Property Profile: Tiny House Empowerment Village (THEV), Oakland

The Tiny House Empowerment Village (THEV) was created in response to the growing epidemic of youth homelessness in the Bay Area. The THEV is led by Youth Spirit Artworks (YSA), a Berkeley-based art and job training program for low-income youth. Homeless youth themselves played a large role in designing and building the village.

YSA had originally hoped to build the THEV in Berkeley to be closer to their studio on Alcatraz Avenue but faced pushback from the neighboring community. After many months of advocacy and relationship-building with Oakland officials, in 2019, the City of Oakland granted YSA a three-year lease of the 633 Hegenberger site where the THEV is located today.

From 2019-2021, over 2000 volunteers have helped build the village, which now includes 26 tiny houses, communal bathrooms and showers, a kitchen yurt, a yurt for gathering and creating art, and community garden. The youth from YSA believed that the THEV should be a place where residents can feel free to express themselves. They called upon young artists from around the bay area to drench the village with colorful murals.

The THEV is integrated into YSA’s existing program, which includes social services, case management, and art and job training programs. The THEV also includes a health clinic to serve the residents and surrounding community. Technically an emergency shelter, the THEV functions as transitional housing where residents can live up to two years. Residents will work with case managers to earn an income and move into permanent housing as soon as possible.

YSA has been documenting the process of planning, building, and operating the THEV. They plan for the THEV to function as a blueprint for other affordable housing projects for homeless youth around the country. 

Funding: YSA raised funds from diverse sources for the project including the City of Oakland, the City of Berkeley, Barretta Family Fund of the Chicago Community Foundation, Episcopal Impact Fund, Catholic Campaign for Human Development, Berkeley Pilgrimage Foundation, the Walter S. Johnson Foundation, Witkin Charitable Foundation, Frederick Isaac Philanthropic Foundation, and over 400 individual, business and congregation donors.