San Rafael considers tiny homes for homeless

Four months after the closure of a camp for homeless people in San Rafael, city officials are studying a potential strategy to keep people off the streets: tiny homes.

Already, the city has solicited information from property owners, nonprofits and social service providers to get a project off the ground. Now officials want open it up for public discussion to see if they should continue to pursue the idea.

An online City Council study session is set for 4:30 p.m. Monday. Meeting information is on the city’s website at bit.ly/3HzJcfl.

“This is a natural next step,” Mayor Kate Colin said. “The study session Monday is really to have a council discussion and to get community feedback, looking at what is the criteria needed for a successful pilot project.”

The concept of interim housing, or tiny homes, has exploded in popularity throughout the Bay Area as communities grapple an influx of homeless camps.

Marc Sabin, the San Rafael’s homelessness consultant, said models in Sonoma County have proved that the tiny home concept works.

“It’s a way you can quickly put up places for people to live in safety, with their pets, with their partners, and live in privacy with dignity,” Sabin said.

Sabin said the city has a $500,000 state grant and a county match that it could use to get the project started.

Sabin said the idea would be to create structures with a roof, a door and a lock. Each is estimated to cost $17,500. A village of 20 shelters would cost $350,000, according to estimates.

The discussion of tiny homes comes after the dramatic closure of the city-sanctioned camp called a “service support area,” or SSA. The camp, set up in 2021 at a commuter lot below Highway 101, was intended as a temporary solution to the swell of homeless camps during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The site provided security, restrooms, handwashing stations, garbage disposal and services such as case management and medical treatment, according to the city. Caltrans had agreed to allow the camp to operate for one year so residents could benefit from coordinated social services aimed at getting them into housing.

The strategy received mixed reviews. One resident filed a lawsuit over alleged hearing loss from traffic noise and unsanitary conditions. In August, when it came time to close the camp, its occupants were granted a temporary restraining order, barring Caltrans from shutting it down.

The remaining residents said they were given short notice, were promised housing and had nowhere to go. The camp closed Sept. 1, a week after the restraining order was lifted.

Jason Sarris, a former camper at Novato’s city-run site, has worked to support the homeless residents of San Rafael.

“I was discouraged that they closed the camp without having a plan in place,” Sarris said. “I know it was Caltrans, but the city knew for a year that it was going to close.”

Sarris said he likes the idea of a tiny-home village.

“If the homeless have a voice, that would be a good thing,” he said. “I applaud the city for trying to do something.”

The city tried to have a transition in place prior to the camp closure, but finding land to create the interim housing was hard to come by, Sabin said.

“If we found the right parcel, what could we do with this $1 million in funding? How many units, what do services look like?” he said.

City officials said they housed 21 people through services offered at the SSA. St. Vincent de Paul Society was assigned 17 people who were registered but yet not placed in housing.

Christine Paquette, executive director of St. Vincent’s, said that by Feb.1, about half of those 17 clients will have been moved into apartments or sober living center.

As for the interim housing proposal, Paquette said the city has strong partnerships in the county and community based organizations to make it work.

“I believe that interim housing is a benefit to our continuum of care, if it is ‘housing focused,'” Paquette said. That means everyone who is participating has agreed to work with their assigned case manager find housing as soon as possible, she said.

Ashley Hart McIntyre, the county’s homelessness policy analyst, agreed. She said the county has 160 year-round shelter beds and continues to look at other models to house the homeless.

“Interim housing can be really helpful if it’s paired with permanent housing for people to move to,” she said.