Health & Fitness
Oma Village Advances with Challenge Grant and Video
Watch our video about Oma Village, which has received a $300,000 challenge grant that matches donations made before June 30.
The Oma Village project to create 14 small rental homes for low-income working families is moving forward with help from a $300,000 challenge grant from the Marin Community Foundation.
The foundation will match dollar-for-dollar any donation Homeward Bound raises for Oma Village, up to $300,000, between now and June 30, 2013.
A new Oma Village video highlights progress so far at the site at 5394 Nave Drive, which Homeward Bound purchased in 2012. The site formerly was used as a 30-bed residential treatment program for people recovering from alcohol and substance abuse.
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“Oma Village will create critically needed, stable family housing for low-wage earners in our community,” says Mary Kay Sweeney, executive director of Homeward Bound of Marin. “We are thrilled with this leadership grant and our partnership with the Marin Community Foundation.”
“We’re excited about this bold move on the part of Homeward Bound to provide housing for individuals working hard to bring stability to their lives,” says Thomas Peters, president and CEO of the Marin Community Foundation.
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“To have this development in our own backyard is a plus,” he adds. “It brings home the idea that it’s sometimes our closest neighbors who are struggling and who need help to live with dignity and safety.”
The planned 14 one- and two-bedroom units will be energy-efficient, prefabricated buildings from Blu Homes, which manufactures its designs at a Vallejo factory. The company created the 2012 Sunset Idea House in Healdsburg.
The primary cause of homelessness in Marin is the high cost of rental housing combined with low incomes from low-wage work or public benefits. A biannual count of homeless persons by the County of Marin found 1,220 homeless people on Jan. 29, 2011, including 155 families with 247 children. The 2013 count occurred Jan. 24 but results have not been tallied.
Homeward Bound plans to give priority for the new rental units to families already living in transitional units and with children enrolled in Novato schools. With rents estimated to vary from $500 to $600 per month, Oma Village is envisioned to be affordable even to families with jobs in the low-wage service sector of Marin’s economy.
Along with the challenge grant, the Marin Community Foundation granted an additional $300,000 grant to support development of Oma Village. The foundation also made a $1,000,000 construction loan to the project.
Other significant funders include the County of Marin, City of Novato and the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael.
For more details, please see the Oma Village flyer or contact Paul Fordham at 415-382-3363 x211.
