Trisha Fairlee had lived unhoused in Petaluma for about ten years, one of hundreds of people experiencing homelessness here, according to annual “point-in-time” counts.

That changed last week, when Fairlee and her husband Jimmy, along with their two dogs, Oso and Baby Girl, moved into a room in a handsome home in midtown Petaluma.

“A little excited, a little scared, a little nervous,” she told Petaluma Voice the day before the move, standing in the empty apartment that soon would be her first in a decade.

For the moment, however, she had more pressing things to address: hanging a door; framing and drywalling a new partition; repairing trim (all original, freshly painted white – like the rest of the building, inside and out); and replacing old electrical fixtures in the 136-year-old house. 

Fairlee was not only an incoming resident, but also an employee of the home’s new owner, Rebuilding Together Petaluma, which had closed on the $1,115,500 purchase of the property and an adjoining lot just two days before. 

The local nonprofit provides critical home repairs and modifications to low-income residents at no cost, and assists other nonprofits with facility maintenance and repairs – thanks to the labor of people like Fairlee, who joined Rebuilding Together as a stipend-supported volunteer through its workforce development program last year and was later hired as an employee. 

Founded in 1992, the organization also relies upon hundreds of unpaid community volunteers and the support of local businesses and sponsors for labor and supplies. The Vallejo Street property marks its first foray into providing low-income housing, which will be rented at affordable rates.

“I’ve done construction before, but I’m still learning,” Fairlee said from her future bedroom. “A little bit of everything.” She pointed to an open wall at the far end of the room, its new two-by-four framing still exposed. “We blocked that wall off. It was an open area that went into the living room. We framed it off, and then we made a doorway right here, too,” she said, gesturing behind her to what would be her new bedroom’s entrance.

Together with fellow Rebuilding Together employee Jose Miguel Mejia – who said he found “really old” paper with Chinese characters written on it when he opened up one wall – Fairlee was busy putting finishing touches on the interior of this vintage Petaluma home that would soon shelter not only her and her husband but also three other previously unhoused workers, whose move-ins would start that evening. 

In its new configuration, the home will include four bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs, plus a kitchen and a living room (formerly a dining room, original built-ins included), for a total of 1,250 square feet. A dirt-floored basement lies below, tall enough to walk through and well lit by multiple curtained windows.  

Executive Director Drake Cunningham and Deputy Director Megan Kelly, still new to the property themselves, envisioned future changes as they toured the home and its spacious 0.4-acre lot. 

They’d like to raise the house or dig down just enough to convert the basement to ADA-accessible living quarters for two more low-income residents, specifically unsheltered seniors. 

They plan to add a number of small cottages, perhaps eight more units, to the rest of the property. The original real estate listing proposed partitioning the lot into four parcels of 4,100 to 4,600 square feet each in this dense, central Petaluma neighborhood, yet its new owners plan to develop it as a single property.

In fact, they hope to build out the rest of the land with gardens and courtyards on a “Zen retreat” theme, Cunningham said, to provide peaceful outdoor spaces for residents. “It’s not just a home; it’s a place to heal, a place to come back to,” he said.

That’s all in due time, pending additional funding. The purchase itself wouldn’t have happened without the generosity of Petaluma resident and donor Fatima Lassar, for whom the site will be named.

A close contact of Cunningham’s, she answered the call when the property came to Rebuilding Together Petaluma’s attention via Mayor Kevin McDonnell – who knew the nonprofit was considering developing workforce housing but had to seriously pursue the idea. Their vision for it took shape quickly, Cunningham said.

Barely a month later, Fairlee, who'd been staying in a field by the train tracks, contemplated what her new life might look like. 

“It’s close to downtown, close to grocery stores. I think it’s a five-minute walk to work. A block and a half, if that,” she said, referring to Rebuilding Together Petaluma’s offices around the corner on Payran Street. “It’s a great spot.”