Homeless services advocates from Monterey and Santa Cruz counties are considering placing a small community of modular tiny homes in a church parking lot in Watsonville, aimed at reducing the number of people camped out along the Pajaro River.
The project comes thanks to an $8 million Encampment Resolution Funding grant from the State of California.
The micro-village of 34 homes, along with a homeless navigation center, will be done in collaboration with Monterey County, Santa Cruz County Health and Human Services and the City of Watsonville.
Those agencies worked to identify a possible location at Westview Presbyterian Church at 118 First St. in Watsonville for the 34 non-congregate “Cubez,” which will be developed by San Francisco-based Dignity Moves.
The project is expected to break ground in a few months, with the site ready by the end of the year.
Once the residents have moved, the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency will begin restoration work along the river and begin preparing for a rebuild of the Pajaro River Levee, expected to begin within two years.
Half the funds will go for construction, and the other half will be spent on services for the residents.
Santa Cruz County is seeking out the funds to make the program permanent once the $8 million is depleted, said Housing for Health Director Robert Ratner.
The State of California announced the grant on June 14, part of $199 million for 23 projects in 22 communities statewide.
“We’re doubling down on our investment to ensure that thousands of individuals in communities up and down the state move out of encampments and into housing where they can get the services and help they need,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said. “It’s not enough to simply clean up encampments. My Administration will continue to work with local leaders and community members as they serve their unhoused neighbors and remove dangerous and unsightly encampments throughout California.”
The Encampment Resolution Fund is administered by the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency and the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to help people living in mass camps into permanent housing.
The announcement makes the third, and largest, ERF round of grants to be distributed. Previously, 26 communities were awarded $96 million from the fund over two rounds.
It includes Los Angeles County, which will receive $59.5 million to serve 3,000 people on Skid Row, and San Luis Obispo County will receive $13.4 million to serve 200 people from an encampment in a flood and fire danger zone.
The funds must be expended by June, 2026.
Monterey County Homeless Services Director Roxanne Wilson said that the problem of encampments along the Pajaro River affects both counties.
Early this year, the Pajaro River Levee breached during winter storms and flooded acres of farmland and forced the evacuation of hundreds from Pajaro. Soon after that, homeless people moved back to where they had been camping.
“The worst thing we can do is nothing,” Wilson said. “We knew there had to be a better way.”
A survey of the unhoused people living along the river showed that they need help with mental health care, addiction, employment and citizenship.
“More than anything they needed some privacy, and they wanted to be treated with dignity and respect,” she said.
Wilson said that the project will include a bathroom and shower unit, an area for communal meals and a pet run. It will also include an on-site coordinator.
Watsonville City Manager Rene Mendez said the project will make the communities along the Pajaro River more livable for everyone.
“I don’t see any other way of dealing with these difficult issues,” he said. “Having everyone work together is going to work better ultimately.”
