Bellevue leaders ‘not proud’ of delays to open parking lot for people living in vehicles

After months of delays, the city of Bellevue is still waiting to open its first parking lot for people living in cars and RVs. City leaders say no viable human services organization has applied to run the site.

Bellevue leaders have been talking about opening a sanctioned parking lot since 2018. The city council said it was a priority in 2021.

And in February of this year, the council approved a pilot program to open a space near downtown that could fit 20 cars and RVs.

The spot comes with bathrooms, showers, and case managers.

But after multiple requests for someone to run the lot, the city says no viable group has applied for the job yet.

Nico Quijano, the homelessness outreach program manager for Bellevue, said what he’s hearing from human services groups is that they’d love to help out, “but we just don't have the capacity ourselves. We're already sort of doing everything we can and can't fathom taking on one more project.”

Bellevue started taking applications for a service provider to run the parking lot in February. Since then, they've received about four applications. And none of them, Quijano said, have the experience necessary to work with people living in their vehicles.

“It's tough out there for nonprofits to provide the services to the community,” he said. The council plans to spend $450,000 for the pilot program to run through the end of next year, if they can find someone to operate it.

In May, Qujiano told KUOW the city planned to open the safe lot this summer. Now he said they hope to have it running by the end of the year.

"The delay in getting this program launched is not something that we're proud of,” he said, “but we're making sure that we are creating a program that will genuinely help people living in their vehicles."

This round of applications were due Tuesday. If no applicant works out, Qujiano said the city will have to consider next steps.

“I believe at that point we have to sit down and have a really intentional conversation about our strategy for getting this program launched,” he said.

This summer Bellevue officials counted at least 54 people living in their vehicles in the city. Quijano said that's likely an undercount.