Rose rolled into the southside Indianapolis church parking lot on a hot day in late June. It’s the site of citizen-led initiative, Safe Park Indy, that aims to help an underserved group of people — those without housing who live in their cars.
Rose had been homeless on and off for about four years. Even though she was fortunate to have a car, she said it’s not easy.
“It’s very nerve-wracking, and it takes probably like three times as much energy to do something while you’re homeless than it does if you’re not,” she told WFYI. “If you don’t know where you’re going to lay your head at night, it’s… it’s pretty exhausting.”
That’s the problem Safe Park Indy was created to answer.
Safe Park Indy is the only safe parking program in Indiana that the National Vehicle Residency Coalition lists. The program has 40 oversight spots and more than 880 people have applied to use the service since 2024.
Founder Elizabeth Friedland, who funds it with her own money and donations, says people who live in their cars are often missed in the official homelessness counts. That data is used by governments and nonprofits to plan funding services.
The program also comes as people experiencing homelessness in Indiana face a new challenge — a state ban on camping in publicly owned spaces took effect in July.
Friedland, who works in corporate communications for Allegion, turned the idea of a free safe parking program in Indianapolis into a reality in her spare time. In June, she partnered with two churches and relaunched the effort after a hiatus.
The idea is simple: Organizations donate the use of a number of spaces in empty parking lots at night. People who need a spot apply. When one opens up, Friedland messages a waitlist, and the first person to respond claims the spot. She runs a background check and, after they’re approved, she shares the location. People can stay up to 60 nights, but they can’t use the lot during the day. They’re allowed to re-apply.
“We have so many parking lots in Indianapolis that are sitting empty. We have so many folks who are homeless and living in their cars, and it just seemed like a natural thing to do,” she said.
In downtown Indianapolis alone, about 27% of the area is devoted to off-street parking, according to the Parking Reform Network.
Safe Park’s locations are in other areas of Marion County. Friedland designed the program to keep people and organizations safe, and so far, there haven’t been any safety problems.
‘Always a risk’
For Rose, who had to scout out tucked-away spots to park covertly, getting approved by Safe Park Indy was a relief — a rare spot where she felt safe to sleep with the windows down.
“There’s always the risk of a cop knocking on your window, and a lot of people have to deal with that,” she said. “I’ve had several of those close calls.”
WFYI is not using her full name to maintain her privacy.
Graham Pruss, who had lived experience with homelessness before earning his Ph.D. at the University of Washington, researches safe parking programs across the U.S. He is the executive director of the National Vehicle Residency Coalition, a nonprofit that brings together vehicle residents, researchers and policymakers. Pruss said Rose’s experience is common.
“These folks would be parking in public, where they would be at risk of ticketing, tows, impound,” he said. “They’re at risk of the general potential threats to their body, to their possessions, to violence that may occur by sleeping in a public space.”
In July, a new state law took effect that prohibits people from camping, sleeping or staying long term on public spaces owned by the state or local governments. Gov. Mike Braun signed Senate Enrolled Act 285. Law enforcement will now give a warning and share resources about local social services, but if the person remains for more than two days, they face a misdemeanor charge.
Rose said that law makes programs like Safe Park Indy “a necessity.”
Indiana is not alone, Pruss said. Cities across the country have faced renewed challenges to homelessness services, including funding cuts.
“As the cities have had that defunding happen, they’ve also seen a rise in the criminalization of the habitation of public spaces, whether that’s sleeping or camping,” Pruss said, pointing to a 2024 Supreme Court ruling.
“Without these parking programs, these folks are in a much deeper state of precarity,” Pruss said. “These programs provide an island of stability in a sea of chaos.”
Filling a need
Each lot costs about $1,000 per month to run, and Friedland uses her own money and donations to fund them. That covers a portable toilet and a cabinet of supplies with blankets, toiletries, snacks and carbon monoxide detectors.
Friedland got the idea in 2023. She researched existing safe parking programs, dove into manuals from organizers on the West Coast and spent time talking with local government and homelessness response.
“Programs across the country have faced a lot of backlash from the community, and so I didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot,” she said, wanting to make sure “before we ever went public and launched, we had the support of people who could, you know, effectively ruin the program if they wanted.”
Safe parking programs started in the U.S. in Eugene, Ore. the early 1990s and expanded across the West Coast and beyond, Pruss said. The 2008 recession and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic impacted the number of people living in their cars and programs adapted in response.
Safe Park Indy launched in 2024.
On the first night of operation, Friedland said a woman teared up when she showed her a drawer with feminine hygiene products.
“She just hadn’t been able to afford those items. If you’re choosing between gas to get to work and food, tampons are not going to be on your list of things to buy, but they’re essential,” Friedland said.
The waitlist grew to over 400 people with only 30 spots available, Friedland said. Managing it was labor-intensive and volunteers couldn’t keep up, so she made the difficult decision to end Safe Park Indy in August 2025.
“Our program expanded a little too fast, and we were offering too many services,” Friedland said. “But I didn’t want to let it die.”
That need persists. In October, Friedland said both lots had doubled their capacity to 40 spots total. The National Vehicle Residency Coalition tracks more than 40 safe parking programs across the U.S. — with many on the West Coast. Safe Park Indy is the only program listed in Indiana and bordering states. A new program in Cincinnati, for families experiencing homelessness, launched earlier this year.
Gaps in the system
Friedland keeps data on people using the program, including demographics and their needs. Many of Safe Park’s clients work professional roles, are on average older than expected, and recently lost housing for the first time.
“The vehicular homeless are a really distinct population from the chronically homeless,” Friedland said. “People who are in their vehicles tend to have more resources.”
Safe Park Indy reveals some gaps in local services. In intake work, Friedland found some people face barriers to shelter access, including those with pets — and others.
“We have a lot of folks who are transgender or they’re a part of the queer community, and they felt like they couldn’t be safe or weren’t welcomed at some of the other shelters around town,” she said.
Friedland said it’s not a religious effort and the church wants to help. While Safe Park has only partnered with Christian groups so far, it’s open to all. Friedland says proselytizing isn’t part of the deal.
She said people who live in their cars are often missed in official homeless counts.
“A lot of our folks have reported that they’ve never been captured in that count as far as they’re concerned, and that’s because they’re intentionally trying to hide,” Friedland said. “They’re not getting the services they need, and it means that our homelessness counts in Indianapolis just aren’t reflecting the reality.”
An annual snapshot of people experiencing homelessness, the January point-in-time count is used by governments and nonprofits to plan funding and services. In Indianapolis, the number increased just slightly from last year by 6 people to a total of 1,821 people. Friedland wants people who live in their cars included.
But U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guidance doesn’t require communities to report vehicular homelessness numbers, Pruss said, adding that the agency generally doesn’t support safe parking programs with funding and viewing them as “sanctioned encampments.”
Safe Park Indy isn’t meant to be a permanent solution, and Friedland doesn’t collect data on where people end up afterward, but she has heard from some who left that they found housing.
In the meantime, the effort is expanding. Both churches had doubled their total available parking spaces since the summer, and Friedland is discussing hosting with more organizations.
“There’s not much separating us from our clients,” Friedland said. “Any one of us can have a big financial crisis or series of really unfortunate events that put us in this position.”
Safe Park Indy is now preparing for colder weather and transitioning to winter supplies.
Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org.
