Behind a colorful wooden fence adorned with inspiring quotes, Richmond’s first interim housing community for unhoused young adults is taking shape. Called Tiny Village Spirit, the project will offer temporary rooms and support services to help residents ages 18 to 24 transition out of homelessness.
In Contra Costa County, there are more than 100 unhoused young adults — and only 13 units of emergency housing targeted specifically for 18- 24-year-olds. The need for resources is great, especially in Richmond, which is home to the largest homeless population in the county, according to the latest point-in-time count.
The new tiny home project, at 175 23rd St., will help increase the emergency housing stock by 12 beds.
“So, on the one hand, we’re doubling the number of units for unhoused use in Richmond,” said Sally Hindman, executive director of Tiny Village Spirit. “But still…it’s just bare bones.”
Hindman said the county needs more affordable housing projects to combat homelessness, but that takes years and millions of dollars to build. Interim housing sites, like the Tiny Village Spirit, offer a cheaper and faster way to get people inside and connect them to services such as case management, mental health support and employment. Residents can stay up to two years, but the project guarantees that no one will exit back to the street.
Hindman said she wanted to focus on young people because “they really need a chance.” Many unhoused youth, research shows, are former foster children, survivors of abuse or neglect, or young people pushed into homelessness by economic hardship.
“I don’t rank the neediness of different unhoused people, but I do feel that young people, they don’t get to choose who gives birth to them,” Hindman said. “For a lot of people, when they’re 18 or 19 and they’re unhoused, it’s literally of no fault of their own. They landed in a situation with an equation that didn’t add up, and it’s not their fault.”
That sentiment seems to have resonated with Richmond residents. Hindman, who spearheaded the development of a similar project in Oakland and tried to do the same in Berkeley, said she was pleasantly surprised that city officials and community members welcomed the project with open arms.
She said she has also had more than 3,000 volunteers from various interfaith organizations building the site every weekend, which is expected to be completed by the end of September. The timeline was pushed back because materials, including wood, fencing and tools were stolen from the site earlier this summer, Hindman said.
Prospective residents will go through in-person interviews and complete written applications to qualify. Staying at the site will be free. Each person will have their own unit with a Murphy bed that folds into a desk. Inside, they’ll find a handmade quilt donated by a local congregational church; outside, the village will be lined with murals designed by local youths. The site will also have a communal bathroom, kitchen and hangout space.
For Hindman and many of the volunteers building the village is an act of faith. A practicing Quaker, Hindman has welcomed help from churches, synagogues, and religious groups across the region.
Suzanne Fischer, who made her way up from St. Lucy’s Church in Oakland, said she jumped at the opportunity to volunteer when she heard about the project.
“When your heart’s soft and when opportunities come up, your heart kind of wants to do that. It’s not a should or have to. I get to and I want to,” Fischer told Richmondside as she paused from installing windows at the Richmond Tiny Homes site on a recent weekend. “I find things like this very inspiring because it’s creating a little moment of blessing in an area and for a community that needs it.”
Fischer said what also made this volunteering opportunity so special was that it was family oriented — anyone from any age group could pick up a tool to help build this site.
“”
I find things like this very inspiring because it’s creating a little moment of blessing in an area and for a community that needs it
— Volunteer Suzanne Fischer
Roni Alfaro, the construction supervisor, helps teach volunteers like Fischer how to install a window. He said for younger children, he teaches them how to properly paint a big wall, and there is always a project for anyone.
“Most volunteers have never done construction, so you just teach them step by step, you go along with them, and it’s like a school,” Alfaro told Richmondside. “It’s just awesome to see all these people getting together and putting their piece of grain into it…and seeing it all come together.”
For the youths, by the youths
A core tenet for the Tiny Village Spirit team is providing a beautiful environment as a way to provide dignity for people. Hindman turned to high school students to create the art forthe site.
The fence surrounding the village is made up of more than 550 messages of solidarity, mostly conceived of by a team of 14 high school interns, five of whom come from the city’s Richmond Youth Works program.
“We asked them what are the messages that you think youth who are coming off the street need to hear in order to feel uplifted and empowered?” Hindman said. “And so young people have painted these darling good wishes and blessings from every tradition.”
Every 12th board has a message of solidarity for the LGBTQ community because youths from that community are disproportionately impacted by homelessness.
More than 20 Richmond high school students also submitted designs for murals to be painted on the tiny homes, of which 18 were selected and then approved by the city’s arts and culture committee on June 10.
Youth Works intern Rene Gutierrez Garcia has taken on the role of youth organizer for Tiny Village Spirit. The Richmond High alum who currently attends Contra Costa College said the experience has been life-changing.
“I was able to kind of not only build the village, but build myself,” Garcia said. “I was able to talk to people, even though I’m so introverted. I’ve also just built physical endurance.”
He said he has made new friends, improved his public speaking — especially by advocating for this site in front of the Richmond City Council — learned valuable life skills such as gardening and drilling and gained meaningful work experience.
Emiko Donatiello, a freshman at Piedmont High School, signed up to volunteer through youth nonprofit Piedmont Community Service Crew. She has been volunteering a couple of times throughout July and said it’s been neat to learn how to use the power tools, see a project come together and give back to the community.
“Experiencing how it feels to build these structures and stuff it really makes you think about how all these buildings are built and stuff and really makes you appreciate being able to live in a house,” Donatiello said.
Piedmont Community Service Crew founder Ken Li said the organization helps empower local youth through community service projects. Their latest project is designing, building and fully funding the welcome center for Richmond’s Tiny Village Spirit, but the youth group has made a name for themselves because of their work building tiny homes across the region.
“One of the things I strive for is for our group to not be like what I call the stereotypical teen volunteer group,” Li told Richmondside in front of the construction. “The difference is that I want us to be self-sufficient, where we kind of provide the whole picture.”
A patchwork of community organizations
The Piedmont Community Service Crew is just one of several organizations helping to bring the Tiny Village Spirit to fruition.
Greater Richmond Interfaith Program, known more commonly as GRIP, has a soup kitchen conveniently located across the street that offers free food for volunteers who help build the tiny homes.
Richmond Police Activities League partnered with Tiny Village Spirit’s farm and garden. Tiny Village Spirit’s orchard is already coming to life, with volunteers planting nearly 100 donated fruit trees — from cherries and peaches to lemons, limes, and kumquats.
University of San Francisco’s Art and Architecture department developed the renderings for the village. And other local organizations, including SOS Richmond, Hope Solutions and Tentmakers, are donating time, resources and funding.
The capital budget for the project is $978,000. Tiny Village Spirit secured a $9,000 grant from the City of Richmond and funds from Contra Costa County, but the project is 90% privately funded, Hindman said. The Mormon Church, for example, made a sizable contribution with a $77,000 grant. Bay Area businesses including IKEA, Truit and White, as well as Williams Sonoma, Inc. have made donations.
Tiny Village Spirit Board member Michael Glickson, who also sits on the City of Richmond’s economic development Commission, said he is ecstatic that Richmond is getting its first tiny homes project, especially because it is serving young adults. He also noted that the site is part of the city’s larger vision for its arts corridor.
“This is just another cool thing about Richmond,” Glickson said. “Richmond has got so much going for it, and it’s so unknown and has a bad rep, so anytime something good is happening in Richmond, it’s like ‘yay.’”
Are you collecting furniture etc. to go into the units?
Hi Vicki. Yes, we are currently collecting items for both our community space kitchen and diningroom yurt, as well as for the livingroom yurt and for our tiny houses. To learn more about our specific needs text: Sally 510-282-0396. We are grateful for your kindness in inquiring!