Facing eviction in encampment sweeps, homeless residents along Pajaro River levee brace for uncertain future

Elizabeth Zavala and her partner, Saul, have called the Pajaro River levee home for almost four years. For the first few, the couple lived on the Watsonville side of the river before being forced to move to the Monterey side following severe storms in 2023 that saw the river flood. 

Later this summer, the couple and dozens of other people are expected to be forced out of the area and displaced from their homes as cleanup crews are tasked with removing shelters, trimming vegetation and clearing any trash building up along the levee.

Zavala said she’s been feeling anxious and losing sleep just thinking about where she and her partner are going to go next, what valuables they’ll be taking with them and, more importantly, where they will find a place that will accommodate them and their animals — 16 cats and two dogs. 

Adding to her growing anxiety, Zavala said she fears local law enforcement will arrest or fine people if they return to the levee following the cleanups. 

“Everyone’s stressing out about it,” Zavala said of the coming encampment sweeps. “My neighbors are freaking out about it.” She added that a lot of people have already picked up their things and moved farther south along the levee to an area they think cleanup crews will not touch. 

The cleanups are necessary to address the levee’s structural weaknesses, said Mark Strudley, executive director for the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency (PRFMA) — a joint powers authority between Monterey and Santa Cruz counties and the City of Watsonville. The agency is responsible for providing protection to communities in the Pajaro River watershed in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, and the communities affected by flooding. 

Last October, the Pajaro River flood protection project, with a nearly $600 million price tag,  broke ground in Watsonville. The project aims to repair the river levee and prevent flooding from affecting the surrounding communities. Construction is expected to begin sometime this year. The Pajaro River levee breached in March 2023, flooding the nearby Monterey County community of Pajaro and displacing many residents from their homes.

The levee has increasingly become a gathering place for the region’s unhoused population. A point-in-time count last year found homelessness had surged 60% in the Watsonville area, while falling 36% in Santa Cruz, though housing advocates point to recent encampment sweeps on the Santa Cruz County side of the Pajaro River for pushing many of the levee’s residents onto the Monterey County side.

Officials say the growing encampments along the river have complicated efforts to clear the area to repair the levee and prevent future flooding. Many levee residents have created dugouts — holes in the ground sometimes used for shelter — that can endanger Watsonville and the town of Pajaro, and “flood the whole community,” Strudley said. 

During a visit to the levee last month, Lookout saw several elaborate shelters, including some built into trees, while other residents were content with living in large tents. Residents had constructed bridges for people to easily cross the river. Dogs and cats roamed freely or protected their owner’s property and belongings — several people had even built small shelters for their furry companions to sleep in. 

Those elaborate setups and structures built on the levee can block the flow of the river, said Strudley, trapping debris similar to how a beaver dam traps material behind it. Those blockages could cause the river to overflow the levee, he said. 

The plan is for cleanup crews to cover as much ground as possible, said Strudley. He did not disclose the specific stretch of the levee that crews will be cleaning up or if both sides of the river will be cleared at the same time. 

Encampment cleanups were originally scheduled for June 30, said Strudley, but are being pushed back after all of the bids PRFMA received from contractors exceeded the $250,000 budget for encampment cleanups this fiscal year. The bids ranged from $285,900 to $2.2 million. Strudley said his agency is collecting additional information from contractors before deciding whether it will need to place another call for bids. Its next board meeting is in early July.

PRFMA is responsible only for maintaining the levee system, taking over for Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, which have maintained it in the past. 

Watsonville police and city public works employees conduct cleanups three times a week in order to keep people off the Santa Cruz County side of the levee, said city spokesperson Michelle Pulido. Police officers give people who might be living on the Watsonville side of the river a 72 hour notice before cleanups happen. Watsonville officials have said the sweeps are necessary to address “serious health, welfare and safety risks.”

The most recent time Monterey County conducted an encampment cleanup on the levee was nearly three years ago, said Roxanne Wilson, the county’s homelessness services director, via email. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to Lookout’s request for comment on enforcement on the levee after the upcoming encampment sweeps.

As cleanup preparations continue, organizations like Watsonville’s Community Action Board and similar nonprofits based in Monterey County are making frequent visits to the levee, building a rapport with its residents, notifying people about the upcoming sweeps and connecting them to resources such as CalFresh — a state program that provides monthly food benefits to low-income individuals and families. 

Zavala and her partner are receiving assistance from Community Action Board. They participate in the organization’s Watsonville Works program that helps unhoused individuals build a work history, and receive help with filing housing applications. 

Lookout joined CAB’s outreach team on the levee last week as they checked in with their clients — including Zavala — asking how they’re doing, setting up appointments at the nonprofit’s office in Watsonville and encouraging people to join Watsonville Works. 

Most levee residents don’t have an idea of where they’ll be heading once the cleanups start, said Elizabeth Rodriguez, a member of CAB’s outreach team. 

There is a lack of shelter beds in South County, which makes people’s options even more limited, said Mike Kittredge, homelessness prevention and intervention services director for CAB. Kittredge told Lookout that the nonprofit is trying work with a local hotel to open up a temporary shelter in Watsonville, but there’s a chance it might not come to fruition as contracts are still being worked out. 

Ideally, a temporary shelter would open up at least 30 beds and be available for three months or until the 34-unit “tiny village” shelter is operating, said Kittredge. The village is a planned joint shelter project between Santa Cruz and Monterey counties that will be located on the Westview Presbyterian Church property on 1st Street in Watsonville, and will prioritize housing levee residents. 

Wilson told Lookout that Monterey County is coordinating outreach services on both sides of the levee, which includes some transitional housing and permanent supportive housing beds. Many of the shelters within Monterey County are prioritizing people being displaced from the encampment cleanups, she said. 

Zavala’s home is one of the larger and more elaborate shelters along the levee. She told Lookout it took her and her partner several months to make their home livable. 

The couple was lucky, she added, because there was already a dugout built in their spot. She has also seen her neighbors dig into the earth, creating tunnels and shelters within the ground. “You don’t even know, it’s just really covered in dirt,” she said. 

From an outsider’s perspective, it might appear that Zavala’s shelter is just a large white tent just atop the levee, embellished with large teddy bears and an American flag, but that’s only the entrance to her home. The rest of the couple’s living space is built closer to the river, and big enough for their two dogs and numerous cats to move around. 

Zavala has been applying for housing in Watsonville and Santa Cruz, but has had little luck in securing anything. The couple also doesn’t want to give up their pets in the move — which is influencing their next steps. 

Zavala told Lookout that organizations from Monterey County are able to help her and Saul get housing in Salinas, but they would rather stay closer to her partner’s children who live in Santa Cruz. “We don’t have a vehicle, so taking the bus with all of our animals and all of our stuff is going to be a nightmare,” she said. 

Zavala said she’s even thinking about following some of her neighbors just a half-mile down from her current home. The area hasn’t been touched by county officials for years, she said, and people who live there are out of the way of the river. Their pets would also be able to roam free there, as opposed to being confined to an indoor space, she said. 

The couple brings their dogs with them wherever they go. When Zavala is home, her dogs, while friendly, are ready to defend their owners, barking at the foot of the shelter’s entrance. Meanwhile, the couple’s cats like to climb around the roof and trees. 

Just a few weeks ago, one of Zavala’s cats had six kittens that she planned to take to a local animal shelter. The rest of her animals — two large dogs and 10 cats — will be coming with them wherever they go. 

Zavala told Lookout that life would be a lot better if she’s able to get housing. She used to live in her car before settling at the levee; that has provided her some stability as opposed to parking somewhere different every night. Having a stable environment with a shower and a place to lay her head is a priority for her and Saul before finding a job.

“My anxiety is through the roof right now, thinking, what am I going to do, every single day? Like, where are we going to go?” said Zavala.

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