Tiny homes to house 6 referred by homeless nonprofits

Apr 26, 2023

CHICO — Six tiny homes in the Chapman neighborhood, built by Chico developer Slater & Son, will soon permanently house residents who are referred by six local nonprofits serving low-income households.

The tiny home village, called Hope Village, is a collaborative project between Slater & Son and Chico Housing Action Team to provide affordable housing while also involving community organizations and local churches.

CHAT Social Service Director Amber Benedict said each tiny house is associated with a nonprofit referral — and — with a local Church that will donate $250 to subsidize rent for the resident and to send volunteers as peers for the resident.

Nonprofits that will refer residents include Catalyst Domestic Violence Services, Jesus Center, Chico's Pallet shelters, Torres Community Shelter, Nation's Finest and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Churches involved include Grace Community Church, Life Church, Firm Family Church, Neighborhood Church and Bidwell Presbyterian Church.

Slater & Son President Brandon Slater said the project was born from meeting community leaders talking about unaffordable rental prices in the area. He said he wanted to find out what it takes to build tiny houses at a low cost that fulfilled the minimum building requirements.

"It just got me thinking, I wonder what it would cost to build something. Let's just make it a game and see how inexpensive we could build some units," Slater said.

Slater said his company mainly builds for-profit commercial buildings and will sometimes take on a project to benefit the larger community. This time they chose to build tiny homes to rent out at an affordable rate.

"It's a side job, I’d call it," he said. "I’m not a residential contractor; this is the third project I’ve ever done."

So Slater set out and purchased a lot he’d planned on putting in the tiny house village, and met with the Chico Housing Action Team and churches to come up with options on making rent affordable.

The cost of building the six tiny homes — each 324 square with a kitchen, laundry, bathroom and bed — was about $650,000 total, Slater said.

"Each unit costs about $110,000 … from my perspective that's ridiculous. I have a goal of trying to figure out how to do it for less," He said. "For me, I had no idea what it was going to cost. … To me it's not low enough."

He said his goal of the project was to have a 6% return, but the cost of the project was high and needed subsidies in order to make the rental price affordable.

Slater, CHAT and local churches worked together to figure out cost, and the end result is the renters are asked to pay $500 and the churches are donating $250.

The remainder of costs will be paid with grant funds from CHAT, said Bob Trausch, founder and volunteer for CHAT.

In addition to providing $250 donations for rent, Slater said churches will also have volunteers visiting the residents.

"I’m a part of a church community and I just hear amongst the church community this desire to help out. It's really hard to find a spot that they can fit in, so this kind of birthed out of conversations with pastors."

The residents themselves are not obliged to attend service; rather they will have an opportunity to regularly meet and know other community members.

Trausch said church volunteers visiting can help regain one's trust in themselves and in the community.

"They become a friend of the house," which is important in building trust with people who may have become alienated because of their life experiences, he said.

"This is an opportunity for our social service workers to come in, and it's also for the church. They’re coming in just to (have) someone there; a friend; someone to listen, someone to help," Trausch said.

Benedict said residents who are referred by the nonprofits will continue their case management with CHAT while living at the tiny home village.

Slater said the project educated him about laws and regulations involving tiny houses and may consider similar projects in the future.

Residents are expected to occupy Hope Village beginning the week of June 12.

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