The First Tiny Home Community for the Homeless Opens in Los Angeles

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Hope of the Valley, a faith-based non-profit organization, opened L.A.’s first-ever tiny homeless community on Feb. 1 in North Hollywood to help fight the state’s homeless crisis.

The village sits along Chandler Boulevard, in a half-acre plot the north end of North Hollywood Recreation Center, and has room for up to 75 people.

The site was formerly proposed for a charter school.

Each tiny home is 64 square feet in size, has two beds, heat, air-conditioning, windows, a small desk and a front door. The non-profit also provides site, meals, showers, case management, housing navigation, mental health, job training and placement for residents.

“One of the most powerful things is when we see people come into this shelter, people that had been living out in the elements, in a tent, under a freeway,” said Ken Craft, president and CEO of Hope Valley Rescue Mission.

In order to live in the community, the individual must be experiencing homelessness,18 years or older, and living within a 3-mile radius.

“When they walk into a place and they see it’s theirs, there’s four windows, there’s fresh air coming in, they can actually stay warm at night, they can stay cool when it’s hot, ” said Craft.

There are at least three other tiny home villages that are under development in San Fernando Valley. One of these include a Caltrans property, also based in North Hollywood, which is expected to house as many as 150 people in May.

Pallet Shelters, a manufacturing company in Los Angeles, constructed these villages. 

This project was manufactured in response to an agreement between the city and the county to create beds for people who live under nearby freeway overpasses. After a non-profit called LA Alliance for Human Rights filed a lawsuit in federal court and accused public officials of moving too slowly to help the homeless, the agreement between the city and the county was made.

“This cabin village is such an important step forward because with this capacity, with the two bridge home facilities we already have and with the two additional cabin villages we’re building right now, we will have enough capacity to shelter every single unhoused person who is currently living on a sidewalk in my district this year,” said City Councilman Paul Krekoria.

The second tiny community is scheduled to open in April.