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WATSONVILLE, Calif. - "It's a little sad. There is no where to go because rent is just too expensive here. And there aren't too many jobs. I have been working less hours now too," said Vidal Diego.
To top it all off the Salvation Army in Downtown Watsonville, the place Diego called home, stopped offering shelter. According to Executive Director of Parajo Rescue Mission, Mike Borden, Diego is not the only that lost shelter. Borden says, "It's been about a 50 percent increase in the amount of people we normally shelter here."
After the Salvation Army stopped offering shelter, homeless people had to find somewhere else to call home for the night. Shelters like the Pajaro Rescue Mission or the Pajaro Valley Shelter Services. The only problem is, these shelters aren't as close to Downtown as the Salvation Army is.
"A lot of people that have been displaced aren't coming because of the distance," said Borden.
As a result, homeless people are just going back to calling the streets their home, and even falling back on old bad habits.
"Those people turn to alcohol or drugs, because its easier. They already have problems and now that they have no where to live for the night, they think its easiest to just go to drugs," said Diego.
"It's putting a burden on all the other services in the city as in the county. So it affects everybody," said Borden.
