Yesterday marked a historic milestone for Hope Solutions. Together with our partners: Grace Presbyterian Church, Firm Foundation Community Housing, HomeAid Northern California, and the City of Walnut Creek, we got the first look at the construction of small homes at a “pop up” factory in Dublin and the concurrent site development at the church.
Hope Village Walnut Creek at Grace Presbyterian Church represents a bold step forward in addressing the pressing issue of affordable and accessible housing in our community.
Yesterday, a small group visited the factory where the homes are being built in Dublin, and the site of Hope Village at Grace Presbyterian Church in Walnut Creek. This project will be the first of its kind in Contra Costa County and is a part of our Homes Heal Hearts initiative to create cottage communities on faith-owned land.
Our effort has been grounded in three key principles: innovation, collaboration, and generosity. Factory built homes are innovative, cost effective and time efficient housing and faith institutions indeed have an asset in the form of unused land that can meaningfully contribute to the solution. While these homes are being built in a factory in Dublin, crews have simultaneously commenced work at the church site in Walnut Creek.
The vision for this project has been nurtured by the dedication, passion and unwavering commitment of numerous individuals, organizations, government agencies and public servants who have worked tirelessly in a remarkable display of unity to realize this dream. This project achieves another goal of blending public and private funds to both build the homes and secure long term operating resources. Through the generosity of HomeAid of Northern California, Pulte Homes and their trade partners, hundreds of thousands of dollars in donated labor and materials are being contributed to the construction. The City of Walnut Creek provided critical funds from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and our Homes Heal Hearts capital campaign donors have generously and enthusiastically helped to close the gap. Finally, we are gratified by Housing Authority of Contra Costa County’s award of Project Based Vouchers (PBVs) for every unit, securing the operating for this community for 30 years. None of this would have been possible without the vision and commitment of Grace Presbyterian Church who is leasing the land to Hope Solutions.
As we toured the factory and visited the site, one couldn’t help but envision the individuals who will live in these dignified places they soon will call “home.” Each cottage we build will not only fulfill a housing need but together with our outstanding professional services, our residents will begin to heal from their trauma and re-build their community.
Two other projects are in the pipeline: Hope Village Pittsburg and Hope Village Antioch.
- Hope Village-Pittsburg was awarded $1.77M in Measure X funding from the County Board of Supervisors to support its development. This project will build fifteen 1- or 2-bedroom cottages for homeless youth (ages 18-25) on undeveloped faith-owned land. The project also includes room for on-site services center and a computer lab. The Measure X competition was fierce. The County received over $100M in requests for $23M in funds. Hope Solutions was one of only 11 projects funded out of 22 requests and received the 2nd largest award for housing development. With this funding, we will leverage additional public funding for operating support. We expect this project to be completed in 2025.
- Hope Village Antioch was also awarded $2.5M from the City of Antioch. Similar in design to the Pittsburg project, this 23-unit project will house families and singles on faith-owned land. Several additional congregations throughout the County are exploring the opportunity to build a cottage community on their site. We are gratified by the traction we are gaining and for our deep partnerships with our faith communities as they demonstrate their commitment to support our neighbors.
We are thankful to our supporters who are committed to helping us to break down barriers, break cycles of poverty, and break open doors of opportunity and HOPE for a brighter future.