Tour Oma Village on May 6

Oma Village, which will offer 14 small rental homes for formerly homeless families, is taking shape in Novato with help from HomeAid Northern California, the philanthropic arm of the Building Industry Association in the Bay Area.

The program at 5394 Nave Drive, to be operated by the nonprofit Homeward Bound of Marin, will host community visitors for a hard-hat tour at 2 p.m. Friday, May 6, to mark Affordable Housing Week (May 1 - 7). The grand opening is planned for late summer.

Visitors are invited to meet at the Oma Village rear entrance, on Marin Valley Drive near Bolling Drive, to tour the site that will offer one- and two-bedroom apartments, a community building with shared laundry and homework club, playgrounds and shared gardens.

Through HomeAid, skills and materials from manufacturers and building professionals are pledged to Oma Village at a discount, enabling construction at the lowest possible cost. Oma Village will cost an estimated $5.5 million, with the value of donations coming through HomeAid Northern California topping $800,000.

“This is our first permanent supportive housing project, so we’re very excited. The other 35 Bay Area projects we have completed have been shelters and transitional housing,” says Cheryl O’Connor, HomeAid executive director.

The opportunity to give back with their expertise motivates many on the site, says Richard Wilkins, whose Sacramento-area company RAW Construction organized the crew of 15 to 20 framers that’s now finishing up their task.

“I don’t want to work but I really want to do this,” says Wilkins, who claims he retired last year. “Helping people is what it’s about. Not handing them stuff, but helping them go forward.”

He spends much of his time working on charitable projects with ministries like Capital Christian Center, where he’ll join a group leaving June 4 to work at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. Wilkins is raising funds for a baseball field at https://de.gofund.me/House-of-light&rcid=e94d70daf78a11e5b619bc764e0525d6

“The guys that work for me know my heart,” Wilkins adds. They’ve doubled up in motel rooms, a 40-foot motor home and a 26-foot camper to get the work done at the lowest rates possible.

Rob Nordby, project manager at Oma Village, says all the teams contracted through HomeAid have been dedicated and skillful. “It’s different than a regular job but everyone pretty much wants to be here and do great work,” Nordby says.

Homeward Bound of Marin collaborated previously with HomeAid in building the Next Key Center, which opened in 2008. HomeAid coordinated $250,000 in savings for that project, which includes 32 studio apartments, a training kitchen, The Key Room event venue and offices.

“HomeAid is an amazing partner, not only enlisting the highest quality trades and industry professionals, but focusing on projects that have lasting value in the community,” says Mary Kay Sweeney, Homeward Bound of Marin executive director.

HomeAid Northern California focuses on projects that “rebuild the lives of homeless families and adults,” says O’Connor, HomeAid executive director.

Affordable housing developers typically prefer larger projects to create economic feasibility, she adds, so HomeAid fills a niche by allowing a smaller community like Oma Village to become reality. “We’d like to do a lot more of them,” she says.

Homeward Bound, the county’s chief provider of residential services for homeless families and individuals, purchased the site in 2012. The land formerly was occupied by a 30-bed drug and alcohol rehabilitation program for men.

Oma Village moved forward with leading support from the Marin Community Foundation, County of Marin, City of Novato and the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. Major grants also came from Tamalpais Pacific and the William G. Irwin Charity Foundation.

To find out more or donate to Oma Village, please see www.hbofm.org or call 415-382-3363 x211. A matching grant now available will double all contributions to the Furniture Fund for purchase of tables, beds, chairs and other essential furniture.