As people were asking us hard questions about the Tiny Home Project, one kept recurring: “Where do people go after?”

The approved Tiny Home Project for the First Presbyterian Church of Hayward (FPCH) campus is broken up into two 18-month cohorts – after that time period, the residents are required to move out.  While the Tiny Homes provide the stability and capacity-building resources needed for those transitioning to long-term housing, they are not permanent housing solutions. The FPCH team was haunted by this question because it was a really good one.  We wanted to help our neighbors who were experiencing homelessness to find truly permanent homes.

“Where do people go after?”

We were asked this question by County staff, volunteers, community members, and Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) members. 

So we went to work and quickly found that we are indeed experiencing a housing crisis in Castro Valley and Hayward. There are very few places for folks to find housing, especially affordable housing.  The team did some asset mapping and realized that FPCH has five acres of land – a rare commodity in the Bay Area.  We started imagining how this land could be creatively used, not just for church members and religious activities, but to truly serve the needs of all our neighbors.

After that, we approached Eden Housing about a potential partnership that would both build new affordable housing units and redevelop our space to be a center for community life.  We wanted to be able to house seniors, vets, single teachers, substitute teachers, nurses, hospital staff, and non-profit workers in the neighborhood they serve, while also providing beautiful, accessible, and desirable places for the community to gather and belong.

This proposed project will be an incredible asset to the community.  The current plan would include a public coffee shop with indoor playground, a public outdoor playground, a co-working office space for non-profit workers, public rooftop gardens, multiple retail opportunities for social entrepreneurship and local business, a beautiful pedestrian walkway, a brand new Trader Joe’s with more parking than currently offered,  a renovated gym for community use, a Tap Room and Restaurant, the East Bay’s best event venue for performing arts and public forums, art exhibit space, a gorgeous plaza to hold outdoor events and concerts, AND 199 affordable housing units for our community.

We are convinced that when people see the actual plans, they will become as excited about the project as we are.  Over the last few months we have heard the concerns of multiple stakeholders and have added additional commercial space, parking space, and redesigned entrances.  There is still a lot of work to do and input to gather from stakeholders, but it is our hope that this project would be completed for the second cohort of the Tiny Home Project to literally walk out of the Tiny Homes and directly into their new apartment.