Quick Take
As construction finally begins this week on the 34-unit “tiny village” shelter intended to house people living along the Pajaro River levee, time is running out for residents to figure out their next move as an encampment cleanup could happen sooner than the anticipated opening of the shelter.
As Nikki Mori filled black garbage bags outside her tent along the Pajaro River levee last week, she confronted an increasingly urgent dilemma: While the longtime levee resident has been promised a spot in a new shelter that is set to begin construction this week in Watsonville, she could be forced to leave the large tent she shares with her boyfriend and six cats months before that housing becomes available.
Crews broke ground this week on a 34-unit “tiny village” shelter intended to house people living along the levee, but the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency is likely to clear the encampments months before the shelter’s December opening — leaving residents like Mori, 52, caught between the promise of stable housing and the immediate threat of displacement.
The flood management agency had originally scheduled an encampment sweep at the end of June. The sweeps are meant to remove shelters, trim vegetation and clear any trash building up along the levee. Mark Strudley, the agency’s executive director, previously told Lookout the cleanups are necessary to address the levee’s structural weaknesses.
However, the sweeps were pushed back after the contractor bids submitted to the agency exceeded its budget for encampment cleanups.
Strudley told Lookout that the flood management agency might reschedule the encampment sweeps to sometime in August, but the choice is ultimately up to the agency’s board, which will gather for its monthly meeting in a few weeks. Until then, there are still a lot of details to flesh out with potential contractors, he said.
The levee sweeps will most likely begin with removing the encampments and getting people out of the area first, before removing any vegetation, Strudley said. The agency recently put out a call for separate proposals for encampment cleanup and vegetation trimming as a way to solve bidding issues the first time around.
Ideally, the agency would love to align the encampment sweeps with the opening of the “tiny village” shelter, said Strudley, but that’s highly unlikely to happen. The shelter project’s tentative December opening coincides with the rainy season, he said, which would make it difficult to clean up the levee.
“We’re going to need to have the work done before then,” Strudley said. “We would obviously prefer to perfectly align with it, but I just don’t think that’s going to be possible.”
In an effort to prepare for the eventual opening of the tiny village, staff of Watsonville-based nonprofit Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County are already building their caseloads by making frequent visits to the levee. The nonprofit was selected as the shelter’s service provider and will manage the site once it’s open at the end of the year.
Last week, CAB collaborated with Monterey County’s homelessness services department and the flood management agency to organize a mini-cleanup on the levee with residents like Mori to help clear any trash and unnecessary items building up there.
Levee residents who volunteered at least two hours of their time on Thursday were compensated for their efforts with a $50 gift card, said Aimee Ramirez, operational manager for the 34-unit “tiny village.”
Levee residents packed a 30-yard dumpster to the brim; nearly 5,000 pounds of trash was collected. Residents were still trying to throw away the last bits of trash they had gathered as waste management crews picked up the dumpster.
“It’s a small but mighty effort,” said Roxanne Wilson, director of homelessness services for Monterey County. Levee residents have already inquired with Community Action Board about scheduling another cleanup because they want to do more cleaning, said Mike Kittredge, homelessness prevention and intervention services director for the nonprofit. While last week’s cleanup was smaller than a traditional sweep, that doesn’t mean a sweep isn’t going to happen in the future, Wilson said.
Kittredge doesn’t want levee residents to be under the impression that this smaller cleanup is associated with a traditional sweep that’s pushing them out of their homes, he said. It becomes very chaotic and traumatizing for unhoused people when an encampment sweep happens, said Wilson: “You want to position them well enough where they have all the tools, and they’re able to get rid of a lot of trash.”
The looming sweeps present significant challenges for service providers. If an encampment sweep happens before the “tiny village” opens, one of the biggest challenges CAB would face is trying to keep track of residents who are its clients, said Kittredge. The other hurdle is figuring out how to support the unhoused community as a whole.
“Because they’re kicked off the levee, folks are going to become more visible in our communities. And, how are we going to address that?” Kittredge said.
Levee residents will eventually receive personal storage containers for belongings they’d like to keep before an encampment sweep happens, Wilson said. Monterey County is also figuring out different ways to store people’s belongings once a sweep occurs, she said.
Upon hearing the news of the sweeps being pushed back, Mori, who’s been living on the levee for nearly seven years, felt relieved, giving her more time to figure things out. Last summer, Mori was forced to relocate to the Monterey County side of the river after the City of Watsonville conducted its own sweeps.
“I tried to grab as much as I could. But we lost a lot of stuff,” she said.
Mori turned 52 last month, but in the weeks leading up to her birthday, all she felt was stress as she and other residents living along the levee prepared to be displaced from their homes by the flood management agency’s planned sweeps.
“I’m worried about everything in general, and about finding a space,” Mori told Lookout in June. I don’t have a [housing] voucher or anything, I don’t have any income.”
On Thursday, Mori excitedly told Lookout that her case manager at Community Action Board informed her that she’s a candidate for the 34-unit “tiny village” shelter.
“My mom will be [relieved] because she’s worried all the time about me,” Mori said. Her mother lives in Capitola and the two frequently see each other. The 52-year-old told Lookout that her mom often picks her up from the levee and takes her to get her medication or to her house for a shower.
Mori’s also happy about knowing she won’t have to go days without charging her cellphone, which has been a problem for her lately, because she’ll have a spot in the “tiny village.” “I won’t have to wait until I hang out with my mom to charge my phone,” she said.
Even though the “tiny village” is months away from operating, Mori is already trying to figure out which of her belongings she’ll be taking with her. So far, she’s contemplating bringing a small dresser and her mattress. “It’d be a big relief since I’ve been out here for quite some time,” she said.
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