Livermore Tiny House Village Reaches To Serve Homeless Residents

LIVERMORE, CA — A new housing community aimed at supporting local residents who struggle with homelessness opened last week in Livermore after a local pastor sought to establish a local mission project with which his congregation at CrossWinds Church could help their neighbors.

Goodness Village is a 28-unit community that will provide permanent and sustainable housing to those who have struggled with maintaining a permanent place to live. The church, along with the City of Livermore, turned the vision of Pastor Chris Coli into a reality. The community is made up of “tiny homes” but also provides support services for those in need.

The community village is designed to offer sustainable and affordable living to those who call the Tri-Valley home but that need a place to live, the group said in a news release. In addition to housing, Goodness Village provides its residents with services from an onsite vocational program, mental health support, substance abuse support and case management.

Recent studies have shown that 57 percent of people experiencing homelessness in the Tri-Valley were Alameda County residents for 10 years or longer while 83 percent had lived in the county for a year before losing their housing.

The collection of “tiny homes” are considered so because of their compact size, but the houses offer residents with a bed, bathroom, and kitchen. While CrossWinds Church provided the land for the community, HomeAid Northern California and Builder Captain Trumark Homes completed the infrastructure and site development, according to a news release.

HomeAid California partnered with Trumark Homes and Tiechert Construction to provide more than $400,000 on in-kind donations for the project. FIRM Foundation Community Housing has served as project managers after launching a similar tiny homes village in Hayward at First Presbyterian Church.

Other project supporters included Wood Rodgers, Gates + Associates landscape architecture and planning, KTGY architects, Tennyson Electric, Coastal Lumber and McCall Landscaping, according to the release. The effort was also led by Scott Haggerty, former Alameda County supervisor, who attended the village's grand opening last week.

Coli, the pastor at CrossWinds in Livermore, first got the idea for the Livermore community after seeing a similar community while on a trip to Austin, Texas, last year. He returned home and wondered how his congregation could help bring something similar to the Tri-Valley area.

“Goodness Village is truly a labor of love showcasing how the private sector, local government and non-profit organizations can partner together to meet the immediate needs of our local community in a big way,” Coli said.