RICHMOND TINY HOUSE VILLAGE
Farm and Garden Project
AN EMPOWERMENT-FOCUSED
YOUTH EMERGENCY HOUSING COLLABORATION
Including:
• Richmond Police Activities League
• Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP)
• Hope Solutions
• Rebuilding Together East Bay-North
• SOS Richmond
• Tiny Village Spirit
• USF Architecture and Community Design Program
August 2023
THE CRISIS
According to the most recent point-in-time count,
the number of unhoused people in Richmond
has increased by 90 percent since 2019—to
632 people unsheltered on any given night in
2022. The City ranked first county-wide of major
cities in Contra Costa County having the largest
population of unhoused individuals. Homeless
youth make up 20 percent of the unhoused
population, so as many 125 Richmond youth are
unsheltered each day.
Tiny House Villages have been created in
multiple cities around the Bay Area in recent
years and provide a creative vehicle for providing both emergency and transitional housing while efforts are being made to move individuals into permanent housing. In Oakland, Youth Spirit Artwork’s Tiny House Empowerment Village is one excellent model, now housing 22 youth, ages 18 to 24, while in San Francisco Dignity Moves has opened a promising 70-unit village serving adults.
California’s Emergency Shelter Ordinance provides a means of expediting permits and other elements of the building process making it possible to quickly develop tiny house village projects, in much less time than it takes
for permanent supportive housing to be built.
The time is ripe for Richmond to carry out
a pilot Tiny House Village Project—toward
making use of Tiny House Villages as a viable
short-term solution to Richmond’s housing
crisis.
WHO WE ARE
The Richmond Tiny House Village, Farm and Garden Project is being managed by a Steering Committee made up representatives from project partner organizations, as well as youth, and skilled community volunteers. Fourteen Working Groups will be activated during the course of the project working on specific project components, comprised of volunteer specialists in varied build areas, as well as young adults.
Richmond Police Activities League—Larry Lewis
Richmond Police Activities League (RPAL) programs have been meeting West Contra County young people where they are offering a variety of structured educational and
recreational programs and activities that are challenging yet enjoyable to its members, since its founding in 1982. RPAL is the primary lease holder for our City-owned site and will be operating the Farm and Garden adjacent to the Richmond Tiny House Village, linked to its developing Josh and
Elaina Genser Culinary Center.
Youth at the Village choosing to
do so will have the opportunity to
get involved in the culinary jobs
training program offered through
RPAL.
Greater Richmond Interfaith
Program--Ralph Payton
GRIP is a fifty-one year old multi-
cultural, multi-ethnic coalition of
congregations from varied faith
traditions working together as a
diverse and inclusive collaborative
dedicated to helping those in our community in need to transition to self-sufficiency. GRIP provides a safe and nourishing place that helps transform those who are unsheltered and in need and empowers them to move toward self-sufficiency. GRIP will work as a core partner in our Richmond Tiny House Village, Farm and Garden efforts engaging congregations in “building” the Village, and will also provide food for our Saturday volunteers.
Hope Solutions—Deanne Pearn
Founded in 1997 by a coalition of
local faith communities, to provide
emergency shelter to homeless
individuals, Hope solutions
has grown to be the premier
organization in Contra Costa County
providing permanent supportive
housing and vital services to over
2,200 of the most vulnerable
members of the community.
Hope Solutions will provide case
manegment and housing navigation
services as part of this project.
Rebuilding Together East Bay-
North—J.W. Frye
Rebuilding Together EBN has met a critical need in our community for repairs, renovations and safety modifications to improve the lives of low-income seniors, people with disabilities, veterans and local non-profit organizations since 1992. Rebuilding Together will organize volunteers for the project builds and will publicize builds with its base of congregations, business supporters, and interested community members.
SOS Richmond—Daniel Barth
SOS Richmond brings unsheltered and unhoused neighbors together to address the challenges of homelessness in Richmond. SOS Richmond will assist with project organizing and when it opens will property manage the Richmond Tiny House Village, with consulting support from Housing Consortium of the East Bay.
Tiny Village Spirit—Sally Hindman
Jumping off from successfully project managing creation of Youth Spirit Artwork’s award- winning youth Tiny House Empowerment Village, Oakland’s first legal tiny house village, Tiny Village Spirit will be engaged in project management for Richmond’s Tiny House Village, including fundraising, assisting with organizing volunteers, organizing Steering Committee activities and Working Group contributions.
USF Architecture and Community Design Program—Seth Wachtel Architecture students from University of San Francisco have been engaged in work designing Tiny House Villages around the Bay Area since 2018, as part of their undergraduate architectural training. USF students led by Prof. Wachtel will work with local youth and the project Steering Committee to create architectural designs/renderings for the Tiny House Village.
OUR VISION AND SOLUTION: HOUSING, SUPPORT AND COMMUNITY The City of Richmond currently has 12 units of
dedicated housing supporting unsheltered young
people, ages 18 to 24. Local youth have identified the
lack of stable and affordable housing in the area as the number one obstacle they face in meeting their goals.
Richmond youth have engaged in a visioning exercise
and reported that stable housing, consistent access to
services, and the support of a peer-driven community
could break the cycle of homelessness. Youth’s vision
led to the development of the plan for Youth Spirit
Artwork’s Tiny House Empowerment Village, designed
with supportive services and amenities.
Our new collaboration seeks to change the housing
status quo for unsheltered youth in Richmond—making
innovative, dedicated youth housing a reality through
piloting construction of six dedicated units, tiny houses serving young people living in a small, well supported
community. Supplemental structures to complete the
Tiny House Village will include a tiny house for a Resident Assistant, two yurts, including a Kitchen/Dining Room Yurt and a Community Space Yurt with laundry facilities, an Entrance Security Cabin, and a two-restroom Bathroom Trailer.
DEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE 2023-24
Addressing the homelessness crisis, especially in the Bay Area requires fresh approaches and innovative thinking. To meet that challenge, the Richmond Tiny House Village is being developed in component phases January 2023 through June 2024, with a village move in target goal of July 2024.
PHASE 1—DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURAL PLANS: JANUARY 2023-JUNE 2023 A team of students from USF are working in spring 2023 to complete the architectural plans for the Tiny House Village.
PHASE 2—CONSTRUCTION OF TINY HOUSES AND “BUILDING” WORK :
JUNE 2023-FEBRUARY 2024
Beginning in June 2023 through February 2024 our job training partners Rising Sun Center for Opportunity and Big Skills Tiny Homes will train young people in tiny house construction, building houses for use at the Tiny House Village. Rising Sun and Big Skills Tiny Homes will build a total of three tiny houses as part of this work—all of which will become part of the Village.
Local high schools will be organized to have classes construct four of the tiny houses using YSA tiny house design plans. High schools who have previously built tiny houses using this design include: Latitude High School and College Prep. Lick Wilberding, Bentley, Bishop O’Dowd and McClymonds High School have all participated in youth tiny house village creation in Oakland, helping build houses and other structures. Throughout summer 2023 Richmond YouthWorks participants and volunteers will be engaged in preliminary building at the site.
Gregory Shilling
PHASE 3—COMMUNITY BUILDS: JUNE 2023-JUNE 2024
Led by volunteers from Rebuilding Together East Bay North, volunteers from the interfaith religious community, from local businesses, schools, and from the community at-large will be engaged in Community Builds, constructing all project components including: assembling yurts, building out village infrastructure, constructing the fence and village pathways, hooking up the bathroom building, and multiple other tasks. Interior furnishing will be carried out by volunteers through corporate donated furnishings using the “adopt a tiny house” model engaging congregations decorating
individual houses.
PHASE 4—MURAL CREATION: JANUARY
2024-JUNE 2024
The tiny houses and other village structures
will be painted with murals designed and
created by local community artists, and by
youth artists, with the help of adult artist
mentors.
By Opening Day, all houses will have
completed murals, resulting in a mobile mural
garden of tiny houses on wheels.
PHASE 5—MOVE-IN PLANNING AND
ORCHESTRATION: JULY 2023-JULY 2024
The services partner chosen for the Tiny
House Village, Hope Solutions, will engage
with Richmond youth leaders in creation of
the Program Model, using a resident selection
process connected to the Coordinated Entry
System, with a carefully orchestrated move in
process.
The Property Manager, SOS Richmond,
will prepare documents in conjunction with
Housing Consortium of the East Bay January 2024 to June 2024, and will hire a live-in Resident Assistant/Village Manager in spring 2024.
PHASE 6—GROWTH AND PLANNED NEXT STEPS: JULY 2024 AND BEYOND To address the need for even more emergency and transitional housing serving Richmond youth, our plan is that following careful input and evaluation by residents, staff, Neighborhood Council members and the City of Richmond, the Tiny House Village project will be followed by construction of six additional tiny houses in 2025. We also hope that this project serves as a model for other Tiny House Villages in Richmond and West County supported by local residents and businesses. Tiny Houses are a common sense solution to the housing crisis. Tiny houses are:
• Quick, inexpensive, and easy to assemble
• Movable and adaptable
• Compatible with the Habitat for Humanity community build model • Replicable across location and need
COLLABORATIVE LIVING AT THE RICHMOND
TINY HOUSE VILLAGE PROJECT
The Richmond Tiny House Village will be operated as a transitional-aged youth (TAY) emergency shelter following guidance provided by the City of Richmond’s emergency shelter ordinance. Its Covenant will allow young people to stay a maximum of two years or until youth are placed into permanent housing.
The youth in the Village will be integrated on a voluntary basis into programming offered by our Lead Service Provider, Hope Solutions, and local youth service agencies, where they will access wraparound social services and case management. Over two years the Village will transition youth from homelessness/unstable housing to financial self-sufficiency and stability.
FINANCIAL AND IN-KIND SUPPORT
Capital funds for building the Village will be raised from individual donors, private foundations, congregations, NGO’s and corporations. The draft Capital Budget for the project is $976,536.
In-kind support will be actively pursued through Bay Area businesses including IKEA, Truitt and White, Williams Sonoma, Inc. and more.
Operating funds for the Village will be pursued through the City of Richmond, Contra Costa County and private foundations. The Village Operating Budget is in development.
OPERATING THE VILLAGE
SOS Richmond’s management experience working with unsheltered individuals will be combined at the Village with consulting support from Housing Consortium of the East Bay.
Guiding principles of the operational plans include:
♦ A safe, clean, well-maintained environment;
♦ A model that is fiscally responsible, mitigates risk and manages liability; ♦ A plan that ensures that resident are given every chance to succeed.
Operational costs will be offset by Program Fees from residents. Our model is to use a sliding scale, based on an ability to pay at 1/3 of resident income, and we anticipate that the average monthly program fee income will be $250/unit. Program fees will be used to cover the cost of utilities and operations. Residents will be asked to participate in helping with weekly cleaning and property maintenance.
PROGRAM
The focus of our program model will be on youth jobs training, job placement and academic success. Once a resident is settled in a safe environment, they will be supported by a full range of services and training opportunities that focus on the job and life skills needed to transition toward long-term housing stability.
These programs are currently offered by local youth service providers in Richmond, with demonstrated success. Training programs will be complimented with the provision of comprehensive case management support, leadership training, and social services by our Lead Social Services Provider, Hope Solutions.
For youth to successfully transition to long-term stability Hope Solutions will provide a supportive and caring environment that delivers:
Educational Jobs Training & Life Skills Emotional & Opportunities Placement Support Crisis Support
While in the program, residents will be expected to work or attend community college, and make consistent progress towards long-term goals. Residential community-based activities will be youth-led, complete with restorative justice conflict resolution and community consensus decision making.
The Tiny House Village will make use of a Covenant of behavior based on community accountability and restorative justice. Residents will be accountable both to the program and to each other for helping all community members in achieving their goals.
TRACKING SUCCESS
Program success meeting key goals and objectives
will be tracked by Hope Solutions:
♦ To help youth develop and solidify the skills
they need to be job-ready
♦ To improve health and wellness, mentally and
physically
♦ To set and meet educational and vocational
goals
♦ To progress toward sustainable independent
living
Hope Solutions will be well positioned to measure
outcomes of resident progress through both the
housing and job training program, measuring services
and housing stability throughout their participation. In addition:
- Residents will develop written educational
and/or vocational plans upon move-in. Regular
case management meetings and community
accountability will help support each participant,
updating plans and timelines to track when goals
are met.
- Life skills, health and wellness will be assessed regularly. - Leadership skills will be assessed; residents in the first cohort may apply to become paid community leaders, contributing their experience, knowledge, and skills to tomorrow’s youth.
- Impact and outcomes will be tracked longitudinally over a period of years.
REPLICATION
The Project Team will document the process of planning, building, implementing and operating the program and its impact so the project model can be shared with the City of Richmond toward expansion to create a larger youth tiny house village, as soon as land might become available. Plans and materials will also be shared with interested communities toward replication. The Pilot characteristics and results will be shared via the new web site being developed by Tiny Village Spirit and Latitude High School cataloguing tiny house villages serving unhoused people around the country.
This model Tiny House Village Pilot for young adults, with embedded wraparound services, will be one of the first in the country. As such, our plan is to document and share lessons learned, challenges, successes, policies and procedures, and building plans. Our work will, therefore, have a greater impact and this model can be used to help youth throughout the country!
CAPITAL BUDGET AND SOURCES OF FUNDS
Richmond Tiny House Village Project 2023-24
Capital Budget and Sources of Funds*
Contractual Services (secures site/tests/contracts/policies) $ 15,000 Site Work/Utilities/Electricity/Infrastructure $ 95,000 Parking Lot (Village Section—7 spaces) and Bike Barn $ 28,000 Kitchen Build Out/Appliances $ 30,000
Construction Materials (13 tiny houses, including RA house) $260,000 Fence (includes mural paint and supplies) $ 30,000 Common Room Buildings/Yurts (including hook ups) $ 50,000 Landscaping/Artistic Elements $ 20,000
Pathways (wheelchair accessible) $ 40,000
Gateway/Entrances (including signage) $ 7,000
Restroom Trailer (inc. hook ups and wheelchair ramp) $ 70,000 Security System $ 20,000
Murals/Art Work $ 10,000
Murphy Beds and Furnishings (not including in-kind donations) $ 10,000 Donated Security Cabin (hook ups and improvements) $ 5,000 Project Management/Community Organizing $132,000
Total Development Costs $822,000
Contingency (@ 8%) $ 65,760
Subtotal $887,760
Administration/Bookkeeping (@ 10%) $ 88,776
TOTAL $976,536
Sources of Funds—Summary
Contra County Measure X $ 65,000 Committed
Anonymous Family Fdn $ 15,000 Committed
The Choyce Firm $ 2,500 Committed
Mormon Church—Natl. $ 120,000 Pending
Mechanics Bank $ 10,000 Pending
Fairy Godmothers $ 1,000 Pending
Mormon Church—Oakland Region $ 25,000 In-Dev
HEDCO Foundation $ 100,000 In Dev
Silicon Valley Comm. Fdn. $ 100,000 In Dev
Irwin Foundation $ 100,000 In Dev
Kaiser Permanente Foundation $ 50,000 In Dev
San Francisco Foundation $ 75,000 In Dev.
Other Family Foundations $ 80,000 In Dev.
Blue Shield Foundation $ 25,000 In Dev.
Banks & Corporations $ 50,000 In Dev.
Individual Giving Campaigns $ 85,000 In Dev.
Religious Funders $ 50,000 In Dev.
Congregations $ 25,000 In Dev.
TOTAL $ 978,500
In Kind Contributions (Furniture) $ 15,000
TOTAL $ 993,500
*Assumes rounding, does not include In-Kind Volunteer Labor For additional information, please contact Sally Hindman, Coordinator, Tiny Village Spirit at: