The Simi Valley Task Force on Homelessness gave support to the development of a pilot program last week that would allow the city's homeless to work off parking citations through community service.

The goal of the program is to help the homeless clear their record—without having to pay fines they cannot afford—and keep their dignity.

"It's really a compassionate way to help people help themselves," said Councilmember Glen Becerra, who co-chairs the task force.

James Purtee, director of administrative services for the city, presented the proposed Parking Citation Alternative Remedies program to the committee at its Sept. 18 meeting.

Purtee explained that the cost of paying off parking tickets can keep homeless individuals homeless or be "the final blow that makes a person homeless."

For many homeless, their car is a place of shelter as well as their only mode of transportation for getting to work. If a car is impounded because of unpaid parking tickets, its owner can become further entrenched in the homeless cycle and unable to pull himself out of it, Purtee said.

Similarly, the burden of paying numerous parking citations can cause atrisk individuals to fall into homelessness, as even a nominal fee can be a huge expense for a low-income household.

The administrative services division, which handles the city's parking citations, has been working with the Homeless Court in Ventura County to develop the program guidelines, Purtee said. He added that the city will work with local nonprofits and social service agencies for reporting community service hours.

The program will go before the City Council for review on Oct. 13. If approved, it would be the first of its kind, Purtee said.

"As far as we know, this is the first program in the state, if not the country," he said, adding that he hopes other communities in Ventura County will pick up on the program.

Becerra said he likes the idea of breaking new ground..

"It's not every day you get to be a little cutting edge and proud of reinventing the wheel," he told the committee.

Still, some committee members were concerned that the program might give the homeless an excuse to break the law.

However, Mark Oyler, deputy director of citizen services for the city, said that the program is "not a free pass" for the homeless, but instead a "safety valve" to help people work their way out of trouble.

"What this program does is assist individuals who have inadvertently in the past gotten a parking ticket and now they have no way to get out of it," he said.

Becerra agreed, adding that he has high hopes for what the community service aspect of the program can accomplish, since there have been instances where homeless people are hired on at the places they volunteer.

"I love the possibilities that can come of it," he said. "Because once they start taking responsibility for themselves and see the value in their work and the value in themselves as a person, other people will recognize that and . . . at the end it might be a job for them."

Eric Lavizzo, a client of the Simi Valley Samaritan Center, said he thinks the proposed program sounds like a great idea.

Though the 43-year-old said he doesn't currently have unpaid tickets, he said he's well aware of what it's like to have an ever-increasing mountain of citations and no way to pay them.

"It got to be a real problem," he said. "It just added up and for someone like myself that has limited means, it's hard. It's very stressful."

Lavizzo currently lives out of his van, so it is very important to him that it not be impounded.

"If I do have work and I don't have a vehicle, then I'm screwed," he said.