The Innovative Vertical Home Village on H Street hopes to use joint housing and service resources to address the Davis housing crisis
By MADELEINE YOUNG — city@theaggie.org
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On Feb. 7, Paul’s Place, an innovative four-story home village project in Davis, opened with the goal of providing permanent and transitional housing for at-risk and unsheltered community members. The facility is owned and operated by Davis Community Meals and Housing and includes four emergency shelter beds, four staff offices, a kitchen and dining area, laundry, five bathrooms, a resource center and a community room.
Executive Director of Davis Community Meals and Housing William Pride explained how the idea came about and how Paul’s Place was developed.
“Paul’s Place was an idea that kind of formed back in 2016 and 2017,” Pride said. “We had a facility at the location where Paul’s Place is now, that we’ve been using for many years and it became really rundown and at the same time, there [were] discussions happening because Sutter Health in Sacramento had started an initiative called the ‘Getting to Zero’ program and they were going to put a lot of money [to] fund developing programs to help homeless people and other folks in need. Through those communications, we came up with the idea to replace what we already had there with a facility called Paul’s Place.”
Paul’s Place is not only a transitional and permanent housing program, but it also provides different resources and programs for residents, making it the first of its kind in Davis. Pride explained some of the services Paul’s Place offers.
“It combines a couple of different programs all in the same building, not just apartments,” Pride said. “It’s a shelter, resource center and a transitional-housing program set aside exclusively for people who are homeless in the community in Davis and surrounding Yolo County.”
City of Davis Mayor Will Arnold addressed the recently finished project during the State of the City address on March 1. Arnold said that this project could be the blueprint for future projects that aim to help unsheltered and at-risk populations.
“A key piece of our housing portfolio is finding ways to provide housing for those most in need of a roof over their heads,” Arnold said. “I was so proud to be able to speak and participate in the opening of Paul’s Place. It’s a new vertical tiny home village that includes emergency services and supportive housing, supported directly by the city of Davis. It’s going to be something that has never quite been done this way anywhere and this could be a model for how we unite housing, shelter and services for folks most in need.”
Paul’s Place received funding from multiple private sources including Sutter Health and Partnership Healthplan of California, as well as local government aid throughout the building process.
“The city contributed approximately a million dollars in American Rescue Plan Act Funds to get it over the hump with its financing,” City Manager Mike Webb said at the State of the City address.
City and County officials originally came together to commit to creating Paul’s Place in 2017 after recognizing the need for additional funding to create solutions for the local housing crisis. Five years later, the project is finally complete.
“We got a lot of community support as being a program that the city would like to see happen,” Pride said. “Throughout the process, we’ve had loads of community and political support from the city which led to us having a grand opening with almost 200 people celebrating. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a program for homeless folks where a community comes out [to] celebrate it. So it was nice to see the people in Davis rallying around the issue and ensuring its completion.”
Written by: Madeleine Young— city@theaggie.org
