photo by Karen Laslo
Pallet shelters now comprise “Genesis.”
by Leslie Layton
posted Nov. 9
Part II of a two-part series. Read part I on surviving extreme conditions here.
Beyond the gate that secures southeast Chico’s “Genesis,” the little grey sleeping cabins are in orderly lines. There are suggestions that this is home, for the moment, to occupants who have planted a cactus garden, or leaned a bicycle against their pallet shelter, or left a walker by the door.
The 177 pallet shelters – the village named Genesis — provide autonomy and greater security than the occupants, who were previously unsheltered, probably had before they moved in. They’re a key piece in what success the City has had in responding to homelessness, a product of the 2022 settlement in the Warren v. Chico lawsuit.