Two proposed homeless shelters in Monterey County face lawsuit

Two cities in Monterey County are working to get a new shelter to tackle the homeless issue, but according to one county leader, they are now facing a snag in court.

Seaside and Salinas are planning to build homeless shelters off Broadway Avenue in Seaside and off Laurel Drive in Salinas.

“We have to see whether we can continue to proceed or whether there’s going to be a motion in court to try to stop both of these projects from moving forward,” said Luis Alejo, a Monterey County supervisor.

So far, there has been no hearing for the lawsuit, nor has there been a motion to stop any progress. The organization running the Seaside shelter will soon receive state funding, which they will then find a bidder to refurbish the building.

“Sleeping on the streets, it’s rough out here. It’s cold, you got people stealing from each other,” said Charles Holt, a Seaside homeless resident. “As long as you stay out of Laguna Grande, you might be all right.”

The 2019 Monterey County Homeless Census, which was taken earlier this year, shows there has been about a 15 percent decrease in the number of homeless since 2017.

For Alejo, the data is a good sign, but he is waiting for the next count to better gauge the progress.

“There are some good things that we have done. We’ve expanded shelter space, we’ve expanded some critical safety net programs for our most vulnerable,” said Alejo.

But cities like Gonzales, Soledad, King City and Seaside all saw an uptick, according to the census report. Expensive and rising housing costs and a lack of government-mandated affordable options are keeping people out of homes.

“Yeah it is double, triple quite a bit here and I don’t even think there’s that many Section 8 houses here,” said Holt. “They want everybody to go to like King City or Greenfield, stuff like that”

While the county and cities try to tackle the homeless problem, another major concern is the increase in the number of first-time homeless.

Supervisor Alejo also says the county has limited funds to work on any shelters in South Monterey County right now, but he is hoping state money will allow them to find new options and work with south county cities.