EVERHART VILLAGE
A planned sleeping-cabins project in collaboration with Butte County Behavioral Health.
Everhart Village is an innovative planned shelter project in Chico, CA, in collaboration with Butte County Dept. of Behavioral Health (BCBH), on a lot near the BCBH facilities. It will provide sleeping cabins for 20 to 24 individuals who are existing BCBH clients who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Admission is by referral only, no walk-ins. The village is scheduled to open by Fall 2022.
Fast Facts About Everhart Village
-
Approximately 20 sleeping cabins will be built out with insulation, plumbing, heating, cooling, and electricity.
-
Each cabin will be outfitted with a toilet, sink, microwave, mini-fridge, bed, storage space, and a table with chairs.
-
Each cabin will have a lockable front door.
-
The village will have a community center building with two meeting rooms, two ADA-compliant bathrooms, a kitchen with two refrigerators and stoves, a lounge/ living room, and a laundry areas with two washers and two dryers.
-
Everhart Village will have at least two CHAT staff members on-site at all times.
-
CHAT will provide case management and additional programs from case workers and volunteers to engage the residents, connect them with other services, and teach them self-care skills.
-
Everhart Village residents will be supported in adhering to their medical regimens while Behavioral Health will manage their treatment.
-
The goal for Everhart Village is to bring Behavioral Health clients in, stabilize them, treat them, and give them the support needed to move into permanent affordable housing within about six months so they can be successful in society.
-
All the funds raised for CHAT's 2019 Simplicity Village crowdfunding campaign will be rolled into the Everhart Village project.
Related Links:
-
Informational presentation video about Everhart Village (10/04/2021)
-
Public forum about Everhart Village at 6 pm on Oct. 6th, 2021
-
Press release (12/6/2021) for material donations from Sierra North Valley Realtors (SNVR)
-
Action News Now (12/9/2021): Everhart Village project receives SNVR donation, set to open early 2022
-
Blog post (12/22/2021) about donation of $200,000 from Cal Water
-
Press release (12/22/2021) for donation of $200,000 from Cal Water
History of the Everhart Village proposal
EVERHART VILLAGE PROJECT ANNOUNCED JULY 2020
On 7/21/2020, in cooperation with the County of Butte Departments of Employment and Social Services and Behavioral Health, we were pleased to announce a new emergency shelter project in Chico, dubbed Everhart Village. This shelter will be for very-low-income residents without housing who are clients of Behavioral Health and who need a safe place to stay to recover and stay healthy. Referrals will come only from Behavioral Health. We are working closely with the county to have this open as soon as possible
We're looking forward to being able to help provide shelter for Behavioral Health clients who lack housing and we'll be working hard to raise the necessary funds to make this project a reality. Click here to see the full press release from the county.
Everhart Village is a collaborative program between Chico Housing Action Team (CHAT), Butte County Behavioral Health (BCBH), and Butte County. The program is designed to support people who are un-housed and have been diagnosed with a mental illness. Everhart Village is unique because it provides residents with a sleeping cabin allowing for autonomy over one's living space and a community within the village. Everhart Village will provide sleeping cabins and social services to 20-24 people for six months, with the goal of transitioning them into safe and stable housing. Basic needs will be provided along with intensive case management for the Villagers. CHAT will oversee the day-to-day operations of Everhart Village. Case managers will meet often with the residents to work on housing goals. CHAT’s mission is to ensure access to affordable housing for all members of our community and to provide the support needed to keep people housed. Everhart Village will help residents find income sources, permanent housing and build connections with the greater Chico community.
BCBH will provide clinician services, care management and assist residents with their mental wellness goals. CHAT will oversee the construction and day-to-day operations of Everhart Village, and we’ll work with the residents on life skills, housing goals, and providing opportunities to build community. Everhart Village will utilize interns from different programs at California State University, Chico. Social work interns will provide case management and facilitate group life skill classes. Public health interns will help Villagers connect to health care needs, community resources such as Alcoholics Anonymous if needed, and facilitate groups on healthy living skills. Our goal is to treat the whole person by overlapping needed resources and using a collaborative approach.
Each participant will be assigned a tiny home to reside in, and a case manager who will work with them on transitioning through the program, which is designed so that residents can progress at their own pace within a six-month time frame. The sleeping cabins will include a bed, table, chair, mini fridge, microwave, sink, toilet, and heating and air conditioning unit.
The village will include a resident community center building where residents can shower, do laundry, cook, hold meetings, or relax in the living room. The community center building will have a kitchen, a gathering space for group therapy and life skill classes, laundry facilities, bathroom with showers, clothing closet, a donation store that will be stocked with dry goods and other items that are donated, and staff offices. The community center will be 64 ft by 14 ft, with an 8-foot covered deck that brings the total footage to 72 ft.
There will also be a site-host camper, a gate office, a BBQ area, a covered gathering area, a bike shed containing tools and space for working on bikes, a garden area, and a garden tool shed.
Residents of EV will live on the property and will be able to come and go. There will be a Host posted at the gate from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., seven days per week. Visitor hours will be 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Main staff schedules will vary between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., seven days per week, with rotating, on-call support for the Village Host.
Butte County is currently in need of solutions for our unhoused population. The Butte County Continuum of Care’s 2019 Point-In-Time (PIT) count identified 891 unsheltered people, which was 16% higher than the previous count done in 2017, and it’s almost certainly grown since then. The survey reported that 22% of these individuals reported suffering from a serious mental illness, which shows that there is a significant need for housing and treatment for this population within our community.