Building community-focused housing to restore stability and belonging.
Overview
Adrianne Hillman was raised on her family’s dairy farm in Tipton and has always called the Central Valley home. While pursuing a career as a life coach, she felt a deep call to serve people experiencing homelessness who were being denied basic dignity. Having experienced ostracism in her own life, Hillman recognized the same patterns of exclusion in how unhoused neighbors were treated. In response, she founded Salt + Light in 2019, launching housing and outreach programs grounded in “radical hospitality” and unconditional commitment to belonging. Erin Garner-Ford joined in 2020 as a consultant to help build the organization’s early infrastructure. She brought fifteen years of nonprofit leadership experience and a commitment to investing in her community shaped by watching her own family lead and serve in the Central Valley. Drawn by Hillman’s vision and the organization’s growing impact, Garner-Ford came on as Chief Strategy Officer in 2023, playing a key role in scaling the organization’s operations.
“This model works because it treats people as neighbors who belong, not problems to solve.”
Through their work at Salt + Light, Hillman and Garner-Ford are reimagining how rural communities respond to homelessness. The organization has helped more than 250 people move from homelessness into stable housing—approximately 20% of Tulare County’s unhoused population. In 2024, Salt + Light opened its Neighborhood Village, California’s first-of-its-kind rural permanent supportive housing community, featuring 53 thoughtfully designed homes in a walkable, connected neighborhood. By actively involving the broader community and prioritizing dignity at every turn, the organization reduces stigma and ensures residents are seen and welcomed as neighbors. In a region where social challenges have traditionally fallen to law enforcement, Hillman and Garner-Ford are advancing an alternative model—one that pairs housing with comprehensive support services to better meet community needs and foster long-term stability.
“This whole project is really just my sneaky way of inspiring people to love one another better. When we create spaces where people feel seen, loved, and treated with dignity, it changes all of us.”
Adrianne Hillman
Erin Garner-Ford
Primary Regions Served
Challenge
-
- On a per capita basis, many rural California counties experience homelessness at rates similar to large cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles.[1]
Unlike urban areas, rural communities often lack the density, infrastructure, and resources needed to implement traditional urban housing solutions.[2]
- Tulare County has historically lacked sufficient housing and behavioral health services, resulting in law enforcement as the default response to mental health crises.[3]
- Studies have found that trauma, stress, feelings of isolation, and fear contribute to recently housed people losing their housing again.[4] Nationally, 13% of people become homeless again within one year of receiving permanent housing.[5]
Innovation
- Salt + Light’s Neighborhood Village is made up of 53 manufactured homes on permanent foundations arranged in a walkable neighborhood, designed specifically for rural permanent supportive housing.
- Hillman and Garner-Ford intentionally infuse community-building into the design of the Village, including a dog park, community garden, central laundry facilities, and community center for programming—creating regular opportunities for residents to connect and overcome the isolation that often accompanies homelessness.
- The Village integrates on-site mobile health clinics, dental care, mental health services, employment training, nutrition programs, and essential case management services, pairing affordable housing with comprehensive wraparound care.
- Through volunteer engagement, community education, and direct partnerships with law enforcement, the leaders are building community acceptance and shifting how people view homelessness.
Impact
- After one year, 98% of The Villages’ residents remained housed, well above the national average of 87% who remain housed after receiving permanent housing.
- 92% of residents feel hopeful about the future after six months in the Village, and 82% report that they feel like they “belong” in the community — key indicators Salt + Light tracks to measure success beyond retention.
- Residents receiving wrap-around care show improved blood pressure, A1C readings, and cholesterol levels over the course of 18 months.
- Since 2020, Salt + Light has engaged over 17,000 hours of volunteer service, building bridges with the local community. Local law enforcement leaders, once skeptical, now say Salt + Light is redefining community care and demonstrating that policing alone cannot address homelessness.
Opportunity
-
- Salt + Light has secured site control of 4.5 acres adjacent to The Village, enabling future expansion of the housing community.
- To expand access to dignified, supportive housing across California, the leaders are exploring early urban partnerships while developing toolkits, trainings, and an education system designed to support replication of their model.
- Hillman and Garner-Ford seek to partner, recommend new practices, and replace fear-based responses with healing-centered solutions for neighbors in need of housing.
- [1] Homelessness in California: A Statewide Challenge
- [2] State of Homelessness: 2025 Edition
- [3] Disability Rights California Secures Groundbreaking Settlement That Expands Community Mental Health Services and Housing in Tulare County, California
- [4] From Homelessness to Housing: Challenges and Opportunities of Housing Transitions
- [5] Returns to Homelessness: Key Considerations for Using This Metric to Improve System Performance
The written profile and video reflect the work of the leader(s) the year they received a Leadership Award. Please contact the leader(s) for current information.