Creating Affordable Housing Options in Chico, CA

While operating a seasonal winter shelter at local churches years ago, CHAT co-founder Leslie Johnson recalls learning a lot about the local homeless population, particularly those who lived quite literally on the streets. “The people who tended to come in were older people, middle age people —people who were really fearful and at risk being outside,” Johnson said. Many of them also had disabilities. “We had envisioned mostly men, but there were a lot of women, and a lot of people with health and mobility issues,” she said. What Johnson and other volunteers saw early on tracks with recent national data showing that more than 40 percent of people who live on the streets report having a disabling condition. When CHAT began its master leasing program— renting houses and providing its formerly homeless residents with supportive services—the organization did its best to accommodate each individual’s needs. Doing so with folks with mobility issues was one of the big challenges. Sometimes CHAT sought permission from landlords to make home improvements, but doing so was expensive, and Johnson hoped that, eventually, CHAT could find a more sustainable way forward.

That path revealed itself after many years in the form of CHAT’s plans for a fully accessible housing complex, a project that will largely be funded by a $16.5 million Community Care Expansion (CCE) grant from the state of California intended to help very low income people with disabilities. It started coming together when a generous community member donated a 5-acre parcel in unincorporated west Chico on which to build, as well as much consultation and collaboration with professionals in the development community to help hone the specifics. The result: Plans for a total of 61 units consisting of 50 studios, five one-bedrooms, and six two-bedrooms that will accommodate people who need live-in caregivers. For Johnson, the project is ”a dream come true.” It is the culmination of many years spent adapting CHAT’s programs to fit the community’s needs, an ongoing endeavor. Indeed, CHAT has evolved time and time again to find solutions to the local homeless crisis as the need arises—creating programs to house individuals and families; Chico State and Butte College students; wildfire victims; veterans; and people with mental health diagnoses, including those receiving temporary shelter and Behavioral Health services at Everhart Village. “We’ve really tried to pay attention to who needs services,” Johnson said. “We want to help whoever we can help.” CHAT Director of Finance and Development Sarah Graham concurred. She noted societal changes over the past half-century that have led to major differences in family structure, including more people living alone and wanting to remain independent in their old age. “But home designs have been slower to evolve to our needs while affordability has become a major concern,” Graham said. In fact, recent data show that 56 percent of California renting households are rent burdened—that is, households that spend more than 30 percent of their pre-tax income on rent.

CHAT’s project is designed to eliminate that burden for local aged, lowincome individuals who are homeless—or at risk of becoming so—by providing permanent and appropriate housing that’s affordable. Over the last year, Graham has been focused on raising the funding match attached to the state grant. A few weeks ago, thanks to the generosity of the Chico community, CHAT took in the remainder of the needed $736,000 and is now preparing for groundbreaking. Meanwhile, CHAT will continue fundraising to support internal capacity needed for the expanded operations, as well as fund the additional infrastructure at the site.

Affordable Housing for All

As 2024 ends, we reflect and take stock of all our wonderous successes these past twelve months at CHAT (Chico Housing Action Team) – none of which would be possible without your support and generosity. THANK YOU for all that you are and all that you do! Every single dollar donated is largely impactful to our organization and the local community members that we uplift through access to affordable housing and related resources.

As we excitedly shared in our last report, with your assistance, we blew past our previous funding goal. As such, we have doubled our funding goal to $400,000! To date, we have received 4,152 donations, raising a total of $209,155 for our charity.

Since August, CHAT has had 16 new residents move into our programs: one family with 3 children, 7 adults, 1 transitional-aged youth (18-24 years old), and 5 college students. In 2024 overall, we had 73 new residents move in: 66 adults and 7 minors. CHAT currently operates 57 houses in Chico, providing 154 housing units. With your help, this year we were able to provide affordable housing solutions to 235 people: 188 adults and 47 minors, with additional wraparound services to keep them housed. Beyond housing services, we work diligently to provide residents with access to food, furniture, and other social services. This year, our Food Box Program delivered a total of 1,260 custom food boxes to more than 150 individuals across town through bi-weekly home deliveries! Every food box is tailored to the needs of each household, containing fresh bread from Camina Bakery, fresh produce, protein, and other nutritious goods donated by Trader Joe’s and local churches. What incredible feats we can accomplish when we unite behind a common cause!

By removing barriers like income requirements, credit scores, and more, we are making housing accessible to all. It starts with a key… but we cannot do it alone. Over 1/4 of CHAT’s revenue comes from donations, making your support crucial to advancing our mission. Together, we can create lasting change to build a better, safer community. Watch this 2-minute video to learn more about the importance of your contributions and why we do what we do: CHAT explained

Thank you for joining us on this journey of creating life-changing impact through affordable housing solutions for all… we are forever grateful to you and your ongoing commitment to our cause.

“Home is the starting place of love, hope, and dreams.” – Unknown

Links:

• CHAT Website
• CHAT Facebook Page