Cincinnati Public Schools’ “Safe Sleep Lot,” a secured overnight parking lot designed for students and families living out of their cars, opens at Taft Elementary in Mt. Auburn Thursday.
The lot will be run by Project Connect, a homeless advocacy organization within the school district that provides students and their families with food, clothing, housing resources and now, a secure place to stay at night if they can’t immediately find stable housing.
Project Connect developed the idea in early 2025 to meet the needs of thousands of children in the city who are experiencing some form of homelessness. Unstable housing is a growing issue district-wide — about 300 CPS students will spend a night sleeping in a car at some point during the school year. Program Manager Rebekah Beach says this lot is designed to give those families some relief from the anxiety that comes with sleeping in a car…