Village is church’s way of helping people get back on their feet

By Sam Richards

Staff writer

Wednesday, December 25 (8:00 a.m.): These new tiny homes still have the equivalent of “new car smell” – in fact, workers were still putting the finishing touches last week on the interiors of six small units on the northernmost parking lot on the grounds of Grace Presbyterian Church just outside Rossmoor.

Dec. 10 was ribbon-cutting day for Hope Village, a small cluster of new prefabricated cottages established to provide dignified housing and essential supportive services for seniors experiencing homelessness.

About 80 people were on hand for Hope Village’s formal opening ceremonies outside the church on Tice Valley Road just outside Rossmoor, which included short speeches by Mayor Cindy Darling, Contra Costa County Supervisor Candace Andersen and the Rev. Mark Burnham of Grace Presbyterian, among others. Many attendees toured the new tiny homes.

The project is six 250 square-foot micro-homes, each with a large wheelchair- accessible bathroom with shower, mini-fridge, stovetop and kitchen sink. A seventh building houses an office and laundry room, and there is a spot in the back, outside, for eating and gathering.

No one lives in these units yet. Debbie Purcell, director of external relations for Hope Solutions, one of several partners in the Hope Village project, said future residents will be screened and vetted by staff at Pleasant Hill-based Hope Solutions, which will provide case-management services for those tenants. Tenants need a source of income, either from a job, public assistance or a rental-assistance program such as federal Section 8 housing vouchers.

Other Hope Village partners include Firm Foundation Community Housing, HomeAid Northern California (a nonprofit developer of residences for people either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless), the Walnut Creek Homeless Task Force and the MultiFaith Action Coalition.

Hope Village is the first affordable tiny-home community established on land owned by a Contra Costa County faith group, but it’s likely not the last. Purcell said faith-based groups in Antioch and Pittsburg are looking seriously at doing similar projects.

Projects like Hope Village, the first such one in central county, were made much more possible by the 2018 passage of Assembly Bill 2162, which requires cities and counties to streamline the approval process for housing projects, including a minimum number of “supportive housing” units whose tenants would be eligible to receive comprehensive support services. Walnut Creek officials see projects like Hope Village fulfilling a need for housing in general, and as affordable housing specifically.

The units were built at a factory in Dublin and placed on the Grace property in October. Purcell said each one has its own foundation. Taking donated materials and volunteer labor into account, each of the buildings cost about $200,000, Purcell said – far cheaper than would have been possible otherwise.

Grace Presbyterian officials first revealed plans for Hope Village in July 2021, as a meaningful action to help seniors in their community (many of its parishioners are seniors, including from Rossmoor). The project received a decidedly mixed reception, as many Rossmoor residents’ and other neighbors’ initial impression was of a homeless encampment such as those common in Oakland and San Francisco (and visible in central Contra Costa County) coming to Rossmoor’s doorstep.

Such impressions were countered by aggressive outreach efforts by Grace Presbyterian and other Hope Village partners – most notably a February 2022 presentation at the Event Center – that helped quell public fears about what was planned. The project broke ground in October 2023.