CHICO, Calif. - More tiny homes are in the works in Chico as crews break ground for the Everhart Village. They are specifically designed to help those struggling with mental health issues.

There will soon be 20 tiny homes for the homeless at 540 Cohasset Rd. This project is unique because not only will the people be staying here, but right on the other side of the fences, they'll have access to behavioral health services.

"We see what is happening in our streets, we see the number of people who are unhoused, we see the number of people who are walking down our streets and in our parks talking to themselves,” said Robert Trausch, with Chico's Housing Action Team (CHAT). “It's so incredibly important for this project to happen."

Now the project that CHAT has been working on for years is finally happening.

"In this case, we house the most vulnerable population we have around here and in this case it is innovative," Trausch said.

Innovative because people will get to stay in one of the tiny homes while seeking services at behavioral health.

"We provide wrap-around services with both mental health, drug and alcohol, physical health and support services, pharmacies services, everything in one integrated campus which has never been done before in California," said Scott Kennelly, the Butte County Behavioral Health Director.

They are calling the community Everhart Village – named in memory of Dan Everhart who was a social justice advocate in Chico.

"[Everhart] spread seeds of a better world all over this city, some of those seeds are maturing like the tiny house village we are here to celebrate," said Butte County Supervisor Debra Lucero.

Anyone from the community will be able to make a referral, then the behavioral health teams will come out onto the streets and meet people where they are at.

"It's very one-to-one and you have a team that is really connecting with that individual person on a personal level," Kennelly said. 

"It frees up the police for other calls because so many of the calls are involved with people who have a mental illness, so we are helping the police department, we are helping the city be cleaner, and we are helping people change their lives so it's a win, win, win," Trasuch said. 

Once CHAT completes all the infrastructure, they hope to have this site up and running come September. 

The village will have at least two CHAT staff members on-site at all times.

CHAT will be having an online community forum on Thursday, July 14 via Zoom. They will be discussing the current progress, what's next for the site construction and taking questions from community members. 

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Tori Apodaca joined the Action News Now team in February 2021 as a reporter. Reach out to Tori with story ideas at 4news@actionnewsnow.com.

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