Mettā Vihāra
a refuge for beings in difficult times
A home meant to be a place to land — for anyone in a hard season who needs shelter, care, or somewhere to simply be.
Not yet born, but being dreamed — a home sought in Northern California.
Mettā Vihāra is being built to be a sanctuary — for people and animals alike — for those passing through crisis: homelessness, the wreckage after a relationship ends, a collapse in mental health, addiction, or just needing somewhere safe to rest and gather yourself.
It is a refusal of two things: that a home should be a machine for extracting rent, and that belonging is something you lose the moment you stop being useful or well.
What it stands on
Humans and animals, however you live your life and whomever you love. Belonging here is not earned and it is not taken away — not by crisis, not by using, not by being unwell, not by a relationship ending.
You can be as unwell or unsteady as you need to be, as long as it does not harm others. That is the one firm line. Everything on this side of it is grace.
You are met where you are — received, not assessed. No one owes labor, sobriety, or gratitude in exchange for shelter. What you give back is real, but scaled to what you can actually bear — from rest and healing at the floor, upward as strength returns.
Accountability rooted in dignity and growth, never punishment; harm met with repair, not banishment. Oversight is kept on those who hold power here — and confidentiality is kept for those who come.
Refuge is a Buddhist word. Mettā is loving-kindness; a vihāra is a dwelling where you live the practice. The tradition also teaches its keel: loving-kindness without equanimity burns the one who gives it. So — warmth on the surface for whoever walks in; steadiness underneath for whoever holds it open.
Mettā Vihāra doesn’t exist yet — it’s being built. But if this is the kind of place you have needed, or expect you might, you can let us know you’re there. There is no bar to clear and no wrong way to answer.
Whatever you share stays with the small circle of people building this. Nothing is passed to anyone else.