Neighbors fight ‘tiny village’ as Watsonville struggles to help homeless

From her front porch, Catalina Torres has a clear view of the Westview Presbyterian Church property in Watsonville. If she were to climb over or squeeze her way through the worn-down fence just a few feet from her house, Torres would end up on the church property. 

On a typical Monday night, the Westview Church parking lot is empty — with the exception of a few cars — but the view from Torres’ porch will look slightly different in a year.

A 34-bed “tiny village” shelter for the unhoused is proposed on the church’s property, but some neighbors in Watsonville’s District 1 do not want the project built in their backyard (literally, in Torres’ case), and are making their stance known. Torres has appealed city officials’ approval of the project to the Watsonville Planning Commission. But leaders have said the city is restricted in its ability to deny or require modifications to the project because it meets the criteria of a state law that overrides local control in some instances to support the creation of more affordable housing.

“I want to be clear, we are not against helping these people,” said Torres. “But look closely at where you are putting these people.” 

The District 1 neighborhood — which stretches from the Pajaro River levee to include most of Watsonville’s downtown area — has been exposed to gang violence in the past, according to residents. Torres said residents had finally felt safe in their community in recent years. 

Now, the neighborhood experiences vandalism and “homeless-related crimes,” she said, and residents fear that adding a homeless shelter in the middle of the district will only add to those problems. Torres said they already feel they have to be on alert while walking around their neighborhood and their homes. 

Cristina Vigil, who lives on West Front Street alongside the Pajaro levee, said she and members of her family have had “close encounters” with unhoused people that scared them. 

“You used to be able to walk along the levee with your family,” said Vigil. “Ever since the storms last year, people have settled in the levee.” 

Some residents have seen their belongings stolen, from golf clubs to work tools, said Lorenza Contreras, while others have found syringes in the park. She blames the presence of homeless people in the area.

Overall, crime had decreased in Watsonville over the past year as of July, said Watsonville Police Captain Radovan Radich. And in the District 1 neighborhood, property and violent crimes have decreased, he said. 

It’s harder to track “homeless-related crimes” in the city, but it’s not uncommon for the Watsonville police to receive calls regarding the unhoused community in Watsonville, he said. 

On average, they receive at least 10 calls a day on incidents involving the unhoused, but not all are related to crime, Radich said. Some are related to trespassing, illegal encampments or mental health. 

“Less than 5% of the homeless population is disruptive,” said Radich. 

The tiny village project, first proposed by Monterey and Santa Cruz counties in 2023, came as a surprise to many residents, many of whom found out by word of mouth or flyers passed out in the neighborhood, said Torres. 

Funding for the project came from an $8 million Encampment Resolution Funding Program grant from the state of California. Half of the funding will go to the construction of the tiny village and the other half will go toward supportive services. 

Despite media coverage and official public notices, neighbors who oppose the project say they have felt out of the loop.

“For a project of this magnitude, why didn’t they fill us in?” said Contreras. “We didn’t realize the project was happening until after it had started.” 

Torres and Contreras went door to door, asking neighbors if they knew about the proposed shelter. Most had no idea what the tiny village project was, said Contreras. 

Westview Presbyterian Church Pastor Dan Hoffman, who has helped and advocated for the city’s homeless population for years, did his own door-to-door outreach to the neighborhood. He passed out flyers about the project in addition to public notices required by the city and local news coverage of the project. But few residents attended an informational meeting organized by backers of the project. 

Since then, neighbors have attended several meetings with Roxanne Wilson, homeless services director for Monterey County, and Hoffman. 

Some residents objected to the very idea of the shelter being built on the church’s land, but concerns were “dismissed” and it felt like it was “too late” by then, said resident Jesus Velasquez Medina. 

Hoffman, a strong advocate for the shelter, said he sympathizes with the neighbors and the encounters they’ve had with members of the unhoused community. 

“I personally wish, after hearing all their stories, I wish we could have done it in a different neighborhood, just for their sake, because they feel so traumatized,” said Hoffman. “And yet, I really believe it’s gonna make their neighborhood safer in the long run.” 

Hoffman said he believes the “tiny village” will help get people already in the neighborhood off the streets and eliminate some of the impacts from homelessness that neighbors are complaining about. Because of where the church is located in relation to the river levee and the office of nonprofit Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes, Torres and Contreras said the unhoused population in their neighborhood will increase as a result. 

No one wants something like this in their backyards, Hoffman said, but the reality is that they already are and the tiny village is a solution. 

He was initially hesitant about having the shelter on the church’s property, but after seeing the success of similar projects in cities such as Santa Barbara, Hoffman said he felt confident about backing the tiny village project in Watsonville. He still recognizes the risks a project like this comes with, but he said they’re risks those involved are willing to take when the end goal is helping those in need. 

The tiny village will be a low-barrier shelter, offering housing first, without strictly screening people out with requirements of sobriety or limiting the number of possessions they have. That concerns neighbors.

“Everyone wants peace, tranquility and that our families are safe,” said Torres. “But it looks like they don’t want to give us that because we don’t know who is going to be coming to this shelter.”  

District 1 Watsonville City Councilmember Eduardo Montesino plans to hold more informational meetings about the project in his district as more details are available, he said. His goal is to educate his constituents on what the project is and isn’t, eliminating any misinformation that might have spread through the community. 

He said the city has turned a blind eye to the homelessness issue for a very long time. 

“They are our neighbors. They just can’t afford a living space because it’s expensive,” Montesino said. “We just got to do something.” 

The things residents have brought up are current issues that should and can be addressed, said Montesino. The tiny village project is still months away, some of those issues can be solved now, and the city will see if any issues arise once the project is here, he said. 

Torres recently filed a formal appeal to the Watsonville Planning Commission, asking that it rescind the approval of the zoning application submitted by Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. Her appeal, filed on Oct. 2, claims the approval of the zoning application was “defective and improper” for various reasons. 

Watsonville zoning officials approved the application last month despite concerns from the city council. The application was approved because it met the requirements of a state law that supersedes local control in order to increase the state’s stock of affordable housing. 

Torres’ appeal alleges city staff improperly accepted the application without determining the size, location capacity and character of the tiny village, despite those being main requirements in the zoning application. The appeal also alleges that city staff failed to require that the applicants — Monterey and Santa Cruz counties — specify the organization responsible for managing the shelter and provide its qualifications. 

Ultimately, residents would like the tiny village shelter to have a special-use permit. That would allow a piece of land to be used in a way that’s not specifically allowed by Watsonville’s zoning ordinances, and allows city officials to attach various conditions on the project’s design and future management. A special-use permit would make it easier for residents to turn to the city council for solutions if an incident were to occur, said Torres. 

But state legislation that ultimately could require the Watsonville Planning Commission to approve the project was designed to stop local communities from effectively denying new affordable housing by attaching endless conditions.

There’s not much that can be said about the appeal publicly, said Montesino. It will be heard by the city’s planning commission in a future meeting that has yet to be scheduled.

“One time a neighbor told me, ‘Well, I’m not sure if you’re going to win,’ and I told him, ‘You know what, we’re not really expecting it,'” said Torres. “What we do expect and what we want is that they remember us. That they remember us here in District 1 before trying to bring another project to our community.” 

The rate of homeless individuals increased in the county in 2024, and shifted dramatically from Santa Cruz to Watsonville in the past two years, according to the latest point-in-time report. Watsonville’s homeless population had increased by 60% in the past year, despite a wide gap in shelter beds and services. 

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