Q. What does SALT + LIGHT do exactly?
A. Salt + Light’s mission is to cultivate community by providing food, dignified homes, jobs and healing for our neighbors experiencing chronic homelessness in Tulare County. We cultivate community through various forms of outreach including partnerships with local agencies and our own Food Truck Outreach program. Additionally, we are ultimately building a community of our own, The Neighborhood Village, that will provide permanent homes, purposeful work, and wrap-around health and healing services to help our neighbors experiencing chronic homelessness return to themselves.
Q. Why is your organization named Salt + Light?
A. Salt + Light is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization founded by Adrianne Hillman. While S+L is not a religious organization, she is deeply inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ and the teachings from his Sermon on the Mount, where he introduces the idea of being salt and light on Earth. We recognize the simultaneous grittiness and beauty in our work of addressing the complex homelessness crisis, so we believe our name suits us well!
Q. Is everyone welcome at Salt + Light?
A. The team at Salt + Light is committed to being an organization that is inclusive of everybody, always. No one is ever excluded due to their faith traditions (or lack thereof), gender, sexuality, disability, or race. We actively seek out and embrace diverse perspectives, valuing individuals from different backgrounds, experiences, ages, religions, ethnicities, races, sexual orientations, and genders. This inclusivity extends to our employment practices, volunteer engagement, and collaborative efforts. We intentionally serve all populations, removing barriers that may hinder access to our organization. We firmly believe in providing equal opportunities for everyone to engage with our organization.
Q. Why are you building a community?
A. The Salt + Light community project, The Neighborhood Village is inspired by the Community First! Village in Austin, Texas. We believe the number one cause of homelessness is a profound, catastrophic loss of family. This is why we firmly believe that housing alone will never solve homelessness, but community will. The longer our neighbors are on the streets, the more traumatized they become and the more difficult they are to reach. We believe that the only way to create true and lasting restoration for folks who have experienced the trauma of chronic homelessness is through a relational community model.
Q. How many homes will be available at The Neighborhood Village?
A. In our first phase, we will provide 50 homes to folks experiencing chronic homelessness. We plan to continue to build homes long after “Phase I” is complete if we can obtain more land.
Q. What does “chronically homeless” mean?
A. A person who is “chronically homeless” is someone who has been without shelter for one year or more or the aggregate of a year or more over a three-year period.
Q. Why doesn’t the government build this?
A. The government model for addressing homelessness is a “one size fits all” and housing-first approach that historically doesn’t provide the highly staffed, robust services, monitoring care, and assistance our community will provide. We were able to secure some government funding for the construction of the project. However, those funds did not fully cover the build, nor will they cover the wrap-around services/staffing that Salt + Light will provide to facilitate the intensive care necessary to create lasting healing with our neighbors.
Q. Is The Neighborhood Village just a tiny home village?
A. No. The Neighborhood Village is not a tiny home village. The houses in TNV are manufactured mobile homes secured to a permanent foundation. Tiny homes typically lack plumbing and other amenities, and our homes include a bathroom and kitchen. While tiny home village concepts are gaining popularity and can be useful in helping neighbors to settle and heal, we believe that it is not the housing type that matters (as long as it is a dignified living space) nearly as much as the community built within it. Helping people who have been extremely traumatized to heal happens through relationships, community, dignified income through purposeful work, and wraparound services. We may have tiny homes in future phases, however we do not have tiny homes for housing at this time.
Q. How long can folks stay in your community?
A. Our project provides PERMANENT homes for our neighbors. They are never expected to leave, unless they choose to or are evicted because of a violation of their lease agreement. Our neighbors must follow three rules to maintain residency in our community: 1. Pay Rent 2. Obey Civil Law 3. Obey Community Rules.
Speaking of permanence, one of the most beautiful parts of our community is our Memorial Garden, where our neighbors who pass away can be honored in death. One of the greatest fears of our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness is that they will die alone, be buried in an unmarked potter’s grave, uncelebrated and unnoticed. We intend to honor our neighbors not only in life when they live with us, but also in death. That act what it means to truly bring someone into a forged family. They can stay with us forever.
Q. How do you choose who gets to live in The Neighborhood Village (TNV)?
A. We will utilize Coordinated Entry in partnership with our local Continuum of Care, Kings Tulare Homeless Alliance and Tulare County Health and Human Services Agency. There is a list that is shared between agencies that is housed in HMIS (Homeless Management Information System) which gives us a complete history of each person, including their intensity of need.
Q. If people find out about this, won’t we just attract more people experiencing homelessness just flock to Tulare County from other places?
A. Because we are utilizing HMIS, we can track whether or not people are from Tulare County. We prioritze people who have the greatest needs, are chronically homeless (a year or more of homelessness or the aggregate of 1 year over a three-year period), and have been so within the continuum of care for over a year. In addition, ~85% of people experiencing homelessness in Tulare County are native to or have next of kin in Tulare County.*
*According to the Pathway Home Report conducted in 2019 and Point In Time Count in 2022
Q. What are the requirements for a person to live at TNV?
A. A person must…
Pay rent and adhere to their lease agreement
Follow civil law (just like your neighborhood)
Follow community rules (no overnight guests, two cars per home, two animals per home, all animals are required to be on leash unless in dog park, etc.—Like HOA rules)
Q. What happens if people don’t follow the rules?
A. After three occurrences, they will be evicted and asked to leave.
Q. Do you drug test people?
A. No. Just like someone cannot knock on your door to ask for a random drug test because of the neighborhood you live in, neither can we. If it spills outside the person’s front door and becomes a civil law issue (drunk and disorderly conduct, public assault, dealing drugs or indecency, for example), then we will contact law enforcement when necessary and issue a written warning. After three, they will be evicted.
Also, we are unlike other affordable housing in that we have wrap-around services on-site, including alcohol and drug counselors, social workers, case managers, as well as NA and AA meetings weekly. We know that recovery in the cases of addiction is important for successful healing and return to purposeful life. We also know that the underlying cause of addiction is trauma, and we don’t expect people who are still living on the streets (in survival mode and experiencing continual trauma in that environment) to get clean. We believe that with the intensive care and high staff-to-neighbor ratio, we will see better rates of recovery and less recidivism than other housing projects.
Q. Do you have services for people who suffer from mental illnesses?
A. Yes. We have a robust Neighbor Care Department designed specifically with the mental health needs of our neighbors in mind.
Q. What happens when the staff goes home?
A. Our village is unique because we will have missional residents–people from the community at large who choose to live at TNV as a calling. These folks will purposefully provide the relational needs that our neighbors will have after hours and will also act as our liaison with law enforcement and first responders.
Q. What will keep this from becoming a neighborhood full of crime and problems?
A. While we can’t guarantee that TNV will be free of crime and problems, (as it is with ANY neighborhood), we have designed this community with both the safety of our neighbors and the surrounding Goshen residents in mind. Contrary to popular belief, we know that our neighbors who have experienced homelessness are highly vulnerable to predators, and we intend to have security cameras as well as many eyes and ears on and in TNV to keep predators out. Salt + Light also maintains strong relationships with law enforcement and will partner with them to mitigate crime and danger. Trespassers and criminal activities will be reported and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Q. Are there background checks for neighbors? What about sexual offenders?
A. HMIS provides us with history on clients, and we will go on a case-by-case basis to determine whether or not a neighbor’s criminal history (should there be one; homelessness is not a crime) would preclude them from residency at TNV. There will be children and families living in TNV, therefore people who are registered sex offenders will not be eligible for residency.
Q. How can I help?
A. Click here to see how you can help us inspire others to join the movement of Salt + Light!