Monterey County is phasing out temporary shelters for Pajaro as long-term recovery continues.

To some degree, a sense of normalcy has returned to the community of Pajaro in North Monterey County, nearly six months after the Pajaro River levee breached and flooding forced evacuations in March.

But not everyone is back on their feet. There are still families receiving aid and living in hotels while their homes – moldy or with structural damage – remain uninhabitable.

The County of Monterey provided aid to 264 people through its non-congregant shelter program, a temporary lodging program at the Rodeway Inn hotel in Watsonville, since a shelter at the Santa Cruz Fairgrounds closed on May 15. According to county data, most of those recipients (202 people), have either returned to their previous homes or found a new one. The remaining 62 people received a notification to relocate to the Country Inn hotel in Marina.

“Our hope is that we could continue to step down the program in an attempt to eventually close it, because this is not long-term housing,” says Kelsey Scanlon, director of the county’s Department of Emergency Management. County officials are working with the Housing Authority of the County of Monterey to put Pajaro residents at the front of the line to obtain housing vouchers, a process that can take years.

Sister Rosa Dolores Rodriguez of the nonprofit Casa de la Cultura, says the home base for these residents will move further from the centers of their lives – school, community, workplaces. “They’re stressed enough,” she says. “And then to be moved to another place without any reason… ” She adds that many residents lost cars due to flooding, making transportation an ongoing challenge.

The County is providing bus passes and the Monterey County Office of Education is working with the Santa Cruz Office of Education to ensure kids attend school. “We don’t like to displace students,” says MCOE spokesperson Teri Pimentel. She says the first resort is keeping students at the school they attend, but parents also have the option to transfer their kids to Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, which covers Marina. (Pajaro Middle School remains closed for the 2023-24 school year due to storm damage.)

According to a Cal Fire assessment in March, 406 structures suffered damage from flooding impacts and three were deemed uninhabitable. Many repairs don’t require a permit from the County, which has only received four applications for related permits and issued two.

Meanwhile, the County Department of Emergency Management is developing a Pajaro Recovery Plan with a community-led task force. The Long Term Recovery Plan Committee launched on Tuesday, Aug. 29. The committee will guide the expenditure of $20 million in state funds for residents – regardless of immigration status – for things like home inspections and repairs, rental and vehicle assistance, infrastructure, community outreach and more. The Pajaro Recovery Plan will take months to develop; Scanlon expects it will be approved and implemented by June 2024.