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Nearly 50 homeless residents will soon have a place to call home in San Benito County. The 16-unit housing development known as Southside Haven Community has been completed.
“We are finally ready to open our tiny homes at the migrant center,” San Benito County Health and Human Services Agency director Tracey Belton said at the San Benito County Board of Supervisors meeting on Sept. 1.
The project, Belton said, “has taken a long, long time,” and has been in progress since 2020.
The uniform homes are located on a small plot within the gated borders of the migrant center and have a modern and simplistic exterior. They are expected to be occupied by the end of the month, according to Enrique Arreola, deputy director for community services and workforce development at Health and Human Services.
However, Arreola said the team is still waiting to receive a certificate of occupancy before residents can move in. Occupants of the units have been interviewed and assessed.
“If there’s a delay with the certificate of occupancy, there will be a delay with move-ins,” Arreola said.
The development consists of five temporary transitional housing units and 11 permanent supportive housing units. Temporary units allow occupants to stay for up to a year—and to receive the supportive services that come with the units.
“These homes provide more than a roof over someone’s head, they provide stability, dignity and access to resources that can support a stronger and more successful future,” Belton said in a news release.
According to Arreola, each family in the development will be assigned a case manager who can connect them to supportive services including job training, financial literacy and personal growth resources. Units will also be furnished with a refrigerator, washer and cable TV.
“If we have just the units and we have families move in with no support, I can tell you that wouldn’t go far,” Arreola said. “They need the support, they need the structure and access to resources.”
Community Services and Workforce Development and Health and Human Services will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 8 at 10:30 a.m to celebrate the project’s completion at the Hollister Migrant Housing Center, 3235 Southside Road, where the new units are located.
According to Arreola, rent for the units is not based solely on income to account for residents who have no work. However, he emphasized that both affordability and “responsibility for independence” were prioritized when setting rates. He said that most residents will be paying around $550 or $750 as rent, depending on the size of the unit.
Funding for the units initially came from a $1.1 million grant from the state-funded Homeless Emergency Aid Program, which helped to build the five temporary units. The department received a separate grant from the Homekey Program to build the 11 permanent units. The San Benito Board of Supervisors also contributed approximately $600,000 to the project.
Minor construction at the site is still underway including fencing, and parking lot striping.
“There’s a lot of needs,” Arreola said. “Homelessness continues here in the county and addressing homelessness with long-term solutions is the way to go.”
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