Developers of tiny home village finalizing site preparation, plan to start infrastructure

The construction of approximately 80 fully furnished tiny homes named The Other Side Village and scheduled to be occupied by the chronically homeless in a sober living environment, at 1850 W Indiana Ave, in Salt Lake City, is back on track after clean-up of detected environmental concerns.

According to a public notice published in June, fill material at the site needed to be replaced because it contained harmful chemicals, and “we are currently removing green waste (at the site) down to the native soil,” said Cathy Holt, The Other Side Village Development Director, noting that developers are now bringing thousands of cubic yards of infill and environmental concerns have been mitigated.

With the new soil in place, developers will start excavating to form the infrastructure, said Holt, and then buildings – including a community health center and work-enterprise structure – will go up.

All the tiny homes are being built offsite, she said, noting that they will be brought and placed onsite in 2024, after the infrastructure is in place. The tiny homes are being built through a partnership with The Other Side Village, the University of Utah’s School of Architecture, Design+Build Salt Lake, and Denton House Interiors. A model tiny home is currently on display at The Other Side Academy.

The village will instill a peer accountability model with experienced mentors to guide, teach, and empower residents and keep the community safe, clean, and orderly. “In addition, we’ll work with Utah-based partners to combine our proven peer-to-peer based therapeutic community model with medical, mental health, and case management services,” Holt said.

Before occupation can happen, future residents must go through an intensive training program called the Village Prep School. Students are recruited directly through outreach to homeless camps and through referrals, she said, and include veterans, adults with substance abuse issues, those with mental and medical diagnoses and those involved with the justice system.

The free prep school is a mandatory six-month, residential program that opened in June, said Holt, adding that one participant has already graduated and 10 people are current residents. To qualify as a student an applicant must have been homeless for a year or more, meet federal low-income guidelines, and be willing to become drug free and live in a close community.

“It is a therapeutic group home, patterned after the Other Side Academy, to overcome addiction and behavioral issues,” said Holt. “In our peer-to-peer mentoring program, they develop deep emotional bonds in which they support each other and hold each other accountable for their actions ─ very much the way close-knit families do. This intensive growth, healing, and training will take most people six months to a year to complete,” she said.

“The Other Side Village Prep School is an interim and much-needed experience between living chronically homeless and moving into a village home. It is a vital part of the process. It's in the prep school that participants will get stabilized and establish or maintain healthy relationships with a therapist, a caseworker, their village coach, and other participants,” Holt said. “Residents learn to trust others and extend trust, speak up, engage in community, have accountability, and form boundaries. It's in this residential space that future village residents will learn about a peer driven culture and better understand what village life will be like. Graduating from the village prep school eases the transition from a perpetually unsheltered lifestyle to a healthy lifestyle of independent living and being an active part of an inclusive, clean, sober, and connected neighborhood,” she elaborated.

“By the time a person has graduated from The Village Prep School and moved into The Village community, they have taken control of their life and engaged with the community,” Holt said. “As a person enters the village community they are embraced by the other residents and brought into a lifelong support group. It’s basically an extension of the therapeutic process experienced in the village prep school. Even though residents will live in permanent private homes, their social bonds remain and are continually nurtured. Mentoring and coaching by our village staff also remain an ongoing part of community life.”

That community life extends beyond social bonds to the opportunity to take on professional responsibilities. “Each resident is offered a job tailored specifically to their ability to work ─ no matter how great or limited that may be. No one is required to work, but all are given the opportunity to work. Working builds self-reliance, expands a person’s sense of self-worth, and brings a greater sense of purpose to their lives,” said Holt.

Mental health and wellness care will be provided on-site by Valley Behavioral Health, medical care will be provided by Fourth Street Clinic, Village Coaches will provide non-clinical case worker services, and dental care will be provided by Sugar House Dentist in cooperation with Crown Council, Holt said. “We are continuing to build relationships with other care providers along the Wasatch Front to ensure consistent, reliable, and ongoing care for The Other Side Village residents.”

Phase one of the Other Side Village calls for approximately 80 fully furnished homes of 250 to 400 square feet to be built on guarded, gated city-owned land that is being leased to the village for $1 for 40 years. As the homeless population in Salt Lake City continues to rise, the completed community is eventually expected to contain up to 430 tiny cottage homes for the chronically homeless, with strict peer counseling and surrounding support services. Social enterprises and other employment opportunities will be scaled to accommodate the growing population.

Of the 80 tiny homes to be built in phase one, approximately 60 will be for residents and staff, and another 20 homes will be set aside for The Community Inn, space reserved for visitors or anyone wanting to see what it’s like to stay in a tiny home. According to plans, The Other Side Village housing will be arranged in neighborhoods of approximately 25-35 furnished homes each with amenities and green spaces to include a small pavilion, laundry, and a multipurpose room for social gatherings.

The tiny-home village project got underway in April of 2022 when SLC Mayor Erin Mendenhall asked The Other Side Academy (because of its proven track record of dealing successfully with marginal populations) to investigate a tiny-home village because “the city is experiencing a shortage of low-income housing to keep people off the streets,” she said.

The Other Side Village has nonprofit status and is founded on the conviction that housing alone will never solve homelessness, but community will, said Holt, noting that residents will be required to pay a minimal rent. Most of the funding for phase one has been raised through private donations.

The Other Side Foundation is the parent organization of The Other Side Village, The Other Side Village Prep School, The Other Side Academy SLC, and The Other Side Academy Denver. The Board of Directors for the Foundation is the board over all the entities.

The Other Side Village wants to be “held accountable,” said Joseph Grenny, chairperson of The Other Side Foundation, adding that the village will not solve all the homeless problems but will give hundreds of people the chance to get off the streets.

For more information on the village project go to https://www.theothersidevillage.com.