First residents of The Other Side Village ring a bell to celebrate the opening of the master-planned community on Dec. 30, 2024. (Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch)
When Jennifer Davis thinks about the new home she’s about to move into, she pictures herself cooking and baking banana bread, her favorite. That may seem like a mundane action for many, but for Davis, that thought means safety, acceptance and a new start.
After battling with addiction and living at the Geraldine E. King Women’s Resource Center for eight months, Davis has found a path to a new way of living, she said on Monday at the grand opening of The Other Side village, a master-planned community leaders described as “a self-reliant, safe, sober community for Utah’s chronically homeless.”
When Davis found out she was occupying one of the first 60 homes at the village nestled on the former site of a landfill on the west side of Salt Lake City, she said she was in a bit of disbelief. But, she also felt “a sense of peace.”
“My long journey of just looking for a fresh start, looking for an opportunity, like it had finally reached the safe harbor,” she said in front of one of the finished homes, which, for Monday’s grand opening, was adorned with blue balloons and housewarming plants.
As soon as next week, up to nine people will be moving into the village in single-occupancy homes, making up the community’s first residents, said Preston Cochrane, chief executive officer at The Other Side Village.
Those moving in next week rang a big bell during the opening ceremony four times; the first symbolized their arrival to a place of peace and safety; the second was to proclaim they weren’t alone but part of a new family; the third signaled a recognition of their strength; and the fourth represented light and hope.
“As the sound of the bell fades, let it echo in your heart as a reminder that you are loved, valued and never alone. You are part of something extraordinary now. Welcome home,” Cochrane told the new residents during the ceremony.
Hundreds attended the opening event, many sporting hoodies from The Other Side Academy — a vocational and life skills school for convicts, substance abusers or unsheltered people — and some shed tears as Utah musician EJ Michaels performed songs about finding change and turning places into home.
“This is about belonging, and this is creating a new kind of belonging in our capital city, and the first of its kind in the state of Utah, the kind whose ripple effect is going to reach beyond the property here, beyond Salt Lake City, into other parts of this entire state and the nation,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said. “People are watching what is happening here, and they’re feeling the difference.”
Phase One
Davis’ home may be small, but it has everything — a bedroom, a kitchen and living room space, and a bathroom. A short walk away takes her to a community pavilion, where neighbors can meet, cook and do laundry.
Her house is one of 60 that are expected to be finished in the project’s first phase. More people will be able to move in as the homes are completed. But first, to become eligible for the tiny homes, they’ll need to graduate from The Other Side Academy’s prep school, a life skills program.
It was a long journey to get the houses ready for them. City officials faced delays due to challenges with getting all city approvals, remediating the landfill’s soil, and fundraising, Cochrane said.
There are three models of homes in the village, and depending on the builder their prices vary.
“So if a school is building a home, obviously the labor is a lot cheaper than if we hire some other developer to do that,” Cochrane said.
However, many of them cost about $80,000 to build. To prepare for the second phase of the community, The Other Side Village’s administrators are in fundraising mode, Cochrane said. The goal is to have 180 more units then.
Eventually, the completed village will have 430 cottages. There’s not a definite timeline for the second and third phases. However, Cochrane said, they’re hoping to build them as soon as possible.
“We have received capital funding for development and construction costs, but for operational costs, our goal is to be self-sustaining. So that’s why we operate social enterprise businesses,” he said. “We create businesses so that all the proceeds that we raise go back into the operational funding. We don’t charge a dime for our programs.”
Residents are expected to work to help financially sustain the village, many through enterprises such as The Other Side Donuts. They are also expected to keep working on themselves, by maintaining their sobriety, keeping their places tidy, communicating with peers and receiving feedback.
“It’s a beautiful thing when you’re a part of that community. For most they’ve been isolated on the street. They may not have that friendship or camaraderie or people to lean on to help them,” Cochrane said. “This provides that immediate family and that support system.”
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