Bay Area pastor helped launch safe parking sites at churches for homeless residents

Nearly 40 percent of Santa Clara County's unhoused population, or almost 4,000 people, sleep in their vehicles.

A Peninsula pastor is one of the first in the Bay Area to help provide a safe place for them while they search for housing in expensive Silicon Valley.

Pastor Brian Leong recalls a life-changing moment at a ministers' conference several years ago when the speaker challenged the audience.

"If your church burned down tomorrow, would anybody in the community care?" he said. "That was a devastating question for me, because I know the answer right away, which is, 'No.'"

So, Leong approached the office of County Supervisor Joe Simitian about what local churches could do.

The response: How about opening church parking lots as safe spaces for people living in their vehicles?

Churches had already begun to do so in Santa Barbara.

Leong pitched the community service idea he received to a gathering of faith leaders.

"'Do you think you guys would want to do that?' All of them said, 'Yes, let's do it,'" he recalled.

So, Leong started Move Mountain View in 2018, starting with six parking spaces at two churches, including his own church, Lord's Grace and St. Timothy's Episcopal. Today, the city and county-funded nonprofit manages 140 spaces in nine lots in Mountain View and Palo Alto.

About half the spots are occupied by families like Andres'

"Pretty much amazing. Treated like a family," he said.

Andres, father of a newborn, can safely park the RV that his family's been living in since he and his wife both lost their jobs months ago.

"It's healthy. It's clean. It's organized," Andres said of the safe parking lot. "The way that we look at it, it's like going camping with a good family, a huge family. So, yeah, it's amazing. "

But it's not permanent.

Leong says the nonprofit must enforce a recent county policy that says after 120 days, clients have to leave if they cannot show they're actively seeking housing.

All clients do get a case worker to help connect them with resources.

And Operations Manager David Temple adds that guests find support, security, and stability.

"Babies have been born in this lot. We've even had a wedding on this lot," said Temple.

Nonprofit partners provide donations of food, clothes and more.

The Palo Alto location on Geng Road, a former city-owned firehouse, offers the widest range of on-site resources: a laundry and showers, kitchen, food pantry, and even a children's library.

In July, a few dozen more parking spaces will be added to the Shoreline Amphitheater parking lot, bringing the total to about 200 spaces the nonprofit manages.

To qualify as a guest in a safe lot, one must live, work or have children going to school in Mountain View or Palo Alto, or be a senior citizen with living with a disability. You must have a valid driver's license and a registered vehicle.

Since Leong began Move Mountain View, more than 600 people have found housing.

"In order to do this work, you have a big heart. And you want to serve. And Pastor Leong, obviously as a pastor, he has a big heart," said Temple.

A heart transformed through service.

"It's just made me more compassionate and understanding of people we often don't look at," Leong said.

So, for starting Move Mountain View's safe parking lots for people living in their vehicles, this week's CBS News Bay Area ICON Award goes to Pastor Brian Leong.