be working toward getting the necessary permits.

Kinsella wants to make sure the plan is as transparent as possible. Part of making the plan was setting rules and regulations for people who participate in this program. The first regulation is there will only be six parking spaces available. Since it is a pilot project, they wanted to make it manageable at first. As far as expanding the amount of parking spaces in the future, Kinsella does not know.

People interested in the free, overnight parking will be screened by Catholic Community Services, which they are partnering with for the project. There is no limit how long someone can stay, but a case manager from Catholic Community Services will be meeting with people who stay overnight about once a week. The purpose is to help them figure out what to do next. Whether it is a medical issue, not having a job, lack of money to rent an apartment, or other issues they may have. A case manager will work with the people to connect them with the resources necessary for the next step.

Participants must also follow a code of conduct. If they fail to do so, they will not be allowed to stay. Part of the code of conduct includes only people with a permit are allowed to stay at the site, only one space per car may be taken up, no drugs or alcohol are allowed and parking is only allowed between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.

While it is hard for some community members to be on board with this idea, Kinsella wants the community to realize there is a homeless problem in Covington.

By having a program like the safe parking program, Kinsella hopes to reduce the homeless community.