Adventist camp eyed for homeless trailers
Mid-County program could be expanded for jobs program housing
SOQUEL >> Santa Cruz’s latest pandemic-inspired emergency strategy to move homeless people off the streets and into shelter will likely move forward with the help of more than a dozen trailers, care of the state.
Santa Cruz County 1st District Supervisor John Leopold sent a letter dated May 1 to Soquel-area residents, alerting them that 15 housing trailers could be placed early this month on the grounds of the Seventh-day Adventist campground, fronting along Soquel San Jose Road. With the exception of this year’s pending coronavirus-related cancellation, the Central California Adventists have hosted a summer camp meeting at the Soquel Conference Center property, drawing at times more than 10,000 people, for the past 71 years.
Leopold’s letter this month said that the new Emergency Shelter-in-Place 24/7 Housing Program, in its first phase, was intended to house 40-60 people and families from the county’s Transition Age Youth program, serving those who have aged out of the local foster care system who are ages 18 to 24 years. The program, potentially expanding up to 35 trailers, is part of the county’s efforts to address COVID-19-related health issues, particularly among its
jail population, nursing home residents and people experiencing homelessness, Leopold said. Leopold has scheduled a neighborhood phone conference for neighbors to weigh in Monday.
“Although our early action and the participation of our entire community has flattened the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we are still working hard to ensure the continued good health of our community,” Leopold wrote.
Pandemic strategies
During a Santa Cruz County Homeless Action Partnership on April 29, Assistant County Administrative Officer Elissa Benson previewed the effort, saying it had been difficult to find a location to host the trailers after looking at numerous possible locations, a scenario playing out across the nearby Bay Area as well.
“These are trailers that ostensibly we will get to keep at the end of the event, so it’s assets that we will have available as part of our regional response to homelessness in the future,” Benson said.
According to federal Centers of Disease Control and Prevention guidelines related to COVID-19 and homelessness, existing outdoor encampments elsewhere in the community should not be cleared unless individual housing units — such as the trailers — are available. Clearing encampments, according to the CDC, can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers, increasing the potential for infectious disease spread.
A second phase of the plan Seventh- day Adventist site plan could include placing 20- 40 cottages on the site for “people experiencing homelessness who are actively participating in employment programs and have demonstrated their readiness for housing outside traditional shelters,” according to Leopold’s letter. Such participating programs might include the Downtown Streets Team and Homeless Garden Project, according to a project proposal attached to Leopold’s letter.
The program, if implemented, would be scheduled to last the duration of the coronavirus shelter-inplace emergency order, with “option to extend temporary housing programs upon operational review and mutual agreement that program can successfully continue to operate and potentially within the surrounding community with minimal impact or disruption.”
Second attempt
This month’s proposal is the second time in recent years the conference center property has been considered as a site for homeless sheltering. In fall 2018, County Homelessness Coordinator Rayne Pérez said an effort to locate a 50-vehicle safe overnight homeless parking program had been put on hold “indefinitely,”
apparently after community pushback. Shortly after, the Central California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists distributed a press release dated Oct. 1, writing that the organization had explored the safe parking program but was suspending further discussions for that time, as the group’s intent was to remain a good neighbor to Soquel residents.
“Additionally, CCC will not impose any agendas on this community that it does not want,” the 2018 release stated.
In his latest missive to neighbors, Leopold sought to reassure neighboring residents that the campground site would not allow people to walk on the property from off the road, with a shuttle system provided for in-and-out access to residents only.
Contact reporter Jessica A. York at 831-706-3264.