Happiness dances out of Michelle Sanchez's room at Buena Tierra, as visitors cluster at her doorway on Thursday, hearing her story of how she came to this small apartment full of butterflies and hummingbirds and with her little dog, Kiko, at her side.
“I’ve been here since February,” Sanchez says, arriving by way of Isla Vista’s Hedges House of Hope and the DignityMoves tiny homes in downtown Santa Barbara. “I loved those tiny homes,” she said. “You got one little unit all to yourself.”
At Buena Tierra, the new permanent home for folks who were once homeless, Sanchez has found many of her old friends. They barbecue together; they walk their dogs; they play guitar in the sun. She gestures to her new apartment, talking about how her five brothers have come for a visit and she’ll be seeing her grandchild soon. “This is better than a tent,” she says, laughing.
