Damage to several ‘tiny village’ units sets back opening of Watsonville homeless shelter by a few weeks

Unhoused residents living along the Pajaro River levee hoping to get a spot in Watsonville’s new “tiny village” shelter will have to wait a few more weeks, as unexpected repairs and final touches to the shelter have delayed its long-awaited opening. 

Several of the 34 “tiny home” units already need repairs, said Roxanne Wilson, homelessness services director for Monterey County. She suspects they were damaged while being delivered to Watsonville in the summer. The units are pre-fabricated; each measures 67 square feet — about the size of a walk-in closet.

MORE ON THE TINY VILLAGE PROJECT: Read Lookout’s past coverage here

The HOPE Village project, funded by an $8 million state grant, is a collaboration between Santa Cruz and Monterey counties to address the high number of homeless people living along the Pajaro River levee, many of whom had to abandon their camps because of an encampment sweep in late August. 

Some brand-new units, manufactured by Life Ark, have cracks in the walls that will need to be repaired or the interior walls that will need to be replaced altogether, Wilson said; she did not know how many units were damaged. She said the final few tasks include additional safety measures, such as sealing off small gaps between the units so residents’ small pets don’t get stuck there. 

The double units for couples are slightly larger, measuring 134 square feet. Each has cooling and heating units and windows for natural light. 

“We are pushing hard to try to get all this done,” said Wilson, who is coordinating and scheduling “a lot of moving pieces with a lot of subcontractors, so just trying to get things scheduled and teed up.” 

Wilson told Lookout that she expects repairs to happen sometime next week, and final touches on the “tiny village” to be wrapped up before the holidays. She did not provide an opening date, but added the project recently received its temporary certificate of occupancy — which allows a building to be occupied before all final construction is complete. 

“It’s been a huge herculean push for us to get through the remaining pieces,” Wilson said. “It’s just unfortunate because the project itself has been delayed for several reasons. It was always our intention to try to get it open before the winter season.”

First proposed in 2023, the project has 28 individual single-bed houses, two double units for couples and four Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant units, which will allow for up to 36 people to live in the village. Residents will have access to a laundry room, four shared bathrooms, and a small kitchen area, all on the property of Westview Presbyterian Church. 

The project faced multiple delays after residents expressed concerns over “homelessness-related” crimes in the neighborhood surrounding Westview Presbyterian Church, at First Street and West Riverside Drive. Resident Catalina Torres appealed to both Watsonville’s planning commission and city council, in an effort to block the project from moving forward. Both appeals were denied. 

In the meantime, Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, which is the designated service provider for the facility, is renting hotel rooms for several unhoused residents as winter season approaches. The Watsonville-based nonprofit is prioritizing individuals with health problems, Wilson said. CAB staff will connect residents to medical and mental health services, along with helping people apply for long-term housing. 

Some of the people currently living in hotel rooms will be part of the first wave of residents to move into the shelter, said Wilson. Community Action Board, along with Santa Cruz County’s Housing for Health outreach team and other regional nonprofits, are working to determine who will take the rest of the spots. 

Just a few blocks away from the “tiny village,” crews continue clearing vegetation along the Pajaro River levee, where nearly 150 unhoused people had set up an encampment. In August, authorities conducted a sweep of the area in part because it was threatening the levee structure. 

Mark Strudley, executive director of the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, told Lookout that the cleanup will create clear lines of sight so security officers can prevent unhoused residents from moving their tents and belongings back to the levee. The agency has hired a security company to patrol the levee and ensure residents do not attempt to settle there again, he said. 

However, many unhoused people have simply resettled farther west on the levee, toward Salsipuedes Creek, but a handful, like María Luisa Corvera Marroquín, have returned. 

Corvera Marroquín, who’s lived along the levee for 15 years, told Lookout she prefers her original spot because of her five cats. Since the August sweep, she has camped in several different places with her cats in tow. She said most of her belongings have been thrown away. 

Corvera Marroquín said she declined an offer to live in a hotel room for several months because she would have had to leave her animals behind. “Where are they going to be comfortable? Here, they are free to roam around,” she said. 

When Lookout visited the river levee earlier this week, Corvera Marroquín had her belongings already packed into a grocery store cart just in case the cleanup crews working a half-mile away were to reach her small tent. 

Strudley added that PRFMA is trying to be careful and sensitive when it comes to residents who have returned to the levee, as some have no place to go with their belongings. “Some of those people are waiting to move into the ‘tiny home’ facility,” he said. 

The agency plans to continue clearing vegetation periodically and remove any encampments as they crop up, to decrease the frequency of people returning to live on the Pajaro River levee, Strudley said, adding that there’s a long way to go before that happens. 

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