After 4 months at Cabins for Change, SLO County man is headed to a home of his own
When Marcos Rodriguez took his first steps out of prison in early 2022, he had no place to call home.
After he completed a sober living program, Rodriguez’s living situation at a supportive home fell through thanks to a COVID-19 outbreak at the facility.
Because his job needed him to be available, Rodriguez began staying in motels until his funds ran low.
He then began sleeping in his car, camping on the street off the side of Highway 101 in Grover Beach, where police eventually found him and searched his vehicle while he was parked in a no-overnight-camping zone.
By that point, Rodriguez had been living in his car for around six months. If his car had never been searched, he said, he might still be there today.
After learning how long Rodriguez had been on the street, however, one of the officers directed him to the 5Cities Homeless Coalition’s Cabins for Change program, a transitional tiny home program that was still weeks from opening. Rodriguez applied to the program and was accepted in its first group of residents.
Four months later, Rodriguez, 45, is getting his first shot at a place of his own when he moves into his Santa Maria home, as one of the first four Cabins for Change clients to graduate to permanent housing since the program’s December opening.
“Ever since then, all the wheels are turning for me,” Rodriguez said. “And they haven’t stopped yet, thank God.”
Tiny home program provides stability, routine to life
During his time at Cabins for Change, Rodriguez said one of the biggest adjustments he’s made is learning to keep a consistent schedule.
Getting off of work and something simple as leaving his boots by the door each day is a new experience for Rodriguez.
“I’m 45 now, and the majority of my time was in prison for doing the wrong thing,” Rodriguez said. “My world view was hitting the dumps, and now these people have been opening so many doors for me.”
Though each client enters the program for different reasons and comes from different backgrounds, Rodriguez said having neighbors and a sense of community helped motivate him.
Because each resident pushes one another to “live up to their standards,” the culture within the tiny home village is one of self-improvement, he said.
“A lot of people here had families, had lives, had homes — probably nice homes — and things happen in life, reality hits, some people can’t cope with it and they just lose it,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he’s thankful to have a job he loves and a support system that can keep him accountable to his goals.
Currently employed at mass food manufacturer Vitco Foods’ San Luis Obispo location, Rodriguez said his stay at Cabins for Change allowed him to focus on career goals such as studying to get his Class A commercial driving license.
That respite from the stress of constantly being on the move was a “blessing” that gave him the time and clear head space to finally obtain the license.
In addition to putting a roof over his head and connecting Rodriguez to housing, he said, Cabins for Change staff also helped him sort out his financial situation, teaching him skills like money management and how to balance a budget.
Program supervisor Rachel Perey said Rodriguez’s willingness to accept help and engage with the staff is an excellent example of what it takes to be successful in the program.
Cabins for Change intentionally has low barriers to entry, which Perey said helps get people moving through the process. The rest, however, is up to them.
“We start with simple things, like just obtaining their documents, so they’re prepared for when a landlord is ready to accept them,” Perey said. “We do have an agreement with the clients: They’ve gotta be willing to commit to their case management plan.”
Janna Nichols, executive director of the 5Cities Homeless Coalition, said she and the Cabins for Change staff were “thrilled” to see Rodriguez and the three other people graduate from the program into housing toward the end of April.
“He’s a wonderful guy, and we’re very appreciative to the landlord that is working with us,” Nichols said. “He really did it on his own. We were there as his backstop, but he did the footwork.”
Program learned plenty of lessons from first four months of operation
With its first four graduates successfully on their way to housing, Nichols said first four months of the program’s operation taught the staff plenty of lessons going forward.
Nicols said one early challenge came in integrating the program with 5CHC’s existing housing navigators and case managers.
To prevent the two groups from getting “siloed” in their roles, Nichols said rotating staff through the site regularly helped expose residents to a wider range of housing and service options.
The staff also ensures that participants are steadily pursuing a path toward permanent housing, and four residents who were unwilling to engage with the program were asked to leave, Nichols said, in order to make room for serious applicants and move people up the waiting list, which is currently 61 individuals long
“We want them to be successful, but we want them to be successful as quickly as possible,” Nichols said. “I think we initially wanted to give people a lot of space to get comfortable, and that certainly is important, but I think we’ve also now recognized that we do need to perhaps project a little bit more urgency.”
With his housing secure and a move-in date set for May 6, Rodriguez said he’s looking forward to settling into daily life and setting his career in motion.
“My days will be driving my truck, doing big routes to the Bay Area, coming home from a hard day’s work,” Rodriguez said. “(I want to) go home, throw the barbecue pit on, relax, watch some basketball — got the NBA playoffs — things like that, and just call it a night, wake up again at 2 in the morning, and do it all over again.”
His new home in Santa Maria is an add-on to an existing house about the size of a one-bedroom apartment, which Rodriguez called “perfect” for his needs.
Rodriguez said he’s thankful for the Cabins for Change staff’s efforts to guide him through every step of the housing process, laying out each stepping stone toward a home until he found a suitable spot.
When he first saw his Santa Maria home, Rodriguez said the experience was “a little overwhelming.”
“I can’t even glorify it,” Rodriguez said. “There’s no words that say what it means to me to have my own place and be able to call it home now.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
