How The Salvation Army built a family-friendly community at Hope Vista
The Olivehurst, California, community is adding a family park with a playground, thanks to funding from Sutter Health.
"This is my baby," Major Julius Murphy said about Hope Vista, an eight-house transitional living community he oversees in Olivehurst, California, as The Salvation Army Yuba Sutter Corps Officer.
Hope Vista accommodates families just before they move into permanent housing, when they're, as Murphy says, "turn-key ready." Hope Vista is the only dedicated transitional housing program in this region of Northern California, serving both Yuba and Sutter counties.
When it opened in November 2019, Hope Vista's initial purpose was to house survivors of the Camp Fire—a 2018 wildfire that devastated the town of Paradise and much of Butte County. Today, The Salvation Army partners with Yuba and Sutter counties to house families at Hope Vista who are in the last phase of exiting homelessness.
Soon, thanks to grants from Sutter Health totaling $232,000, Hope Vista will enhance its family friendly atmosphere with a park that will include a playground and eventually a community garden. Murphy credits Sutter Health's support for much of the program's growth.
"Hope Vista 1.0 is the first eight homes," Murphy said. "Now we're working on the playground. And we're also working on the community garden. And we're working on building additional homes as we speak."
“With a lot of the families, the kids will walk in and say, ‘I get my own room.' They never had that before.”
Major Julius Murphy
His goal is to complete Hope Vista 2.0 by the end of 2024.
Of the eight homes, seven are available for transitioning families. The eighth is reserved for a resident manager.
Nick Carrillo was Hope Vista's first resident manager and caseworker. He said many Camp Fire survivors didn't want to make the move to Olivehurst, which is 51 miles south of Paradise.
"I was getting families in but we were only filling half of the houses," Carrillo said, adding things changed with the county's involvement. "We had half of the houses for fire victims and the other half for Yuba County's housing support program."
As resident manager, Carillo completed daily checks to ensure the houses were kept clean and he readied them for new families when vacancies occurred. He also advocated for clients in the larger community.
"I helped them search for work," he said. "And I actually went around the town starting relationships with the managers for apartment complexes so they would call me when they had an apartment ready."
Before stepping into this role, Carrillo, with his wife and two young sons, had themselves benefitted from The Salvation Army's shelter services.
The family had experienced situational homelessness before coming to the Yuba Sutter Corps from Southern California in 2019. They knew Murphy, who had previously served in Southern California, and reached out to him on Facebook to see if he could help them.
"I have a place you can stay," Murphy told them.
Carrillo and Duenas first completed The Salvation Army's Hope Depot program, designed for families in crisis. Afterward, Carrillo applied and was hired for the Hope Vista resident manager position. During their time there, Duenas worked for the Hope Depot program.
"We have multiple residential programs," Murphy said. "Hope Vista is the best when it comes to permanent housing placement."
Murphy said people who come to Hope Vista are already receiving support from the County, which helps outcomes. He said the average Hope Vista stay is 45 days or less—one family secured housing within a week—and that the program's overall success rate for securing permanent housing is 95 percent. After families leave Hope Vista, county social workers continue to connect with them regularly, to ensure their continuing success.
While Carrillo and Duenas were at Hope Vista, they realized they wanted to become Salvation Army officers—to help others as they had been helped. In 2022, they left Hope Vista to enter the College for Officer Training at Crestmont in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. They expect to be commissioned and appointed to their first assignment in June.
"That's a big Hope Vista success story," Murphy said. "They went from zero. They've gone through our programming and now they're successfully completing officer training."
For Carillo and Duenas, Hope Vista still feels like home.
"Our little one, Manito, he still talks about Hope Vista," Duenas said, of her 8-year-old. "He's like, ‘Mommy, when can we go back?' He remembers."
Murphy said Hope Vista has a peaceful feel—it's the quietest community in the area.
"Everyone's minding their own p's and q's," he said. "I'm excited about what happens at Hope Vista. With a lot of the families, the kids will walk in and say, ‘I get my own room.' They never had that before. A shelter is more of an institutional setting, but Hope Vista resembles what they're going to move into—it resembles that actual home."
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