|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Goodness Village will celebrate its fourth anniversary this June and is approaching multiple additional milestones.
Since it opened, the plans have centered on a 7,000-square-foot building that would be the hub of the 28 tiny home community. The two-story building will have a gathering space and prep kitchen on the first floor plus a desperately needed laundry room. Amazingly, the community has made do with a single washer and dryer since its opening. That speaks to level of cooperation between residents and staff. Offices for staff will be on second floor.
The new building is fully funded and will have about a six-month construction time once the building permit is pulled. The Livermore City Council signed off on it earlier this month, marking that milestone.
The second milestone that Executive Director Kim Curtis, her board and the Crosswinds church board and staff are working on is a long-term agreement on the original site plus an expansion plan (if any). Crosswinds owns 35 acres on the former diary site and has ample space for expanding the village likely beyond what is needed for any church growth. The church property is tucked between the Las Positas Golf Course and the driving range east of the San Francisco Premium Outlets complex and other retail and lodging developments.
The parcel is divided by a creek. Adding units will involve a second bridge plus all utilities, an expensive proposition. Crosswinds has transitioned senior pastors with Chris Coli moving on to leading a non-profit serving pastors and ministry leaders. Josh Carman moved up from Southern California to take the senior pastor role about a year ago.
Goodness Village is modeled on a more than 300-unit project in Austin, TX. In both cases, residents (neighbors in the organization’s parlance) can live in the village as long as they want. Each person has their own plan developed with a case manager. Some have transitioned out, five have died and are remembered in a garden on site, but 64% of the original residents are still living there. Some are in their 70s or 80s, while the median age is 59 ½. The opportunity to live in the village for life sets it apart from most government and non-government transitional programs.
Keeping the promise of life-long residency as long as neighbors can live independently likely requires formalizing the pilot agreement for the long term (the units are trailers on wheels to facilitate quicker construction). Each 160-square-foot tiny home has an efficiency kitchen, toilet and tiny shower like you’d find in a small mobile home. Units for adults with disabilities are a bit larger.
Developing formal agreements for the original site (the non-profit is independent from the church with no religious affiliation and pays rent for the property that residents’ fees cover). There’s a big gap that takes fundraising and grants. Curtis and her team staff the property 24-7 so they can de-escalate any situations that may come up in non-business hours. Curtis is the daughter of a cop so she understands the effect law enforcement can have on her residents.
As the four-year anniversary approaches, the concept is proven and it’s time to formalize the arrangements so the future is set.
