Community steps up as Quaker group forced to close Santa Rosa safe parking site for homeless

Last week I reported on the impending closure of a program at Redwood Forest Friends Meeting, a Santa Rosa Quaker outfit, that let its parking lot out at night to people sleeping in their cars as part of an informal partnership with the city.

Participants, city officials, advocates and others described the impacts of the program and others like it as small but mighty, especially in the context of homelessness that has long overwhelmed available resources and services.

But, faced with losing their insurance and unable to find an alternative, Redwood Forest Friends Meeting made the difficult decision to close off its lot by the end of the month.

It’s a problem that has long been a barrier to organizations, often faith-based, that want to provide shelter, a challenge that may only worsen given the insurance crisis California faces.

The closure left Randy Walker, 65, scrambling. He had stayed at the Quaker safe haven for three years. He lost his housing when his landlord died in 2016 and has been chipping away at debt ever since, something that’s been easier with the stability of a quiet, reliable place to park and sleep at night. The same went for an 80-year-old woman who was forced to move into her car when the pandemic destroyed her events production business.

“I’ve survived, but now that this is ending, I don’t have any place to go. It’s scary,” she told me when I visited the lot in September. “I am racking my brain. What else can I do?”

In the wake of the story, however, two community members reached out to offer both of them housing.

“I just spent my first night in the house,” the woman told me Wednesday. “It’s just amazing.”

The groundskeepers for Redwood Forest Friends accompanied her to meet the good Samaritan and check out the place. She has a guest bedroom and a bathroom to herself. In exchange, she’ll contribute to utilities and offered the man, who is in his seventies, help with housework, shopping and whatever else. Last night, they watched the vice presidential debate together.

“He came through at the last minute. I’m very lucky. It’s just a miracle,” the woman said. “When going through a difficult situation like this, I’ve tried not to get depressed or angry. I just kept visualizing a bed and a bathroom. I said, ‘I deserve a bed and a bathroom.’”

Walker and the man who offered him housing had crossed paths many times. The man often walked his dog near where Walker would hang, and “we’d been waving at each other day after day,” Walker said. “He found through the article that I needed a place to stay, and we talked it out and made a deal.” Walker will be house and pet-sitting while the man is out of town the next couple of months. He moved in Tuesday.

It’s important for people to know that “some of us are really just trying to make it by,” Walker said. He let out a big laugh when I asked if it was a relief. “Yes, yes it is,” he said. It’s also a reminder of the sense of community out there, he added.

He hopes the others who parked at Redwood Forest Friends also find housing soon. Meanwhile, the Quaker group is still hoping to find an insurance carrier that is more accepting of its efforts to provide a safe haven.

“In Your Corner” is a column that puts watchdog reporting to work for the community. If you have a concern, a tip, or a hunch, you can reach “In Your Corner” Columnist Marisa Endicott at 707-521-5470 or [email protected]. On X (formerly Twitter) @InYourCornerTPD and Facebook @InYourCornerTPD.