The Chandler Street Tiny Home Village in Los Angeles.
Brittany Chang/Insider
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state will spend $30 million to build 1,200 tiny homes this year.
These homes will shelter the state's unhoused population in locations like Los Angeles and San Diego.
Los Angeles has been home to six tiny home villages operated by nonprofit Hope of the Valley.
On March 16, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state will spend $30 million building 1,200 tiny homes this year as part of California's effort to decrease its unhoused population by 15% by 2025.
The Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village.
"The crisis of homelessness will never be solved without first solving the crisis of housing – the two issues are inextricably linked," Newsom said. "We are tackling this issue at the root of the problem by addressing the need to create more housing, faster in California."
The Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village.
These 1,200 tiny homes will be distributed across four communities — Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose, and San Diego County — and beds will be prioritized for people who currently reside in encampments.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Los Angeles will receive the most at 500 units while San Diego will be dealt the least with 150 tiny homes.
Omerali Senakayli / EyeEm / Getty Images
At this time, it's unclear who will be building these tiny shelters or where exactly they'll go …
Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission
… although it has been reported that the units could be as small as 120 square-feet, Adam Beam reported for the Associated Press.
The Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village.
But in the meantime, we could turn to Los Angeles as an example of what this collection of tiny homes might look like.
The Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The city is no stranger to spending millions of dollars on these unique shelters.
The Arroyo Seco Tiny Homes Village in Highland Park, California.
Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission
The 200 beds at one of its latest villages, Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village, each cost about $43,000, bringing the cost of the village to $8.6 million.
The Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village.
This site is being operated by Hope of the Valley, a faith-based nonprofit that has been deploying prefab tiny homes made by Washington-based Pallet to create these "tiny home villages" throughout Los Angeles.
The Arroyo Seco Tiny Homes Village in Highland Park, California.
Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission
It all started in February 2021 with its first Chandler Street Tiny Home Village, a colorful collection of tiny homes tucked in a previously "forgotten" corner of North Hollywood.
Tiny homes at the Chandler Street Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
This "test case" for the city as Rowan Vansleve, CFO of the nonprofit, called it, then became a success.
Tiny homes at the Chandler Street Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
And shortly after it opened, the village began accumulating a waitlist for its beds.
Inside a tiny home at the Chandler Street Tiny Home Village.
Now two years out, Hope of the Valley has opened six tiny home villages in the county, providing 908 beds to unhoused Angelenos.
The inside of a tiny home at the Arroyo Seco Tiny Homes Village in Highland Park, California.
When you think of homeless shelters, you probably think of congregate shelters, not these unconventional colorful villages.
Pallet
However, there are drawbacks to these traditional shelters, such as the cost and time it takes to construct them.
The Arroyo Seco Tiny Homes Village in Highland Park, California.
Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission
The open and shared spaces can also be triggering or traumatizing to people who've been living on the streets, which could stop people from seeking help, Amy King, Pallet's CEO, told Insider in 2022.
The Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Pallet builds the tiny homes used in Hope of the Valley's tiny home villages.
An entire village can then be built in a little over a week, according to the company.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Hope of the Valley's villages are outfitted with these colorful Shelter 64s, which are all located in an enclosed community surrounded by a fence.
The Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
For some unhoused people, these tiny homes are certainly better than a congregate shelter.
The Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
But inside, the units are far from a plush apartment. They provide the bare minimum …
The Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
… which includes one or two beds, an air conditioner and heater, a desk, lights, outlets, and maybe most importantly, a lockable door.
Inside a tiny home at the Chandler Street Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
"For people who've experienced trauma, having a locking door can sometimes become the difference between accepting help getting off the street and making a step towards permanent supportive housing," Vansleve told Insider in 2021.
Inside a tiny home at the Chandler Street Tiny Home Village.
The small homes don't have enough space for bathrooms and showers. Instead, there are separate on-site laundry and bathroom facilities.
Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village's bathroom.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Residents also have access to communal dining facilities and three meals a day.
Communal areas at the Chandler Street Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
The goal of these non-congregate shelters isn't just to provide a temporary bed for those who need it the most. It's for residents to find permanent housing.
The Arroyo Seco Tiny Homes Village in Highland Park, California.
Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission
To help expedite this process, the villages all have on-site security and caseworkers to aid in services like mental health treatment and job searches.
The entrance into the Chandler Street Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
Drugs, alcohol, and weapons are not allowed inside the villages.
The Arroyo Seco Tiny Homes Village in Highland Park, California.
There are, of course, difficulties with running these communities.
The Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village.
Brittany Chang/Insider
At a similar 40-unit tiny home village in Everett, Washington, many of the residents are experiencing trauma, behavioral difficulties, and substance use, John Hull, director of strategic initiatives with Everett Gospel Mission, told Insider in 2022.
This substance abuse keeps residents in the Washington village — located near Pallet's manufacturing site — for longer than six months.
Brittany Chang/Insider
To compare, the sites in Los Angeles want their residents to find permanent housing within half a year.
Tiny homes at the Chandler Street Tiny Home Village.
"The difficulty is if Pallet doesn't work for them, there's not a whole lot of other options in our community," Hull said at the time. "We're not necessarily equipped to handle pretty severe mental health or psychosis."
Brittany Chang/Insider
But for those who do find success in the program, residents stay for an average of three to six months before transitioning to permanent housing, Amy King, Pallet's CEO, told Insider.
"We're just people who were trying to help these participants better their life," Priscilla Rodriguez, a case manager at the Chandler Street Tiny Home Village, told Insider in 2021. "They're not trying to harm the community in any way, they're trying to get themselves back into the community."
The Chandler Street Tiny Home Village.
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