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A program that provides a safe place to park for people living out of their vehicles in Duluth has reopened after the city council unanimously rejected an appeal filed by neighbors concerned about safety and privacy issues. 

The program, called Safe Bay, relocated from a site on the hillside above downtown Duluth this spring to a parking lot behind the Vineyard Church in the Kenwood neighborhood about three miles away. 

But Safe Bay was forced to close about a week after it opened, after the group of neighbors appealed the Duluth planning commission’s approval of an interim use permit for the program, sending the issue to the city council. 

“That forced the displacement of several dozen people in our community who had nowhere else to go that night, who have been living outside in very vulnerable conditions, and for the first time, had access to security, access to bathrooms, access to showers,” Joel Kilgour, a project organizer with a coalition working to end homelessness in Duluth called Stepping on Up, told the council last week at the hearing. 

The neighbors argued that the planning commission violated city code in approving the permit, and said that the church and Chum, the nonprofit group that operates Safe Bay, failed to provide adequate screening between the parking lot and neighbors’ homes on the other side of a wooded lot from the lot, about 250 feet away. 

“Appellants did their jobs as active and engaged citizens. They asked questions and were vilified. Appellants were labeled anti-homeless people or NIMBY neighbors. Appellants were targeted and personally attacked for engaging in their rights as citizens,” their attorney, Brenda Miller, told the council. 

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Several people spoke both for and against approving the permit, including two people experiencing homelessness who have used Safe Bay. 

“I am an American citizen and a tax-paying citizen. I deserve to have somewhere to sleep that's safe,” said Travis Lenander. 

“I have three small children and a wife that are currently residing in a shelter here in Duluth.  I'm doing everything I can in my power to put a roof over their heads and have been. All I ask is that my family and I have somewhere to lay our heads and not have to look over our shoulders,” he said. 

Sanctioned parking lots for people to legally sleep in their vehicles have become more prevalent across the country in recent years, as cities struggle with the growing homelessness and affordable housing crisis. In Duluth, the shelter operated by Chum is routinely filled well over capacity. 

Dozens of faith leaders and advocates for people experiencing homelessness rallied in support of Safe Bay

 after the neighbors appeal temporarily closed the parking lot.

City council member Mike Mayou noted that Chum and the Vineyard Church have taken steps to mitigate neighbors’ concerns, including staffing the program, providing clear rules, and receptacles for trash and pet waste. 

The council voted to uphold the permit by a 6-0 vote. That allows Safe Bay to stay open through the end of November. Chum will have to reapply for another temporary use permit for Safe Bay to continue to operate at the church next year. 

Dan Kraker

Author

The Duluth City Council unanimously upheld a permit last week for a program that offers people living out of their vehicles a safe and secure place to sleep at night. 

Duluth council backs program providing safe space for people sleeping in their cars

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