Faith leaders in Duluth rally behind homeless parking program while city weighs appeal
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Faith leaders in Duluth are rallying to try to save a program that provides a secure place for people experiencing homelessness to sleep in their vehicles after a group of residents filed an appeal challenging the city’s approval of a permit to allow the program to relocate to a church parking lot.
The program, called Safe Bay, offers people a sanctioned, safe place to park, with access to showers and bathrooms and opportunities to connect with outreach workers who can help them find permanent housing and other services.
It’s operated by Chum, a Duluth nonprofit organization which also runs the city’s largest homeless shelter. A coalition of groups working to end homelessness in Duluth called Stepping on Up launched the program in 2023 in the parking lot of the Damiano Center, which offers services to people in need on the hillside above Duluth’s downtown.
Earlier this month, the Duluth planning commission unanimously approved a special use permit allowing Safe Bay to move to a parking lot in back of the Vineyard Church, in the Kenwood neighborhood a few miles to the north. The program needed to move because of planned construction at the Damiano Center this summer.
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But a group of neighbors, many of whom live on the other side of a wooded lot bordering the church parking area, appealed the decision to the city council. That forced Safe Bay to temporarily close the new location, after only about a week in operation.
“Safe Bay is a simple yet profound response to a growing crisis. It offers dignity, security and stability to those who have few options,” said Sister Bevery Raway, the Prioress at St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth.
Sr. Raway is one of several faith leaders from around the city who held a news conference in the Vineyard Church parking lot Wednesday to rally community support for the unique program. They’ve also launched an email campaign urging Duluth city council members to approve Safe Bay’s relocation permit.
Safe Bay is part of a growing trend around the country, as nonprofit groups look for creative ways to address the growing homeless crisis, as shelter space increasingly fails to keep up with the rising numbers of people in need.
“Our Chum shelter recently had 140 people there one night. It was built for 30,” said Joel Kilgour, organizer for Stepping on Up.
Before the planning commission made its decision, the group of neighbors raised a variety of concerns about the relocation of Safe Bay to the church parking lot.
They asked for more permanent fencing, rather than the privacy screen that Chum staff had put up. They also want the group to conduct background checks of the people who sleep in the lot. And they want a limit on the number of people who can sleep there on any given night.
In a statement they issued after filing their appeal, the neighbors contended that the permit violated city code, and they said they’ve faced false accusations, hateful comments and threats on line for speaking out.
“Alleged defamatory statements have been and continue to be made on social media sites. Some neighbors are being specifically targeted with implied threats of violence. These activities are not acceptable,” the group of neighbors said in their statement.
During the eight days that Safe Bay operated before the appeal was filed, Kilgour said 24 people checked in, with an average of about eight vehicles a night, although he said numbers were increasing as word got out about the new location.
“It went very well,” Kilgour said. “It's, like, boring in the best possible way. People show up, they use the bathroom, they chat a little bit, they walk their dog, their kids play, they get into their cars, go to sleep and get up in the morning. And that's the best we can hope for.”
The Duluth City Council is scheduled to take up the appeal at their meeting on June 5.
