Building Homes, Hope in Baja

Without a doubt, one of our most intractable problems is supplying housing to all who need it. Some among us have found a solution, but the solution is not local. Instead, it works in certain parts of Baja California.

On hardscape hillside between Tijuana and Tecate, small wood-framed houses dot the dusty lots, simple, boxy, brightly painted. They represent the work of a small band of workers, many of whom regularly visit from their Southern California home bases.

Los Altos resident Charles Coons didn’t set out to become a builder. His background was retail, 12 years as an assistant manager at Trader Joe’s on Bellflower Blvd from opening day in 2008. Around five years ago, a friend asked if he wanted to help build a house in Mexico. He said yes.

The work is coordinated through Baja Christian Ministries, where Coons, who attends Cottonwood Church, volunteers. The process is straightforward: gather a team of up to 30 people, bring in a contractor to guide the process, and build a home in about two days.

Each structure runs about 550 square feet: wood-framed three rooms, two bedrooms, an open living area, sometimes a loft. A window in the front room, one or two in the back.

The build itself runs almost like choreography. At 7 a.m. materials arrive and work begins, at 9 or 10 a.m., sidewalls go up, plywood on the outside, drywall and electrical at 1 or 2 p.m. By late afternoon: roofing crews are hammering overhead. “It’s a house kit,” Coons said, but that undersells it. Plumbing, thus running water, is not included. An outhouse costs about $1,200. But as Coons points out, the only drinkable water in the area is bottled.

In some cases, the build stops at a “shell” – just enough to get a family under a roof. The cost: about $10,000, unfinished. In others, volunteers push further: a stove, a refrigerator, a kitchen table, even quilts and towels brought from home, bringing the total to about $12,000.

Much of the lumber comes from the U.S., sometimes donated – big-box retailers like Lowe’s have supported efforts like this. Land is typically donated or purchased cheaply compared to California prices, removing one of the biggest barriers to housing.

Families often choose the color. Some add personal touches as soon as the structure is complete. Volunteers bring furnishings, cookware, bedding. The goal is simple: make it as close to “move-in ready” as possible by the end of day two.

Then comes the moment that keeps people coming back. “The couple walks into the house,” Coons says. “Everybody cries.”

Workers often leave inspirational messages on the interior of the drywall. Coons’ choice is Psalm 37:4 about “desires of the heart.”

The hardest part is who gets the house. Volunteers hear stories that are difficult to compare: a family that lost everything in a fire or a mother and children moving from couch to couch while trying to hold things together.

Coons recalls hearing about a man who lost his drummer job after a club raid landed him in an Ensenada jail. Though he later won his appeal, the damage was done – income gone, housing lost. His family scattered, then slowly reunited. These are the people who end up on the list.

Ask Coons why houses can go up in two days in Baja when similar efforts stall in California, and he doesn’t hesitate. “From what I understand, the bureaucracy makes it impossible here,” he says. Permitting, zoning, inspections can stretch timelines into months or years in the U.S. In Baja, there are no governmental barriers. The result is visible on those hillsides: clusters of 10, 20, sometimes more homes, each one marking a weekend’s worth of labor.

On the road to Tecate, Coons spotted rows of these houses dotting the hill, though when he pointed out several homes to his companion, he was told that they were from another crew, their work evident to the experienced eye.

Of course, the cost of the domestic land is a major consideration. In the case of Mexico, the estimated cost of a buildable lot is $40,000, a fraction of the cost in the Long Beach area, starting at $400,000 to a million. Only in outlying areas like Joshua Tree and Aguanga, east of Temecula, does the cost of buildable land approach that in Baja.

Most volunteers aren’t professionals. Coons himself jokes that he became known as “the demo guy,” and later, “the chuckwagon,” hauling tools and supplies to the build site. “I’m over 50, doing drywall and flooring,” he says. “It’s hard work.” But it’s also addictive. Despite State Department warnings about travel into Mexico, Coons can often be found in Tijuana and environs. As BCM posted, “In 35 years of ministry, BCM has never experienced an incident involving cartel activity.”

Coons estimates he helped build 50 homes, ten to 20 in Rosarito Beach, four in Ensenada, the remainer in Tijuana.

Church groups form the backbone of many teams, though the appeal goes beyond religion. The structure is simple, the results immediate, and the impact visible. “You don’t see people saying, ‘I’m homeless, I need food,’” Coons says of these builds. “You see the change right in front of you.”

Back in Long Beach, Coons has also seen the struggle from another angle: homelessness on city streets, people rotating locations every few days, avoiding shelters they consider unsafe. “There were efforts, tents, grants, but things fall through,” he says. “I’ve been told the homeless consider shelters dangerous.“ That contrast, between how hard it is to provide even temporary shelter locally and how quickly permanent structures can rise just across the border sticks with him.