Founded in early 2020, the Napa Sonoma ADU Center is making it easier for homeowners to understand the process of designing, and building, accessory dwelling units—sometimes called granny units. The center is a fiscally-sponsored project of Napa Valley Community Foundation with support from Community Foundation...
The October 2017 North Bay fires left thousands of households with the daunting tasks of navigating insurance claims, disaster recovery assistance like FEMA, and the rebuilding or relocating process. As a result, Legal Aid of Sonoma County established a Disaster Relief Services Program, providing outreach...
Like all organizations working with our local houseless community, Catholic Charities continues finding temporary and permanent housing for hundreds of people in Sonoma County, despite the added challenge of the COVID pandemic. “I consider us as kind of the bridge from homelessness to housing,” says Catholic...
Until late January 2020, a community of nearly 250 unhoused people lived in tents along a 2-mile stretch of the Joe Rodota Trail, an eight-mile bike and pedestrian path that runs west from Santa Rosa to neighboring Sebastopol. Declared a public health crisis, the County...
When news of the coronavirus first hit the U.S., the staff at COTS (Committee On The Shelterless) stepped into action to ensure the unhoused population they serve would be protected. COTS operates the 112 bed Mary Isaak Center Shelter in Petaluma, and staff knew that...
Story by Dani Burlison When shelter in place orders were implemented in California, Jim Blake had an idea that could prevent overcrowding—and prevent a potential increase of COVID-19 cases—at some Sonoma County shelters and addiction treatment facilities. Blake, the Executive Director at Alliance Redwoods Conference Grounds,...
Healdsburg Forever our a regional affiliate has recently made emergency grants totaling $80,000 to six nonprofit organizations providing essential safety net services—food, shelter, and health care—to the most vulnerable people in Healdsburg and Geyserville. The grants to Redwood Empire Food Bank, Healdsburg Food Pantry, Corazón...
When Amy Appleton’s children became teenagers in 2011, she decided to spend some of her newfound spare time volunteering. Although she had a background in IT, she found herself working with the county’s unhoused population at the COTS (Committee on the Shelterless) Mary Isaak Center...
Sometimes called granny flats, in-law units, second units, casitas, or backyard cottages, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) share several distinguishing features: they are 250 to 1,200 square feet and must have a kitchen or kitchenette, bathroom and sleeping area. ADUs are, by nature, affordable, helping seniors age...
If you ask anyone in Sonoma County what the top issues are facing this community, there’s a very good chance that housing tops that list. Of course, this would probably be true of many cities in California—a high cost of housing—and not enough of it...