Unitarian
Universalist
Affordable
Housing
Partnership

UUs Tour Supportive Housing

On September 17th, twenty representatives of six UU congregations toured "supportive housing" projects funded by UU Affordable Housing Partnership ("UUAHP"). The purpose of the tour was to show member congregations and individual UUs who have contributed generously to the UUAHP fund how UUAHP has invested their money.

Since its creation in 2000, UUAHP has raised over $100,000, the bulk of which was used to create a revolving loan pool administered by the Corporation for Supportive Housing ("CSH"), a non-profit organization that helps non-profit sponsors of supportive housing make it happen.

"When we raised this money, we had the vision of creating a permanent funding resource that could be used strategically to make housing more affordable for people entering the housing market - coming out of homelessness," according to Jo Haberman, co-chair of UUAHP. "Given our needs and the focus of CSH, a partnership with CSH seemed like a perfect fit."

"Permanent supportive housing" is affordable housing combined with supportive services that individuals with serious, persistent issues that may include substance use, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS need to remain housed. Supportive housing tenants sign leases and pay rent, just like their neighbors. CSH has found that it costs essentially the same amount of money to house someone in stable, supportive housing as it does to keep that person homeless and stuck in the revolving door of high-cost crisis care and emergency housing.

UUAHP money is used in the pre-development phase of a project when project sponsors need funds for site studies, environmental impact statements, lobbying city councils, etc. CSH makes loans that average $15,000 with a term of approximately 2 years for this purpose. This money early in the development cycle of a project, before permanent financing is not yet in place, and for that reason, a fairly risky and critical stage of a project.

The tour was arranged by CSH. Included Minneapolis sites representative of the type of projects supported with UUAHP money - Portland Village, in the Phillips neighborhood, Archdale Apartments, in downtown, and Central Avenue Appartments in Northeast. Portland Village is for economically disadvantaged families, Archdale is designed for single formerly homeless youth, and Central Avenue targets single adults with a disability, specifically, chemical dependency.

UUAHP was created in 2000 to provide opportunities for UUs in the metro area to work together and with coalition partners to address the affordable housing crisis in our region. UUAHP is a working group of the Metro UU Social Justice Alliance. In addition to raising money, UUAHP also works on legislative issues and does hands on work, primarily through Habitat for Humanity.