Lakeport >> Cornerstone Villages volunteers are determined more than ever to create a community of inexpensive, tiny homes. With the group’s latest partnership they hope they are laying the foundation to do so.
North Coast Opportunities (NCO) is now a fiscal sponsor.
“What Cornerstone Village is dedicated to doing is getting people off the ground, out of tents and into tiny homes or equally safe places,” organizer Derek Joel said.
The name itself is inspired by the group’s mission to provide a basic stepping stone for people in order to create stability and allow them to move forward with their lives.
A Community Action Agency, NCO is about addressing issues and needs of a community through grassroots efforts, with a special interest in advocating on behalf of low-income and disadvantaged people. Based in Ukiah, NCO serves both Lake and Mendocino counties.
“His project is in line with solutions for immediate housing with a long-term possibility of repurposing in the future,” NCO Executive Director Patty Bruder said. “We believe in what they’re doing.”
For about a year Joel and a core group of volunteers have been working to make Cornerstone Villages a reality in Lake County.
The partnership with NCO was months in the making. Originally focused on the chronically homeless, Joel gave a presentation on the benefits of tiny homes to the Continuum of Care, a program dedicated to ending that cycle of poverty.
“It just seemed like a creative get down to solving the issue in a way that’s financially feasible,” Bruder said of his presentation. “It has a lot of great qualities to be able to build upon. They are hard working. They are action oriented. They are great.”
The Valley Fire served to add fuel the group’s efforts.
“I’m on fire right now, more than motivated to get this done,” Joel said.
He’s been working “beyond full time,” meeting with a multitude of volunteer groups and committees to make the dwellings that would provide mid- to long-term solutions for people who lost their homes and have no alternative housing.
With NCO’s partnership, Cornerstone Villages is an official nonprofit, giving it “oversight and legitimacy to move forward,” Bruder said.
A staff member has been assigned to work with Joel to “find possible funding sources and ways to grow and improve,” she said.
What’s most concerning now is the forthcoming winter and the looming possibility of heavy rains. The first two days of November alone brought almost a third of the average rainfall Lake County normally gets this month.
And there are still displaced Valley Fire survivors camping in tents and RVs, several dozen just at the Hidden Valley Lake Campgrounds. Joel has been visiting the site on a nearly daily basis and has been working closely with those staying at the camp to move them out of the location, which is only meant to be temporary, and into tiny homes.
The structures come in several sizes as small as 60-square feet up to 100-square feet and are made using material acquired from either in-kind or monetary donations.
For the last month, Cornerstone Village volunteers have been meeting in Lakeport for weekly “build parties” Saturdays and will continue to do so. They’ve constructed several units already and are on track to have 30 completed by Thanksgiving, Joel said, enough to house those living at the Hidden Valley Lake Campgrounds.
The biggest obstacle at the moment is finding a village location that’s sanctioned, organized, clean and safe. Ideally, Valley Fire survivors will have a place in the Middletown area to keep them near their schools and jobs.
After his recent presentation with the Clearlake City Council, Joel has also been meeting with city staff in order to find an appropriate location for a village of its own for the city’s homeless population.
Aside from serving as immediate temporary housing for Valley Fire survivors in need, Bruder sees the tiny homes being reused for the chronically homeless, farm labor or at a women’s shelter.
“I think it’s just an idea who’s time has come,” Bruder said.
The next Cornerstone Villages build party takes place Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1950 Parallel Drive in Lakeport. Volunteers are encouraged to bring snacks, tools and extra building material if possible.
For more information on Cornerstone Villages, visit www.facebook.com/LCTinyHomeVillage.
