CHICO — At a first-of-its-kind, Chico homegrown shelter program, people coming out of a year or more of homelessness are finding stability in their day to day, and importantly, trust in help and humans.
The Chico Housing Action Team’s 20-cabin Everhart Village completed one year of service on Sunday, providing secure housing, food three times a day, showers, laundry and mental health treatment to people coming out of chronic homelessness.
The residents at the village are clients of Butte County Behavioral Health, located a short walk away from the village. Mental health professionals can come visit them at their cabin, or have meetings in their office.
Since opening Feb. 23, 2024, Everhart Village served 26 people with housing and mental health support, consistently enough to receive mail and ID cards; to obtain income; to rest and “get out of their flight or fight trauma brain, and start rebuilding some sense of normalcy (and) stability,” said Caitlyn Patterson, program director for the village.
“All of our folks have been chronically unsheltered … so they’re used having to spend their whole day trying to survive,” Patterson said. “When they get here, that’s the big thing — let’s start building a daily routine.”
Of the 26 served in the year, six have moved into permanent housing — exceeding expectations considering the needs of the population, according to Lizzy Young, director of CHAT.
Having secure housing, enough to get consistent treatment, has been one barriers to housing for the population, Patterson said. But residents here are now able to have that security as they work on treating mental health at least one time per week.
Importantly, residents are able to open up to trust after being told no so many times and fail to succeed at traditional shelters.
“Oftentimes our folks do not come with existing trust, which is understandable right — a lot of them have just been let down over and over again,” she said. “Trust building is No. 1 here, and also community building.”
Patterson reports that 78% of people who exited the program successfully moved into permanent housing, and 87% have exited or are actively working on stabilization and housing. More than 1095 meals were served, assisted with help by community members; 750 showers were taken; 450 loads of laundry done, and 60 skill building workshops attended.
She said the only time someone involuntarily exited the program was because of consistent unsafe behavior. But staff here are different, she says, and try multiple approaches to reach one’s housing goals, even if they don’t meet them in a timely fashion.
“We’ll give them chance over chance, what are the barriers here,” Patterson said. “We try really hard not to give up on people here. We do things differently.”
Chico Housing Action Team completed Everhart village in December 2023 after breaking ground in 2022. It is operated through community donations and grants, and volunteer opportunities are available at chicohousingactionteam.net.
