Nonprofit unveils plans for managing Watsonville 34-unit ‘tiny village’ homeless housing

A South County nonprofit unveiled plans to operate a new 34-unit “tiny village” homeless shelter with 24/7 security, on-site case managers and a closed-campus policy in a presentation to the Watsonville City Council this week, ahead of the project’s anticipated groundbreaking slated for early June.

Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County (CAB) was selected as the service provider for the 34-unit shelter project to be built on the property of Westview Presbyterian Church during its zoning application stage. Some neighbors and city councilmembers questioned whether the nonprofit was qualified to manage the project during a second appeal hearing in March seeking to block the planned facility. 

The project, funded by an $8 million state grant set to expire June of next year, is a collaboration between Santa Cruz and Monterey counties to address homelessness along the Pajaro River levee. The building permit is still under review by the Watsonville’s planning department, but the nonprofit expects to break ground in June, said Mike Kittredge, homelessness prevention and intervention services director for CAB. 

The organization anticipates having the tiny village shelter open and operating by October, Kittredge said. 

The low-barrier navigation center will use a housing-first approach — a strategy that prioritizes providing housing for someone experiencing homelessness, said Aimee Ramirez, operational manager for the tiny village. It will also be a closed campus, meaning that there is only one entrance and exit, and will have a no visitor policy, she said. 

“The goal is to get people in a place, a door that they can lock, feel safe, get their basic needs met, so then we can work with them on their other challenges and barriers to housing,” Kittredge told the Watsonville City Council on Tuesday. 

Ramirez added that the nonprofit will have multiple case managers on site to help connect participants to services addressing barriers to housing, such as finding a job and access to behavioral and physical health services. 

The nonprofit will focus on enrolling people living along the Pajaro River levee, and will begin to do outreach soon, said Ramirez. Participants will also be screened under Megan’s Law — a set of federal and state laws that require the public to be notified about the presence of sex offenders in their community — to ensure they aren’t a danger to the surrounding neighborhoods. 

Ramirez and Kittredge also addressed questions raised earlier this year by both neighbors and councilmembers about the safety and site management of the tiny village shelter. Community Action Board will be hiring professional security guards who will be on site 24/7 for the first four months to understand how much security will actually be needed, he said. 

After the four-month period, the security will be on site for 16 hours a day, which will eventually be lowered to 12 hours a day, said Kittredge: “What we’re looking at is what is needed during the day, and that’s what we will adjust as we see what the facts are on the ground.”

The nonprofit has been consulting with the Watsonville Police Department on other security aspects of the tiny village, such as video surveillance, said Ramirez. 

Apart from consulting with the police department, CAB will also form an advisory committee, said Kittredge. The committee will consist of law enforcement, Westview Church leadership, neighbors and business owners in the area. Kittredge did not have any further information on how people can join the committee. 

Kittredge added that CAB staff have gone door to door in the neighborhood surrounding the church, speaking with residents about their concerns regarding the project.

City councilmembers appeared to be more receptive to Community Action Board’s plans to manage the tiny village shelters — even praising the nonprofit on its community outreach efforts. Councilmember Eduardo Montesino said the nonprofit was moving in the right direction, noting that there was no opposition present at Tuesday’s meeting. 

The main focus is for CAB, city officials and the community to work together to figure out how to make the tiny village”project successful, said Mayor Maria Orozco. “I’m committed to making that happen,” she said. “Because, again, it’s a program that has not been tried before, and so I am optimistic that it will deliver some results.”

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