"SJA Housing Ministry"
Dick Brozic
Sunday, October 30th 2005

Introduction

• Good Morning. My name is Dick Brozic, and I am chair of the SJA Housing Ministry.
• We have an affordable housing crisis and St. Joan’s is doing something about it!
• You just don’t see much press anymore on affordable housing.
• In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Today Show featured a building of a Habitat For Humanity House.
  • In the world of non-profit organizations, Habit would be considered a Sexy non-profit from a marketing standpoint.
  • Habit is a great non-profit organization, but there are so many other housing initiatives that are not high profile, that will never make the Today Show.

• My interest in affordable housing started right here at St. Joans. Carol and I sat here 4 years ago at a Housing Sunday mass.
• Paul Halverson, founder of an organization called the Third Way Network, gave that homily that day about a new way, a third way, to create affordable housing in the Twin Cities.
• He gave all kinds of housing crisis stats from the Wilder Foundation:
  • More than 155,000 Minnesota renters making less than $35,000 per year are spending more than 30% of their income on rent.
  • More than 20,000 Minnesotans were homeless in 2003. 1/3 of these people are in shelters and half of them are children.
  • 46% of homeless parents are working, 26% of those working full-time.
  • In 2004, the metro “fair market rent” for a 2 bedroom was:
    • $928/month
    • You would have to earn $17.85 per hour to afford a metro two bedroom apartment.
    • If you were making minimum wage, the number of hours per week to afford a two bedroom is 139 hours per week
  • Numerous studies have shown housing stability improves school performance and educational opportunities for children.
  • Studies by police departments and urban development coalitions across the United States have shown housing stability reduces crime, teenage pregnancy and instances of personal violence.
• St. Joans Partnership
  • Paul Halverson and a group of 12 St. Joans parishioners ( “the gang of 12”) had formed a partnership to do something about affordable housing and created the St. Joan of Arc Housing Ministry in 2001.
  • Their mission was to pursue a “Third Way” that went beyond advocacy and charity by collaborating with faith-based volunteers, neighborhood residents, and property owners.
  • The targeted beneficiaries are mostly working families who have very low incomes (20K – 30K annual household income).
  • The practical part of me liked what I heard with the focus on creating affordable housing through existing structures at below market rates. It was the ultimate in recycling and a Win-Win scenario for everyone involved.
  • Here is the basic premise of the Third Way success formula:
    • You have a willing property owner who wants to give something back to the community.
    • You have St. Joan’s that provides some project seed money, and a group of St. Joan’s volunteers who provide free labor to re-hab the space.
    • The property owner agrees to rent the space at below market rates for a specified period of time.
    • A needy family gets affordable housing.
    • Everyone Wins!
    • Sounds easy? Well it wasn’t.

• I signed up after that Housing Sunday mass to attend an informational meeting at St. Joan’s. I volunteered to serve on the Housing Ministry Leadership Team.
• We had all of the normal start-up issues of trying launch a strategy that had never really been done before.
• To be honest with you, I was a skeptic from day one!
  • Talk about a steep learning curve!
  • Several parts of the initial organizational design model just didn’t work.
  • We had lot’s of volunteers really excited to do something, but few projects to work on.
  • Our initial housing re-hab efforts took way to long because we lacked professional construction expertise to fully utilize the many motivated, but un-skilled volunteers.
  • We had lots of interested volunteers for the family support part of the projects, but few actual families to support, and no workable support model.
  • We also learned that some families were not prepared for independent living which created some turnover and frustrated the property owners.
  • But each project gave us a new level of experience, and the execution of the vision kept getting better and more effective.
  • Paul kept reminding us that being a pioneer can be messy and painful.

• Our partner, Third Way Network, has grown and now has added Our Lady of Grace in Edina and the Richfield Attainable Family Housing Committee to its network.
• Our St. Joan’s Housing Ministry has created 7 affordable housing units on the market in the last three years.
• Each project was different with different challenges and degrees of difficulty.
  • It ran the full gamut of renovating the basement of a South Mpls home into a 1 BR efficiency apartment, all the way to a North Mpls Hawthorne project.
  • Hawthorne involved some challenging physical re-hab work, but more importantly we will have created affordable housing where drugs and prostitution were rampant. 17 new homes were created with the help of over 290 volunteers ($26,000 in labor costs). We are actually making a neighborhood more stable and safe because of our presence.
    • Those of you who volunteered early on at Hawthorne, remember picking up the beer bottles on the front porch or the drug paraphernalia from the previous night.
    • You won’t believe what it looks like today! The grounds have been converted into almost a neighborhood park. Parishioner Yvonne Boi donated and installed a cut flower garden.
  • Some projects are very quick. Two apartment units became available through our Rental Give Back Program a couple of weeks ago, and we had a crew of St. Joan’s volunteers in there immediately getting them ready for occupancy in few weeks.
  • Our next project will be starting shortly in South Minneapolis on Park Avenue. We will be converting this 1 BR apartment into a 3BR apartment.
    • Parishioners Tara & Jake Bents went through scout training and discovered the property.
    • Tara is now a Family Mentor in our Circle to Success Program.
• Speaking of Circle To Success Program
  • Remember when I mentioned how we struggled early on with the family support piece of our ministry?
  • St. Joans has helped fund and provide volunteers for an exciting new Third Way Network program called Circle to Success.
  • It is a training program that prepares 5 families for success in affordable housing upon successful completion of the program.
  • One of our parishioners, Clarence Chaplain, provided valuable research which was incorporated into this program.
  • The 5 families meet on 8 consecutive Monday nights where trained staff cover topics such as:
    • Budgeting on a limited income
    • Cleaning up credit problems
    • Problem solving
    • Preparing for emergencies
    • Setting goals
    • Managing time
    • Succeeding as a responsible tenant
    • Meal planning
  • Each session includes a dinner together, childcare for the parents and time for community building.
  • Each family is assigned a Family Mentor who assists them in completing the training program. They also prepare the family for moving into their new home.
  • The first class of families graduated in August. A second class is in process and will graduate in November.
  • Most of the family mentors in these classes are from St. Joan’s. Many of our parishioners are there preparing meals for the family dinner, or helping with childcare so the adults can attend their class.
  • I am excited that we have found a wonderful working model that really prepares and supports families. It is something that could easily be replicated nationally.

• The real heart of our Housing Ministry are the volunteers.
  • I am talking about hundreds of our fellow parishioners who have worked on these projects.
  • And our parishioners roped in their family members, friends and co-workers.
• Here is how you can continue to support our Housing Ministry:
  • Property
    • Do you have a home, like Susan Schirber did, that could be renovated to create a basement efficiency apartment?
    • Do you have rental housing, like Paul Lepinsky did, that could be used as part of the Rental Give-Back Program?
    • Would you be willing to attend a Property Owners Workshop on Nov. 10th from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. to learn more?
  • Labor
    • Do you have some constructions skills, like Moe Failer, that could be used in our re-hab work?
    • Could you be one of are many unskilled construction volunteers, like Tom Hendricks, who can take direction and accomplish re-hab tasks?
    • Could you recruit your running group, dinner or book club, like Barb McFarlane did, and get them signed up for a future Saturday work crew?
    • Could you prepare and deliver lunch meals to our volunteer work crews like Mary Ellen McGuire and Mary Ann Kennedy?
  • Circle To Success
    • Would you be willing to contribute an educational subsidy to sponsor a family going through the Circle To Success program?
    • Could you be a Family Mentor like Sandy Thompson, Tara Bents, Michael Scanlan, Kathy & David Nesset? It involves 8 consecutive Monday nights from 5:15 – 8:15 p.m.
    • Could you work two or three Mondays as a Kids Activity Leader from 5:30 – 8:15 p.m.?
    • Could you work two or three Mondays with our lead chef in the kitchen like Lucy Petermeier did, in helping prepare the Monday night meals from 4:00 – 7:30 p.m.?
• Sign Up Information Tables
  • We have tables set up after mass for you to get more information or to sign up for our current housing projects.
  • You can also go to www.stjoan.com for a connection to the Third Way Network for volunteer information.

• We have an affordable housing crisis and St. Joan’s is doing something about it!
• I can think of no better way to conclude today than to recognize our fellow parishioners who have committed themselves to creating affordable housing.
• If you have ever volunteered on any of the Housing Ministry projects, would you please stand up and be recognized?