Leader of Contra Costa nonprofit helps find new ways to assist county's unhoused
Contra Costa County serves 14,000 unsheltered people every year, according to its annual report. The leader of a nonprofit is developing innovative new hopeful solutions for housing and healing.
A ribbon cutting opens doors to affordable housing. That means fewer people living in homelessness and brings Deanne Pearn a step closer to her dream.
"I believe every single person deserves love, dignity and a home," Pearn told CBS News Bay Area.
Pearn said she has had a heart for the unsheltered since childhood. Today, she's touching lives through Hope Solutions, the 28-year-old nonprofit founded by a group of faith communities.
The group has provided permanent housing to about 2,000 people last year and kept another 1,200 from getting evicted in Contra Costa County.
"I have seen the power of what we can do when everybody just does a little bit. We an truly create miraculous solutions," Pearn explained.
In her eight years as CEO, she has shown the miracles can come from partnering with others to re-imagine the solution.
For instance, Hope Village in Walnut Creek, the county's first affordable cottage community on faith-owned land. Its six small homes are built on a parking lot at Grace Presbyterian Church.
People who were once homeless are finding healing.
"There are no words. It is so powerful, and it gets me every time to see people with tears in their eyes. thanking us, having gratitude, and really feeling like they're about to soar," smiled Pearn.
She said Hope Village uses a 2023 California law that fast-tracks building affordable housing on faith-owned land.
With the 2024 Contra Costa County Housing Need Report indicating a countywide shortage of 31,000 housing units, the pilot program holds promise.
Plans are underway for stable, affordable housing in Pittsburg on a church-owned dirt lot. Like Hope Village, the community will also include critical support services, from mental health counseling to academic tutoring.
William Goodwin and his young daughter were unhoused for seven years before they received permanent housing and supportive services through Hope Solutions.
"We needed a lot of healing and mending dealing with the trauma of being unhoused." Goodwin recalled.
Years later, Goodwin and his daughter are thriving. And now, he serves on the nonprofit's board of directors, helping plan the annual fundraiser on March 22nd.
The fundraiser is titled "Ruby Slipper" because, like the Wizard of Oz, "there's no place like home."
Goodwin is inspired by Pearn's passion for serving the unsheltered.
"Our saying is 'we're the heart of housing and supportive services.' And that's what she brings. She brings her heart. It's not her pretending. It's real," he explained.
Before she came to Hope Solutions, Pearn had co-founded another nonprofit, First Place for Youth, that went from a startup to a national organization serving thousands of youth over 18 years.
And now, at Hope Solutions, success stories like Goodwin's drive Pearn's commitment to do more.
"Everybody brings their gift to the table and we are transforming lives," Pearn said.
For creating hopeful solutions to end the cycle of poverty and homelessness in Contra Costa County, this week's CBS News Bay Area Icon Award goes to Deanne Pearn.
