Hope Village Community Center opens as funding goal in sight

Nov. 19—CHIPPEWA FALLS — With their latest received grant, Tiny Housing Alternatives has now topped $2 million in pledges, donations and grants, as the organization is nearing its $2.7 million goal.

On Friday, the organization announced it was awarded a $250,000 grant from the Pablo Foundation, bringing their total to $2,068,000.

"The community has just been so generous to us," said Hope Village director Mike Cohoon. "It's amazing to see people get behind what Hope Village is doing. We're in the home stretch."

Cohoon said they applied for the grant a while ago.

"We certainly didn't know the amount; it was a generous amount," Cohoon said.

Retired Chippewa Falls parks director Dick Hebert, who serves on the capital campaign board, shared Cohoon's excitement, noting the campaign really only went public four months ago.

"It's great to reach the milestone of the $2 million figure," Hebert said. "I'm glad the campaign is going so well. We're well on the way to the $2.7 million goal."

Since 2016, Hope Village has built 10 tiny houses to provide transitional housing, and they have been scattered outside several churches in Chippewa Falls and Lake Hallie. Cohoon said 115 people have now stayed in a "tiny home" homeless shelter since the organization launched.

The "Welcome Home" campaign's goal is to create a neighborhood of tiny houses and affordable housing with five duplexes and three six-plex units, with a playground, pavilion, community center and garden. The Chippewa Falls City Council approved a rezoning measure in February 2021 that allows the Hope Village to move forward on that site. The Pablo Foundation grant will go toward this phase of the project.

Eau Claire-based Evolve Architects firm has been hired to design the buildings. Cohoon said he hopes they can start construction on the duplexes and six-plexes by summer or fall 2023, but they want to wait until they have cash-on-hand, not just pledges, to move forward.

Creating a village

The organization purchased a former dental clinic at 1825 Kennedy Road on the East Hill of Chippewa Falls, and the three-acre parcel behind the building. Renovations of that building are now complete, and the Hope Village Community Center is now open. The 1,700-square-foot building features a kitchen, living room, three bathrooms with showers, a laundry, and offices. The organization received a $872,997 grant last year, with some of that money going toward the remodeling costs and purchasing the furnishings.

"It's up and running and functional," Cohoon said. "All of our guests now work during the day. We don't have a custodian. They all have chores. They clean the bathrooms and the building."

The community center also functions as an emergency shelter. It is open from 6 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. daily for the residents in the tiny homes to use.

"It's great to see that community center in use," Hebert said. "The goal is for the people in the tiny homes to progress."

With the center now open, five of the 10 tiny homes were moved from nearby churches to Hope Village in October. Cohoon said the goal is to move two more homes before the end of the year, and the rest will be brought on-site next year.

A tiny home is mobile, built on a trailer, featuring a chemical toilet, heater, chair, table and bed. Each house costs between $5,000 and $7,000 to complete, between construction and furnishings. Most of the units already completed and in use are 8-by-12 feet or 8-by-15 feet in size.

Some of the tiny homes have a single person living inside, but Cohoon said he has a few elderly couples, and also a single mom with several children in the larger of the tiny homes.

According to the permit the City Council approved in 2017, the portable toilet must be emptied daily in the church's bathroom. It also states there is a zero-tolerance policy on illegal activities, and alcohol, illegal drugs and guns or other weapons are banned from the homes.

Chippewa Falls hasn't had a homeless shelter since the Harmony House closed in February 2014. The Chippewa Falls Mission Coalition, a group of 17 area churches, has been working on ways to fill the void since Harmony House closed.

To learn more about the capital campaign, visit hopevillagechippewafalls.org.