The 2.3-acre mixed-use Caritas Village in downtown Santa Rosa will be a transformative campus of services and housing for currently and formerly homeless residents. Housing precarity in the North Bay, already impacted by the regional housing crisis, has only been worsened by recent wildfires. Aging 100-year-old structures on the site had been home to Catholic Charities’ Homeless Services Center and Family Support Center, and limited the provision of services. These functions are now relocated to the comprehensive, purpose-built Caritas Center. The Center is accompanied by Caritas Homes, 128 concurrently developed affordable apartments and townhomes for very- and extremely-low-income households including at-risk residents.
Programming of the Center is divided into separate zones for its various functions, with three separate entries and circulation cores. To the east, the Family Support wing includes intake offices, expanded emergency housing, a dining room with commercial kitchen, daycare services, an educational space, and private accommodations for up to 38 families. To the west, the Adult Services wing provides daytime dignity services, case managers, and a licensed medical clinic, and hosts the Nightingale Program recuperation shelter. Each wing wraps around separate courtyards, and the steel braced frame open structure offers long-term flexibility for future programming changes. A central chapel is available for access by anyone.
Caritas Center is within walking distance to the 2nd Street Transit Mall, new SMART train station, and downtown amenities. The project targets Platinum certification through the GreenPoint sustainable performance rating system.
Awards
- Best North Bay Community Impact Project, North Bay Business Journal, 2022
Milestones
- Two Years of "Revolutionary" Health Services and Homelessness Prevention, 08/2024
- Caritas Homes Ph I Celebrates Opening, 08/2023
- A New Tool In the Fight to End Homelessness, 09/2022
Personnel
- Mike Pyatok / Design Principal
- Theresa Ballard / PIC
- Kimberly Suczynski Smith / PA
- Anya Riddell-Kaufman / JC
Project Team
- Wright / GC
- Quadriga / Landscape
- BKF / Civil
- DCI / Structural
- TEP / Mechanical
- Blakeslee / Electrical
- NGAssociates / Food Service
- Beyond Efficiency / Sustainability
- Sasha Moravec / Photography
