A Safe Place To Park. Steve Williamson and Karen McClelland welcome Linda Martinez and Councilmember Jessica Williamson to discuss Sedona’s planned effort to address the shortage of workforce housing.
The program is aimed at helping just 40 full-time workers who are already sleeping in their vehicles because they cannot find affordable housing in the area. Yet, despite the desperate need, the concept has become controversial as a result of what seems to be a concerted effort to misinform and create fear on social media.
“What it isn’t is a homeless camp,” says Williamson. “Under the program, people who are employed in Sedona can come to park at night. The facility is only open from four in the afternoon ‘til eight in the morning. And everybody’s got to leave in the morning. Nobody can leave anything there…it closes down every single day.”
Martinez adds, “These are the most functional of the homeless population because they own a vehicle. And they are the first to leave homelessness. They are already parking in Sedona without sanitation, without showers, without safety.”
Some opponents of the program, often fueled by social media, have called such people lazy, addicts, animals, and possibly child predators. But, says Martinez, “Funny thing about all of this, is when they were able to live in a home, when they could afford it or before they were evicted, they were called neighbors.”