Through its innovative transitional tiny-home community and trauma-informed support, Mesa helps young adults (age 18-24) secure employment, pursue education, prioritize health, create healthy relationships and transition into permanent housing. Mesa is situated on 10-acres in the Ojai Valley, the 10 tiny homes wrapping around a main house that hosts staff offices, two additional rooms for participants and shared residential space.
Prior to co-founding Mesa, Dan Parziale spent a decade working with homelessness in LA, noting, “Demand for housing constantly outstripped supply, emergency shelter was not always the appropriate response to the needs of the people being served and homelessness was getting worse every year.” The annual percentage growth of homelessness in Ventura County is the same as LA (15%–20%), notes Parziale.
Launched in 2020, Mesa is an upstream solution to chronic homelessness that invests in early intervention to address root causes and promote stability before costly, long-term issues arise. This approach improves economic productivity, fosters self-sufficiency and strengthens community wellbeing.
Mesa’s model fills a gap for a growing number of young adults who have limited options for housing and support. By intervening early, Mesa offers a solution that prevents them from becoming entrenched in the homeless system and gives them a solid path to create a fulfilling life.
Mesa hopes community members invested in the health and vitality of Ventura County will join in this impactful model. This is an opportunity to shift the way people think about homelessness, not as an intractable problem, but something we can solve together.
“I do ultimately believe to my core that as good as this will be for the young adults we serve, it will be just as good for our community,” says Parziale.
Learn more at MesaFarm.org.
Risk Factors for Facing Homelessness as a Young Adult
● Aging out of foster care: 20% experience homelessness the day they age out and 50% experience homelessness within 18 months
● Experiencing housing insecurity as a child: When a child experiences homelessness, their odds of experiencing homelessness as an adult go up 40%
● Serving time in the juvenile justice system: 44% of young adults experiencing homelessness have been in the justice system
● Navigating high living costs of both housing and college: Close to 60% of California’s community college students are housing insecure, with about 20% reporting being homeless.
“We have 300–400 young adults living on the street. That’s a number we can do something about,” Parziale says.