Woman living in an encampment in Soledad speaks on lifestyle as City of Soledad looks to address the growing encampment by partnering with Monterey County for a grant

SOLEDAD, Calif. (KION) - The City of Soledad is looking to address a growing encampment near the Salinas River.

For the past two years, Sally Serna has called the encampment in Soledad home.

"This is the only place we have right now," said Serna.

Sally was born and raised in Soledad.

She was living with her father and two kids. When her father passed away in 2022, that's when Sally's life took a terrible turn.

"I lost my section eight because I couldn't pay rent because I was waiting for life insurance, but there wasn't any," said Serna. "And it was just so quickly I became homeless, like within a month or two, and couldn't get back from then."

The encampment sits in a vulnerable area, near the Salinas River and Highway 101.

Sally recalls when she was affected by the flooding of the river last year.

"Whether or not we're going to if it's going to rain, we got to keep, you know, looking at the weather, and if it floods we can all be wiped out. And this that's always on our mind," said Serna.

With the safety of the people in the encampment and the city in mind, the City of Soledad is urging the county to apply for encampment resolution funding provided by the state. Megan Hunter who is the city manager for Soledad said it's a grant similar to one that helped the city of Salinas clean out the Carr Lake homeless camp.

"The problem is that the city, we're a small jurisdiction with a very small budget. We're considered a disadvantaged community, and we have a lot of needs. said Hunter. "And we're just barely able to make ends meet with the budgets that we have."

With the possibility of the city of Soledad not receiving anything, people like Sally are relying on the generosity of people like Nic Bianchi who stops by several times a week.

"Their immediate needs are always socks," said Bianchi. "Blankets, clean, dry, warm clothing especially. This river is going to be coming up in a couple of months,"

Sally says she will keep her fingers crossed on the grant, but even if the city receives it, it won't be able to come soon enough.

"The mayor has been out here and helping this community, you know, seeing if we need anything. People discriminate, and it's awful. Real quick, it could be them," said Serna.

The need for shelter is immediate, as Sally tells me many people in the encampment like herself are getting sick. It is estimated that 20 people are living in the encampment.

The county's window to apply for this grant is February 1st.

If the city receives the grant, they look to house the people living in the encampment in motels or build a shelter in the area of Los Coches Road in Soledad

Monterey County has applied for this grant last year. It received $8 million to serve 70 people in the encampment around the Pajaro River.

The Monterey County Board of Supervisors will be discussing the encampment resolution funding on January 30.