How Minnesota churches are tapping a ‘land use’ law to combat homelessness

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00:00about a decade ago our family moved to Minnesota for me to get a doctorate in housing a few years

00:11into the program I really sensed God was saying it was time to look at poverty in my own backyard

00:15this is not a housing problem this is not a social service problem this is yeah just a

00:22poverty of relationship and a loss of family I moved to Kansas in 2018 and I think of my brother

00:41for a while he ended up losing the house and I ended up on the street and I was in a tent

00:50down by the rivers it got really cold one year it was like 40 below and some people from a

00:57different church came out he collected everybody they could find that was out there and put us up

01:02in a hotel most people out there haven't been there that long um I mean it could happen to anybody

01:09to some tree you know mishap or something crazy happens in your life

01:15um yeah most of the homeless people are through out there aren't like I know what the preconceived

01:28notions are you know I wasn't homeless or you know I had there's times when I was making really good

01:35money and nice house and nice car everything the people that I've noticed are chronically homeless

01:41have that severe trauma or family breakdown and don't have those relationships to really support

01:47a healthy life when you go through something if you don't have someone to turn to and it's just

01:52yourself it's a lot to depend on yourself I think the biggest general thing that I've heard that I

01:58definitely think isn't true is that people who are chronically homeless kind of got themselves into

02:04those situations um like settled offices people get into chronic homelessness from a catastrophic loss

02:12of community especially from a young age you know I tend to shy away from people standing on the corner

02:18no signs and stuff um even though I knew for the most part that they weren't they're not all you know

02:29drug addicts and thieves and whatever else people think um they're just stuck in a position that once

02:39you get there it's really hard to get out of um

02:42the healthcare system was kind of waving their white flag saying this is really costly our

02:59neighbors are coming into the ER um you know feigning an illness essentially for a bed and a meal because

03:04we we lack um enough support to help our neighbors one of those major barriers was local zoning and um

03:13and also the spirit of nimbyism not in my backyard sentiments right and we discovered the religious land

03:20use act there was a church in saint paul that was in a lawsuit with the city of saint paul in the federal

03:26courts because they had opened up a day respite center um in their church basement and the city had put

03:32significant restrictions on them operating that day respite center for the homeless and ultimately

03:38they landed on the religious land use act they won in federal courts and saw the strength of of that

03:47federal law settled with working uh with legislators to come to uh this agreement um legislation to be

03:57able for churches and religious institutions to be able to use their land um to provide

04:02housing for the chronically homeless minnesota is the first to have this legislation it's the

04:08religious land use that we can provide these homes for formerly uh chronically homeless neighbors and

04:16there is a description of what that is it's three years i believe you've been homeless um and

04:23unstably housed it's awesome there's a lot of community um it's a different way of living for sure

04:30um but we felt called to come by the lord so we came and it's just nice i moved in fairly recently

04:38uh end of may i actually housed that a few times or they always like to have someone in the homes so

04:44if someone's out of town for like the week they like to have someone in there so i had the opportunity

04:49to do that a few times and i really loved it so our homes are uh sponsored built by other faith

04:58communities um that maybe aren't ready to put a sacred settlement on their land or don't have

05:02the land to do that but um can participate in this movement by building one home and lifting one

05:11person up off the streets we're building homes as if we were building them for ourselves um you know

05:18when you when you stay in a place you build stability you build stability with yourself with the

05:22neighborhood with the relationships that you're in and so we want to be building something that is

05:27yes affordable um but but really has that sense of home we are in such close relationship with our

05:35neighbors that we're pretty attuned to the things that go on but we're not a social service agency we

05:40really advocate for them to connect with a therapist or a social worker um people that have the skill

05:47the missing piece is the relational piece at the end of the day who is looking at our neighbors in

05:52the eye and saying you're of great value um looking at them with awe and delight and wonder and and

05:59saying like i'm so glad to be with you we're certainly not solving the problems for everybody

06:03um i like having a friend who always says we throw our rock as hard as we can we're attempting to you

06:08know make a difference in people's lives but it's not life is complicated you don't solve

06:15everybody's problems with a home doesn't solve everybody's problems but it certainly is a good

06:20place to start what i realized is everything is temporary like this is all temporary and

06:24we're meant to love each other and share while we're here and i think that being here has taught

06:29me that get i mean just in giving you you receive there's a ratio of how many intentional neighbors

06:37versus invited neighbors so that's where we fit with the kind of two to one ratio of having the

06:44invited neighbors and intentional neighbors neighbors help uh in the neighborhood um cutting

06:50trees and doing lawn care and helping with odds and ends and the neighborhood comes in gardens at the

06:56sacred settlement and comes to the block parties and comes trick-or-treating throughout the tiny

07:01homes like there is a reciprocity there is a true um uh friendship between the neighborhood and the

07:09sacred settlement what is what goes into being an intentional neighbor i mean is there any difference

07:13from just being a neighbor anywhere else it means like you're intentionally coming in to live alongside

07:20the chronically homeless like we're all on the same level um it's intentional like we're coming in

07:25knowing that we're moving alongside our neighbors coming out homelessness um and we're going to be

07:31support and anything could happen um and we're willing to walk alongside and be a friend and be a

07:38family member whatever they need i'd say it's it's fairly similar except the way the community is

07:43set up is that you're interacting with people a lot more after the first time i house sat here i went

07:50back home and one of my neighbors was outside and i had this urge to like go talk to them because that's

07:55what i've been doing the whole week i was here but like part of me stopped because i'm like that's not

07:59what i'm supposed to like it felt like disruptive um but i ended up going and talking to them and we had a

08:05a great chat so i think there's a there felt like a freedom to engage with people i mean i think it's

08:11kind of the name intentional neighbor i think it's really just what being a good neighbor is but

08:16um for me personally i've been more intentional about spending more of my time in this community

08:23it wasn't just till recently you know that i got caught up with this whole homeless thing and

08:34i don't know i had help get out of it a lot of help which

08:41made the whole difference i don't know we'll wear it that probably still be out there

08:45or somebody hadn't stepped up to

08:50don't pull me out shelters are near temporary i would say that emergency shelters are quick

08:56solutions or transitional housing is a quick solution at settled we've codified a model that

09:01we call full community and essentially it says what do our neighbors on the streets need in order to live

09:07a whole life and the beautiful thing is that they need the same things that you and i need

09:12they need neighbors to lean on they need purposeful work to do they need permanent homes to dwell in

09:18they need friends to trust they need places to cultivate and so that's what we call the full

09:23community model they do pay rent um to live here so it's not free housing it's uh deeply affordable

09:32housing about how much are we talking about i would say under 300 a month and our neighbors have

09:40the opportunity to receive rent credit so if they you know do some kind of service around the church

09:47they can earn up to 150 off of their rent i think there's often oftentimes people are valued for what

09:55they can like monetarily contribute and so if you're someone who doesn't have like a full-time job

10:00oftentimes i think you can get overlooked and i think the government does help in some ways with

10:06that but i definitely think in my issue like homelessness they could be doing more even if

10:11i don't know specifically what those steps the next steps for that would look like

10:15often we look away from the hardest to house um because of things like mental illness and

10:21substance use we also have a point of view at settled where there's there's no substitute for

10:25proximity and so inviting the most vulnerable home onto our land into our buildings into our lives

10:32for reciprocal enduring relationship means that healing is going to come it helps knowing the past

10:42because in dealing with other people

10:49knowing their past or knowing my past and things i've gone through i can help them with um you know

10:57what definitions they might be having or at least understanding even if i can't help you know at least

11:07understanding there's always somebody around

11:13yes you know if you need something or want to just talk to somebody um need some advice or something

11:21there's always somebody around that you can go to or just run into um it's like a big family i think

11:31it's uh eye-opening as in our neighbors are so kind and loving and um and they have taught us a lot of

11:40things we've been sharpened in weight like i'm kind of socially awkward and kind of an introvert but it's

11:45helped me to be more extroverted or have more courage i probably would have

11:51like to be an intense old neighbor if i wasn't just a neighbor you know in a way

11:59i mean it's kind of the same in a lot of aspects you know really secret that way it's been uplifting

12:06but also there are so many more people that need help so i guess it's like come on people bring more

12:13people along for the journey i guess i don't know how to

12:15how to describe it but yeah i would say overall it's been a great blessing in my life it's like

12:22this divine gift for faith community is to use their land um to help the most vulnerable in our

12:29community and and to then also be an asset to our states to our nation by creating truly affordable

12:35housing we are a landing place um and a relationship and a place that you know they can

12:42live and thrive it is not a fix it model it's not a time limited model it is come as you are come and

12:50be here uh settle here grow deep root um rebuild trust with yourself with god with others become who

12:58you were always designed to be for more in-depth reporting download our app or go to san.com

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