About
Firm Foundation is an all-in-one service provider that works with you on every aspect of creating a Tiny Home Village on your property.
Our mission is to create inclusive, diverse and healthy communities for at-risk populations through high-quality, service-enriched affordable housing.
We are Firm Foundation Community Housing. We exist to end involuntary homelessness and create affordable housing solutions. To do that, we guide and assist owners of land to transform their underutilized property into Tiny Home Villages to better serve our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
Our team works with community partners to move a project from concept to residency by providing project management, site plan development, entitlements, permits, construction, property management and all the necessary services to ensure the success and health of the entire community. Our partnerships with housing agencies and supportive services ensure that residents receive the opportunities, education, and care they need to build for themselves an enriched, dignified life.
It is our hope that together with faith-based communities, municipalities, non-profits, foundations, and other community members we can provide innovative, creative, and real solutions to the housing crisis in our neighborhoods.
Our Leaders and Board
Taryn Sandulyak | Executive Director
Prior to co-founding FFCH, Taryn spent 3 years working in the Development Services Division for the City of Hayward. During that time, she met numerous Hayward residents and saw firsthand the need for housing and services that enable our neighbors to flourish. Through this experience and her previous experience managing a small business in Castro Valley, CA, she became passionate about serving her community and bringing housing to all. In addition to her work at FFCH, Taryn volunteers with East Bay Orphan Care and First Presbyterian Church of Hayward. She lives in Hayward, CA with her partner and beautiful daughter.
Chizu Buckalew | President
Chizu Buckalew is the Director of Homeless Services and Creative Housing Solutions at First Presbyterian Church of Hayward. Prior to her current role, Chizu spent 12 years working with college students in San Diego. In 2016 she began working with unsheltered people in the Bay Area, including programs for Safe Parking for individuals living in their cars, Sunday Breakfast, laundry for the unsheltered, Winter Homeless Shelter, Resource Center for the unhoused, and Tiny Homes as transitional housing for the homeless. Chizu is passionate about drawing people to the center who feel marginalized and on the outside. She is an advocate for foster children and lives with her family in Hayward, CA.
Tikerea Tate | Chief Financial Officer
Tikerea Tate is a Clinical Case Manager with a non profit in Hayward working with foster youth to help them develop independent living skills. She is an Associate Clinical Social Worker who has recently earned her Master of Social Work at the University of Southern California. She enjoys working with the homeless population and connecting them to necessary resources to help them better navigate their environments.
Lee McEachern | Secretary
Lee McEachern is the Vice President of Operations at the Rental Housing Associaton of Southern Alameda County in Hayward. For more than a decade, Lee, along with his wife, Aimee, has managed the apartment complex they live in Castro Valley. Lee is a California Certified Residential Manager (CCRM) and a Certified Instructor for the CCRM program. Lee has taught property management classes for the Rental Housing Association, the California Apartment Association, and the San Francisco Apartment Association. Lee previously was the General Manager of two property management companies in the East Bay where he oversaw the management of hundreds of residential rental units.
Robert Pace | Director
Robert Pace is a Castro Valley native. He spends his days assisting families with buying and selling homes in the same neighborhoods he grew up in. Robert has been a Licensed Realtor since 2007.
Michael Kim-Eubanks | Director
Michael Kim-Eubanks is a co-minister at Bethel Community Presbyterian Church in San Leandro, CA, a faith community that has been engaged in the local unhoused community for more than a decade, including involvement in the Interfaith Homelessness Network of San Leandro and the establishment of the San Leandro Community Food Pantry. Michael is also a musician, songwriter and the co-creator of The Lament Project, an interactive art-based exploration of faith and racial injustice. Michael is co-minister of Bethel Community alongside his wife, Erina, and they have two children, Amara and Jarena.
Ron Kilby | Director
Ron Kilby is a Director at Firm Foundation Community Housing.
Saundrea Mabrey | Director
Saundrea Mabrey is the Outreach Director of Programs & Services at First Presbyterian Church of Hayward. With a personal history of overcoming homelessness, she is passionate about addressing housing challenges and helping others finding affordable housing. She lives in Hayward and a mom of two.
Jason Shaw | Director
Jason is currently an Employment Specialist at East Bay Innovations where he supports developmentally disabled individuals find purpose through employment opportunities and job development. Jason has a background in managing homeless outreach and services programs, specializing in creative housing options and medical respite services. Jason managed one of Alameda County’s first Tiny Home programs for individuals without homes in San Leandro, CA through the organization BOSS (Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency). The Tiny Home program was able to provide permanent housing to over 60 individuals during a 2 year span. Jason then went on to manage the respite program at Marina Village Inn, Alameda, CA where he built the Housing Services program and supervised all non-clinical staff members.
Jason is passionate about serving and building his community; believing that safe and sustainable housing is a basic necessity that everyone should have. Jason has worked in community advocacy and development for over a decade and strives to do more to see his community thrive.
He is a proud graduate of Howard University, a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. and will be pursuing his Masters in Public Administration in 2025
