In Ojai, California, canvas tents built on wooden platforms are a step up from the previous site where unhoused people set up their tents.
About 30 people are living in a California homeless encampment, right behind a town’s city hall.
In Ojai, California, canvas tents built on wooden platforms are a step up from the previous site where unhoused people set up their tents.
The city’s Unhoused service coordinator, Rick Raine, spoke to KCBS, saying, “over time as we built tents up in the parking lot, we were able to get people up off the ground and out of the dirt and into the tents you were seeing up there."
Danielle Alstot was evicted after she could no longer afford her rent. She is one of the working poor.
"Those that are working and want to be able to live,” she told KCBS. “We can't afford rent. we are doing what we can and still trying to stay happy about it."
Ojai’s mayor hopes a $12.7 million grant could be a step towards a permanent home for many people.
Mayor Betsy Stix says, “I think it's a beautiful example of the community stepping in an working together to find the best solution for a situation that's really challenging"
While Ojai plans to have the tiny homes constructed in the next two years, there is no word on where they will be located or when the construction will start.