North County has two safe parking sites, one in Encinitas and the other in Vista.
A third site is coming to Oceanside.
In 2023, the Oceanside City Council began to look for a safe parking site, but no one applied to be the host.
"We saw the city looking for a space, struggling to find one. We thought that this could be a perfect space," said Max Disposti, the executive director and founder of the North County LGBTQ Resource Center.
The organization recently purchased the property on 1919 Apple Street, and raised their hand to host Oceanside’s safe parking site.
"For several years we've been doing this work. So we saw the opportunity to offer our expertise," he said.
On Wednesday, the City Council voted unanimously to approve the site location and program management for one year.
It's something Sunny Soto-Briscoe has been advocating for since 2021.
"Why don't we have a safe place for people to live in their cars? That is a transitional period before you're actually sleeping on the street. You feel safe within your vehicle or your RV and we have no place to be safely at night," she said.
She knows the need first hand. Every week, her organization, Sunny Street Outreach, serves hot meals to people in need.
"A lot of people stay up all night because of the parking restrictions," she said. "You have to play shadow games with parking enforcement."
She thinks there will be no problem filling the 25 to 35 spots that will become available.
Apple Street has been known as a hub for resources. It will continue that history with the services from the North County LGBTQ Resource Center and now, the safe parking program.
The center will be more than just a landlord. Its existing services will collaborate with Dreams For Change, the organization running the program.
"It's gonna look different for every household that comes through our program," said Samantha Rogers with Dreams for Change. "The main thing is ensuring ... basic needs are met and making sure that they are what we like to call 'housing ready'."
The organization will help participants obtain any documents needed to get into secure housing. Increasing income is also something they can help with through their workforce program.
This will be the first North County contract for Dreams for Change. They currently run the safe camping and parking sites in San Diego.
The City Council approved the $229,000 contract for one year, paid through a grant.
The funding will help pay for on-site staff during the parking hours of 7 a.m to 7 p.m.
Applications open in February.
