Richmond’s first tiny house project nears completion after months of red tape 

An anticipated tiny house village for young unhoused adults, the first of its kind in Richmond, has been stalled for months, as the project awaited city permits. But organizers and the city say it finally is on track and could be ready for residents soon. 

The project, led by the nonprofit Tiny Village Spirit, will double the number of emergency housing units for young adults aged 18-24 to two dozen. Modeled after the Oakland Tiny House Empowerment Village, that has been functioning for three years, Richmond’s village is being set up at 175 23rd St.

The project broke ground in September 2023, and Richmond Confidential reported at the time that the houses were expected to be in place by July. The team submitted permit applications in May, but it wasn’t until last month that they received news that the city had approved a building permit. 

“Richmond is going as fast as it can to work with us in creating this project,” said Sally Hindman, executive director of Tiny Village Spirit. ”So we’re all just going along at the best pace we can. This is a city that, on the one hand, doesn’t have that much money, but it has a super committed staff that just works super hard, and they do great work.”

Now the team is waiting for approval from the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The tiny houses are built on wheels and will be transported to Richmond once they get the approval. 

In September 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing California cities and counties to adopt emergency housing ordinances during a declared shelter crisis. These local ordinances must meet minimum building standards set by the state or provide justifications if they do not. This allows cities to streamline the process of establishing emergency shelters, potentially reducing delays in the approval process. 

Hindman said her group used the emergency shelter ordinance as a way of encouraging the city to expedite the process. When the team applied for a permit using a similar process in Oakland, it took just seven weeks to receive approval, and it received less scrutiny, Hindman said.

“I think Oakland really saw the emergency shelter ordinance as a mandate for expedited processes,” Hindman said. “Richmond has been very reluctant to kind of move beyond their regular processes of getting things done and acknowledging that this is an emergency housing crisis.” 

George Kabaivanov, Richmond’s interim building official, said it takes a while to get approval for a “novel idea or situation” like a tiny house.

“So in this case, it has to have at least the standards for something more permanent, not as permanent as real buildings that will be here for hundreds of years, but at the same time, not for something as temporary as during a hurricane or a couple of months,” he said.

The transitional housing project is also supported by several other organizations, such as the Richmond Police Activities League, SOS-Richmond, and Hope Solutions. 

Construction on the first seven tiny houses is almost complete, and the units will be stored off-site until the DMV signs off on the project. The team has also been preparing the site for a fence installation.  

Speeding up the process

Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin, who assisted the team in launching the project, said she’s been advocating for quicker permit approvals.

“While I understand that a certain amount of bureaucracy is needed … I’ve often seen bureaucracy in the city of Richmond as a problem in many types of endeavors,” she said.

Kabaivanov noted that changes at the state level rarely come with additional resources for cities tasked with carrying them out. 

“People in Sacramento constantly come up with new regulations imposed on building partners, but implementing them, it’s really becoming a bottleneck,” he said. 

McLaughlin said the staff has been “overwhelmed” for the past couple of years and wants to avoid any liability by ensuring compliance with building codes. Despite the resource limitations, she argued that Richmond should find ways to streamline the approval process for transitional housing, as it could save time and money in the long run.

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