02-07-2025
Kindness is required to live in a new San Bernardino County community
A high desert master-planned community is leaning on kindness as a selling tool to attract home buyers and to create a small-town feeling among people who truly want to get along.
At the Silverwood development in Hesperia, homebuyers are required to sign a Kindness Pledge and play nice. Developer John Ohanian said it's bringing in buyers, just as home sales are trending downwards.
To live in Silverwood, one must foster empathy, acceptance, and tolerance; make a positive impact; embrace listening to others, and more.
"Let's say, for example, you see your neighbors' trash cans have been left out a couple of days. You notice that you know who your neighbor is. Maybe you want to go over and check, maybe you want to take the trash cans in for those people," Ohanian said.
He noted that developments can become very sterile, and reminding people to keep kindness a priority, without really being able to enforce it, is a noble goal. "We become separated and there is no social interaction, but with the concept of kindness, we will create a healthy neighborhood," Ohanian said.
So while there won't be any HOA fines for being grumpy, Ohanian said kindness among neighbors is purely aspirational. "You won't enjoy living here as much as you could," he said.
One couple who already bought a home in Silverwood and are ready to move in at the end of summer, embrace the kindness principle. "Well, I think it's probably going to translate mostly to just getting involved," new homeowner Brandon Dill said. "Feeling like you can talk to your neighbors, hang out, go to the community center, know people."
Once completed in about a decade, the $7 billion project will include nearly 16,000 homes, seven schools, 380 acres of parks, 166 miles of trails, and retail shops and restaurants. It's also considered affordable for Southern California, with homes ranging from $400,000 to $700,000.
A mother and daughter team decided to invest in Silverwood because of its affordability and the kindness component -- wanting to know their neighbors.
"The plan was we all were going to move to Texas, and then when we came and saw this new development, we just fell in love and we decided we're going to stay," Silverwood homeowner, Clair Smith, said.
To live in Silverwood, one must:
Foster empathy, acceptance and tolerance and always seek to strengthen cooperation
Remember that words matter
Get involved and make a positive impact
Embrace listening to others, even when we disagree
Seek to find our similarities and we will celebrate them
Seek to exclude words that hurt and divide
Actively listen to all perspectives and agree to do what is in the best interest for us as a community
Before speaking or posting, we will always ask ourselves if what we are saying is kind, necessary, and true.
