Wells Fargo Co. has partnered with Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission as the official corporate sponsor of the largest tiny home village in California, kicking off the collaboration with a large donation.Hope of The Valley’s new Alexandria Park Tiny Home Village in North Hollywood serves people experiencing homelessness. The bank announced its corporate sponsorship of the project with a donation totaling $100,000 to aid in the ongoing effort to eradicate homelessness in California and beyond.“We’re striving to go above and beyond just the grants – right, anybody can write a check,” Jack Olree, vice president of social impact and sustainability for Wells Fargo, said in an interview.
In addition to the first donation, the bank will provide ongoing support for the Alexandria Park Tiny Homes Village. “Our plan is to engage the greater Wells Fargo team for financial literacy training, and also our recruiting team for skills-based volunteering around resume writing, interviewing skills, in conjunction with the Hope of the Valley service providers, hopefully helping residents to obtain meaningful long-term employment and further support the sustainability of that end goal of helping them up and out.”The Alexandria Park development, located at 6099 Laurel Canyon Road, opened its doors on April 26. The village, designed and built by the city of Los Angeles, consists of 103 units, providing 207 beds, and will provide a pathway for people experiencing homelessness in the area to find permanent housing. Wells Fargo’s grant will provide funding to Hope of the Valley for servicing the village, including providing three meals per day for residents as well as sanitation and social services. Tiny home projects take a fraction of the time to build and assemble compared to traditional housing projects, at just a portion of the cost, making them an affordable and scalable solution to the current housing crisis. Each 64-square-foot home comes equipped with two beds, storage space, two electrical outlets, heating, air-conditioning, four windows and a locking front door. Residents of the tiny home have full access to social services including case management, housing navigation, mental health services, substance abuse counseling, as well as job training and placement, supported by the Wells Fargo funding. Unlike homeless shelters, tiny homes allow couples to stay together, as well as keep their pets with them, which are terms often cited by people experiencing homelessness as reasons they continue to live on the street instead of in shelters. The homes are intended to provide interim housing, and within a three-to-four month period, the majority of residents should be matched with permanent housing resources and the unit can be filled with another client seeking permanent shelter.“We could not be more thrilled to have the support and backing of such a well-respected and upstanding establishment such as Wells Fargo,” Hope of The Valley Chief Executive Ken Craft said in a statement. “Thanks to their generous donation, we look forward to a longstanding and groundbreaking partnership to further our fight against homelessness and provide aid and relief for the impoverished community in Los Angeles.”
Wells Fargo Donates to Tiny Homes
