The St. Joan of Arc Housing Ministry (SJAHM) is a model grounded in stewardship and social justice poised to work in partnership with other providers to create affordable housing in our greater parish community.
Mission Statement
The SJAHM mission is to create affordable housing for people in need.
- We serve those who are low income, homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless.
- There is a preference for working with single parent families with children.
We will accomplish this mission by partnering with and combining resources with organizations that engage the SJA community in advocacy, direct services and charity.
Today We Partner With:
Urban Homeworks
Urban Homeworks is a faith-based housing organization that has rehabilitated and constructed affordable rental housing in the Twin Cities since 1995. This housing ministry includes volunteer mobilization, construction training and a "ministry of presence" model that enlists committed young Christians to live in one of the building's apartments as friends and examples of neighbors living out Christian values. These volunteers also commit to be engaged in other organizations that target the needs of the neighborhood.
Plymouth Church Foundation (Plymouth Congregational Church, Nicollet at 19th St.)
Since 1999 the Foundation helped create 132 housing units and its strategic plan is to complete development of at least 250 housing units by 2011. This plan includes a Partnership Initiative -- a commitment to assist other congregations in the development of housing in their respective communities. All of their housing developed to date targets families below 50% of area median income ($38,350 for a family of four in 2007) and the majority are below 30% area median income ($23,000 for a family of four in 2007).
These housing developments are all designed and constructed in the licensed building market and when completed are professionally managed and remain affordable throughout their life cycle.
Project Homeless Connect
www.projecthomelessconnect.com
During a day long event sponsored by Hennepin County, homeless men and women are coupled with a volunteer to determine the individual’s needs for accessing services and together they create an action plan for the event. It is held twice annually-- both in December and May. In Dec. 2008 nearly 1800 people experiencing homelessness were served by over 1600 volunteers, 160 agencies and over 500 service providers. The range of services received included legal council, dental, shoe vouchers, haircuts, prescription glasses and mammograms.
St. Stephen's Emergency Shelter
The St. Stephen's Shelter offers safe and sober shelter to 43 adult men every night. St. Joan of Arc assists with the recruiting of volunteers who will stay overnight at the shelter. Volunteers provide hospitality to the homeless guests and assist with meals and morning departure.
History of SJA Housing Ministry
The SJAHM began in 2000 with a parish task force that met for many weeks to assess the capabilities of SJA as to finances, staff support and volunteers to implement a housing ministry. From this effort SJA became the first partner to engage with The Third Way Network. This model collaborated with property owners who were committed to creating affordable rental housing. Volunteers did most of the rehabilitation work on the properties and became teachers and supportive friends to families as these families prepared to move into their new housing. From 2000 to 2008, 73 low income working families were placed into affordable housing.
The Third Way Network closed its doors at the end of 2008 but SJA had already begun exploring new relationships to keep the Housing Ministry a player in providing affordable housing.
The SJAHM believes that the involvement with the new partners along with parish involvement with the metropolitan church consortium, Isaiah (that supports social justice legislative initiatives), will continue to recognize affordable housing as a social justice issue that must remain a vital ministry.
How To Get Involved
1. Work on an affordable housing project as either a skilled or unskilled worker with Urban Homeworks.
2. Provide a Saturday lunch for the SJA construction volunteers.
3. Volunteer as an ombudsman and personal mentor during the twice annual Project Homeless Connect, the one stop county wide effort to address the needs of the homeless population and help them access comprehensive services in a one stop environment at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
4. Become a member of the Housing Leadership Team providing direction to the parish's housing efforts.
5. Be an overnight volunteer at the St. Stephen's Shelter.
6. Fundraising: Creating affordable housing is a challenging and costly endeavor. Many partnerships are generally required where each brings a financial buy-in to the project. Even though public money contributes the greatest share to multi-family affordable rental housing, a percentage of private money is required. Ability to contribute private dollars and /or land would be a requisite for SJA to be a player as we develop our relationship with The Plymouth Housing Foundation.
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