The Goleta City Council this week decided to approve a citation policy for encampments and individuals living in their vehicles while also warning staff of potential loopholes.

Council members previously gave the green light to city staff to develop an administrative citation program to address the growing number of people living out of their vehicles along city streets.

On Tuesday, council members approved the first reading of the ordinance. Since the meeting in October, staff added definitions to determine what living in one’s vehicle looks like; removed towing a vehicle as a consequence for violating the ordinance; and prohibited camping within 150 feet of a creek.  

Now, in order for law enforcement to write a citation for someone they suspect might be living in their vehicle, there must be two pieces of evidence, such as cooking materials and makeshift bathrooms. 

The ordinance will come back for a second reading and final approval at a later date.

For the past two years, city staff have observed a significant increase in vehicular homelessness, according to Assistant City Manager Jaime Valdez. He said the city is aware of certain hotspots in the city and named Phelps Road, North Kellogg Avenue and South Kellogg Avenue as examples. 

The new program would cite people living in their vehicles but could forgive the administrative fines if they were to enroll in services.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Winnie Cai, assistant city attorney, also reported to council members that city staff will establish a non-emergency phone number to which community members can report violations.  

However, council members warn city staff that the program might just prompt people to move their vehicles elsewhere, and they should try to anticipate where they might go. 

“We really need to be prepared to monitor what kinds of shifts in vehicle locations we see when this happens,” Councilman James Kyriaco said.

He said he does not believe that people will suddenly seek services from New Beginnings, the organization that leads the Safe Parking program for unhoused people, or that people will contact city staff to get their administrative citation waived. 

Public speaker Michael Brown echoed the sentiment, calling it unlikely that the administrative citation program will motivate anyone to seek services who has previously refused services. 

While Valdez agreed that there could be instances of people moving vehicles in response, he said the program will provide city staff and council members data to look back on.

“This will be the first time where we actually have folks that will call dispatch and there will be a record of them calling out for it,” he said.