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Peek over the fence of one narrow building on Alcatraz Avenue in Oakland and you’ll see a handful of people buzzing around half a dozen tiny, multicolored houses. They are homeless youth and volunteers, building what organizers say is the East Bay’s first tiny home village for homeless young people.
“I get to watch young people who are in a very tough spot do better,” said Mary Stackowitz, 27, who experienced homelessness as a youth. “It’s magical.”
The project was organized by Youth Spirit Artworks, an interfaith job-training nonprofit focused on homeless and low-income youth. The group’s founder, Sally Hindman, is quick to remind anyone that every detail of Tiny House Village, which should be ready for move in by the end of August, was thought of by the young people themselves. They’ve imagined, designed, and are now building 24 tiny houses which they hope will soon be theirs.
In 2019, more than 700 Alameda County residents between the ages of 18 and 24 weren’t able to find a place to sleep, according to a UC Berkeley study. The county only has 36 shelter beds designated specifically for homeless youth, said Hindman.
COVID-19 has been especially tough on youth, according to Colette Auerswald, a pediatrician and associate professor of Community Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. There is no data on how many 18 to 24 year-olds have become homeless since March, when Bay Area shelter-in-place orders took effect, but social workers and nonprofit organizations say the pandemic is pushing more young people onto the streets. Scarce couch-surfing gigs, reduced shelter space, and crowded care facilities are forcing young people into homelessness. Many low-income youth were also quick to lose their jobs. Hindman said Youth Spirit Artworks has seen demand for help double since the pandemic started.
“It’s bizarre to imagine why we’ve overlooked the needs of young adults,” said Hindman. And she doesn’t mean just housing. The Tiny House Village project will provide transition homes, but it’s also been providing dozens of homeless and underserved youth with jobs.
Stackowitz, who is now an independent artist, experienced homelessness in the Bay Area for five years and was there, in 2016, when the project was first brought to the table. It wasn’t an easy process, she said.
“I don’t think this project should’ve taken four years,” said Stackowitz. “We got a lot of no’s for two and a half years.” In April, Oakland agreed to house the village, which will border Hegenberger Road.
The $1.2 million dollar project, managed by the Housing Consortium of the East Bay and funded by nonprofits, congregations and the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, will house 22 homeless youth, one manager, and two resident assistants. Hindman said she knows this won’t solve youth homelessness, but said the village model is cheap and easily replicable.
“There’s a giant American crisis in affordable housing,” said Hindman. “Tiny houses are a part of the solution.”
