Kitsap Community Resources’ “Safe Park,” which gave 15 homeless families a safe place to sleep overnight in their vehicles, access to showers and bathrooms and case management services, completed a six-month pilot program at the end of June, but is still serving six needy families at KCR’s expense.

“The county doesn’t have the finances to contribute,” said Leif Bentsen, a human services planner with Kitsap County.

When the concept of the program came to light in November 2008, the county gave $7,000 to KCR to help with the cost of case management services. The program finally kicked off in January 2009 and continued through the end of June.

The report filed by KCR divulging the details of the program states, “Not having cooking facilities is a hardship for these families that strains the already limited budget of food stamps. To help elevate the hunger pains we give each family a small electric pot to heat water, some cup-a-soups, granola bars, hot chocolate and pudding cups. We also supply them with blankets, sleeping bags, towels and pillows, as needed. Each family receives one of the hygiene kits assembled and donated by county employees in the Department of Personnel and Human Services and a Trac-Phone.”

The program was only open to one- or two-parent households with dependent children younger than 18, and as a result, 15 single people were turned away.

Bentsen said the county would like to see an amendment to the guidelines which would expand the service to single people as well.

Of the 15 families served, nine went into emergency housing, two went from “Safe Park” to their own housing and three went into transitional housing. The program served 27 adults and 29 children.

There also were 11 families who were too poor to have a car and camped in local parks and woods.

KCR Executive Director Larry Eyer offered perspective on the magnitude of the need of this program in a recent newsletter.

“KCR is currently receiving 15 calls a day from families seeking rental assistance, even though the majority of funds to help them have been depleted,” Eyer said. “Helping families with an occasional crisis can make the difference between families remaining current on their rent or snowballing into a situation of homelessness.”

A debriefing July 15 for members of the community who were involved in “Safe Park” helped establish some guidelines for businesses interested in setting up their own program. With the trend of homelessness continuing to grow rapidly, the need for programs like this grows with it, according to Bentsen.

“We need to have more transitional housing that is safe enough for people to sleep,” he said.