“THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME” HOLIDAY GREETINGS FROM MAKING HOUSING & COMMUNITY HAPPEN (MHCH)

“THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME”
HOLIDAY GREETINGS

FROM MAKING HOUSING & COMMUNITY HAPPEN

 (MHCH)

 

 It’s a universal story. It concerns a man and his pregnant wife. After a long journey they arrive at last at the man’s hometown, only to find there’s no place to lay their heads. Tired and discouraged, they come at last to a crowded inn and there’s no room so they ask if they can find shelter in the stable. Thus, was the prince of peace born.”

Rick Cole, former mayor of Pasadena and a member of MHCH, shared these words during our Dec 4^th online gathering “There’s no place like home.” He went on to say,

“MHCH is all about making sure that everyone has a place they can afford, a place to call home. Our successes are making a large difference in the lives of our neighbors. Support us so we can find room in our community for all who need it.” (To donate, click here.)

During our online celebration Cynthia Kirby shared her story about living for 10 years on the street and how housing and the love of Christ changed her life. Members of our six committees told why they were moved to give their time and hearts to housing justice: Congregational Land Committee (CLC), Safe Parking, Affordable/Supportive Advocates (ASHA), Community Land Trust (CLT), Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and the North Fair Oaks Empowerment Initiative.  At a time of growing racial inequities, we thank God for the diversity on our teams and among the 23 churches in our network.  We heard religious and community leaders give testimonials about why they support MHCH.  We heard Elvis sing our theme song “There’s no place like home” and “Tramp on the Street” a moving music video by John York  (of the Byrds) about our homeless neighbors. Nearly two hundred people from across the nation and across the political spectrum joined together, united by the ancient biblical vision that “everyone will live under their own vine and fig tree, at peace and unafraid” (Micah 4:4).

Like the birth of Jesus, our celebration was all about hope in a time of darkness. About churches and our city coming together as a beloved community. About seeing Pasadena’s homeless count decline 54% in the last decade while the count in most of LA County increased. We celebrate hope because this fall the Pasadena City Council approved 112 units of affordable housing, right smack in the heart of our city, next to City hall, with 10% of these units for homeless seniors! We celebrate because 902 affordable housing units are in our city’s pipeline. We celebrate because 34 churches are interested in partnering with our Congregational land team; this could produce 1,000s of affordable units.  (112 people showed up at a city workshop to support a zone change to make this possible!)

None of this would have happened without advocacy, careful research and organizing. That’s why at our celebration we honored Allison Henry, organizer for Everyone In, along with our church liaison coordinator Bert Newton and two City Council members who are champions of affordable housing.

Margaret McAustin, a City Council woman whom we honored for championing Marv’s Place, which provides homes for 19 formerly unhoused families, praised MHCH: “As an organization, MHCH has grown so much. It has become an organization that researches and studies best practices that help inform city policies on affordable housing. That’s how affordable housing becomes more a part of our city in everything that we do.”

John Kennedy, another Council member we honored, is counting on us to support his bold vision: to see 1,000 units of affordable housing built in the next three years. He says: “I want to see the city do more than just adopt a policy directive to house low, very low and extremely low income residents. These categories are the hardest to produce. But if the city partners with developers to produce this housing, we as a community can get this done.”

At the celebration Anne Marie Molina,

mother of five and chair of our Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Committee, shared her moving story about being a homeless teenager and how her life was transformed when she was sheltered by the Salvation Army. She has become a proud mother, banker and advocate for affordable housing. She says: “Homelessness is not the result of drug use or any other single cause. It’s a kaleidoscope of reasons that people become homeless. MHCH understands that so well. Their work for housing justice makes our whole community better. Everyone should support their work.”

 

Peter Havholm, a retired English professor, helps our volunteers write their housing stories of hope. Andre White also told his story about leaving his job as a trader on Wall Street to return to Hilton Head Island to help his African American community save their land from large resorts.  

During this holiday season we want to wish you all a blessed time, despite the COVID crisis and all its challenges. As we celebrate a child who was born in stable, please remember those who are without a home or housing insecure and consider how you can hope. There is much we can do!

 

If you are in the Pasadena area, we have openings in our ASHA, ADU and CLT teams. Please consider encouraging your church or faith community to become part of our network of congregations. You can also take part in a campaign or make a recurring donation.

When we work together, we can create what Dr. King called the “beloved community” where there is room for everyone!

With hope and joy,

Jill and Anthony

"No Place Like Home" Celebration Videos

Grateful and humbled, we invite you to help make affordable housing happen on church land

Thank you all for registering for our "There's No Place Like Home" celebration this past weekend. Your presence helped to make our event joyful as well successful. Nearly 200 attended the three-day event!! We are humbled by the outpouring of generosity on behalf of so many of you. Thank you! We have received over $17,000 in donations so far since the beginning of the campaign, which is 70% of our goal of $25,000. If you feel so moved to help us reach that goal, please go to:  https://www.makinghousinghappen.org/donate 

 

All of the individual videos for our three events are now online at our website for your viewing pleasure. You can find them at https://makinghousinghappen.net/2020/10/06/celebrate-theres-no-place-like-home-with-mhch-dec-3-5-2020/  The full edited videos of the three evenings will be available next week, so stay tuned!

 

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TO MAKE AFFORDABLE HOUSING HAPPEN ON CHURCH LAND

 

We at Making Housing and Community Happen (MHCH) are thrilled that the City is taking seriously our proposal to change the zoning to allow churches to build affordable housing on their underutilized land. But change must go through a number of public processes! This Tuesday, Dec. 15, at 6:00 pm PST there will be a city-sponsored workshop in which Pasadena Planning staff will discuss this topic and elicit public input. If you are in Pasadena or in a city anywhere in the US where you feel such a policy would be warranted, prayerfully consider this is as an opportunity to weigh in and make your voice heard. All you need to do are two things:

1.     Sign on to this meeting at 6pm PST next Tuesday, by going to: https://www.cityofpasadena.net/planning/planning-division/community-planning/religious-facility-housing/

 

2.     After you sign on to the  Zoom meeting next Tuesday, write in the chat: 

 

"As a resident of district ___, and a member of [state your church or organization or neighborhood], I strongly support allowing churches use their underutilized land for affordable housing if they feel so led."

“As a resident of (state your city and state) I know of interested churches and hope that such a policy will pass in Pasadena so we and learn from your city and hopefully adopt something similar.”  

 

That's all you have to say, but if you want to say more, you can go to our blog and find talking points which you can copy and paste into the chat. https://makinghousinghappen.net/2020/12/07/join-us-tues-dec-15-at-6-pm-to-let-the-city-know-that-churches-should-be-allowed-build-affordable-housing-on-their-property/

 

Please let us know if you are planning to take this action. It would be a great encouragement to us.

MHCH is pleased that the City will consider this zoning code amendment which would allow churches to have affordable housing on their underutilized land. Our Congregational Land Committee can work with churches anywhere in the US. We now have 30 churches throughout Southern CA in our pipeline and seventeen churches have indicated interest in Pasadena which would could lead to over 1,000 units of affordable housing spread throughout the city. New Life Holiness now has a proposal for 52 affordable units, but it is zoned commercial—which disallows residential!  

 

We want to flood this public workshop next Tuesday at 6pm PST with chats to demonstrate support so that the city see that this is what the public overwhelmingly wants. Small African American churches like New Life Holiness, with a deep love for their community, have witnessed an exodus of over 25% of Black people from our city. They need to be able to carry out their mission to prevent so much displacement and be a blessing to their community by providing housing that people can afford. We hope that many of you will join this action!

Join us Tues. Dec.15 at 6 pm to let the city know that churches should be allowed build affordable housing on their property

The City of Pasadena Planning & Community Development Department will hold a virtual community meeting to define regulations related to permanent housing on properties owned by churches and other faith-based organizations.

Please join us for a live webinar on Tuesday, December 15 at 6:00 PM where city staff will present background information and proposed options for housing on properties owned by churches and faith-based organizations, as well as answer questions from participants.

Please visit this link on the city's website to learn more:

www.cityofpasadena.net/planning/planning-division/community-planning/religious-facility-housing/

MHCH is pleased that the City will consider this zoning change (called an "overlay zone") which  would allow churches to affordable housing on their underutilized land. This could lead to over 1,000 units of affordable housing spread throughout the city. Seventeen churches in Pasadena have indicated interest in this and one church now has a proposal for 52 affordable units! 

Talking points for Overlay Zone to allow congregations to build affordable housing on their underutilized land.

 #1: We are asking the City Council to support an overlay zone because the time to address the need for affordable housing is now, more than ever. And we have religious organizations throughout the City eager to be partners in making this happen.

 Simply put, an overlay will save significant time, significant money, and provide certainty for both the religious organizations willing to provide affordable housing and the communities where that housing will be located.

By supporting an overlay zone that will ensure the majority of housing that will be developed is affordable, the City can ensure that projects are feasible and done in a way that minimizes the need for City or other public money to make affordable housing happen.

An overly zone is needed and superior to other suggestions of incorporating such zoning to Specific Plan update of Public/ Semi-Public zoning designation so because these planning processes would not adequately address the unique needs of congregations.

#2: An overlay zone enabling churches to build affordable housing will provide new land that would not otherwise be available for affordable housing. This is a significant opportunity when so few sites exist. Using church land is a huge opportunity for affordable housing developers to have feasible and successful projects. When they work with churches, developers don’t have to buy land in advance or carry the insurance cost. They can be more confident of community support since they have the support of a church which is part of a neighborhood. Yet, if churches wish to supply affordable housing, the cost and time needed to create a zoning change on a case-by-case basis as opposed to an overlay zone, can be significantly lowered if there such a policy is in place. Plus, it makes the deal attractive to a more experienced developer.

#3:  An overlay zone enabling churches to build affordable housing will provide an opportunity for the city to significantly reach affordable housing production goals and further its goal of being a diverse community. Housing Element (2014-2021) vision:

 “All Pasadena residents have an equal right to live in decent, safe and affordable housing in a suitable living environment for the long-term well-being and stability of themselves, their families, their neighborhoods, and their community. The housing vision for Pasadena is to maintain a socially and economically diverse community of homeowners and renters who are afforded this right.” 

#4: An overlay zone that enables churches to build affordable housing provides an opportunity for churches to participate in addressing the homeless and housing crisis.  From the poll we conducted, 17 churches are interested in having affordable housing on their land, with the potential of 1,177 units if a Congregational Land Overlay Zone is passed. 95% of churches would support a Congregational Land Overlay Zone to help other churches build housing on their land. Additionally, 19 churches (nearly half of all respondents) would allow SAFE parking on their church’s parking lots. And 11 churches were open to having a FEMA trailer on their property. Twelve churches already own approximately 58 rental units. Only six of them rent at market rate.

#5: An overlay zone that would allow community minded congregations that are already willing and mission-driven to become partners with the city to meet a very real need make good sense.  This also allows religious institutions to practice their faith in a very tangible way. Community based organizations would do this sensitively and respectfully out of love for their neighbors. They will live with this for the long term, so design in keeping with the neighborhood and a commitment to good relationships with neighbors will go a long way in addressing NIMBYISM. 

#6: An overlay zone enabling churches to build affordable housing will allows for both  flexibility and certainly enabling sensitive solutions and designs for each site. Certain development standards will need to be addressed to provide enough flexibility for projects to be feasible. An overlay zone allows for the kind of certainly with flexibility to balance sensitivity to the project and the adjacent neighborhood in regard to appropriate densities and parking requirements to enhance the character of the neighborhood.

#7: An overlay zone for churches to build affordable housing minimized the money, risk and time for affordable housing developers. They cannot invest a great amount of time, money and risk into rezoning processes, and they will not take this time when there are other, simpler opportunities available in other cities.

#8: Because churches are throughout the city an overlay zone would spread affordable housing development through the city providing geographic equity and opportunity and investment in neighborhoods. The city would be wise to take advantage of this since so few sites exist especially in all areas of the city.  In Pasadena, for example, we estimate that there is capacity to build approximately 5,000 units of affordable housing on excess congregational land (the number of affordable units needed with the new RHNA numbers for the 2021-2028 Housing Element cycle). We know that not all congregations will do this, but the potential is significant. An overlay zone would ensure that any housing be built would be within city guidelines appropriate for each community. We must recognizing the power of congregations as allies with their excess land, missional orientation, and base of support in the community.  An overlay zone would help the city to go a long way toward meeting an urgent need.

#9:: Church attendance is declining, Gallop says that 69% of U.S. adults were members of a church in 1998-2000, compared with 52% in 2016-2018. This is particularly the case within land-rich older and mainline churches. Some churches are looking to off-load over-sized parking lots, high-maintenance buildings, and extra space. With shrinking congregations, many churches are unable to keep up. Affordable housing on church land has enabled churches to bless their communities, stay within mission, and help to prevent displacement due to the cost of housing, the very thing that is hurting many Pasadena churches.  Should a church feel called to consider affordable housing on their property, an overlay zone enabling churches desiring to have affordable housing on their property would provide a huge leap forward in addressing the housing crisis.

#10: Churches have a successful track record of partnering with affordable housing developers to provide affordable dwellings on their excess land. Some churches have already put parking lots, buildings constructed for congregations much larger than those of today, and other space on their properties to higher and better use by including affordable housing. In partnership with National Core (which developed Marv’s place in Pasadena, the UMC church in Santa Ana will be providing 95 units, half for families and half for those experiencing homelessness. Churches are doing this because they are called to serve the community and particularly its most vulnerable residents. Yet at the same time, they are also often able to generate a modest level of economic benefit that stabilizes these often struggling, but longstanding and critical institutions of our social fabric. In some cases, affordable housing developers have even provided additional parking for a church or developed other community serving uses on a site. Adopting an overlay zone that would enable churches, feeling so lead, to provide affordable housing on their property. Such a policy would make the process more straightforward, facilitate high quality partnerships with affordable housing developers to create much-needed affordable housing.

#11: Rezoning church land is one way that the city can make right with past sins of racial inequities that served to displace people of color.  With Urban renewal, a thriving African American neighborhood where Parsons now sits was displaced, moving them away from the city center, which today is zoned for 90 units per acre. They were not given the opportunity to capture the added value of the land from up-zoning, but instead encouraged to leave. Thriving Black communities and businesses on N. Fair Oaks were also displaced because of urban renewal. The 210 Freeway pushed out even more people of color. Too many families were not sufficiently remunerated for their property to again buy in Pasadena.  And if they wanted to, banks often would not provide them loans and they often were barred from obtaining private mortgage insurance. Due to significant displacement, one church has 8 members left. Several have closed. As one pastor put it, their church building is in Pasadena, but no one from their congregation can afford to live here anymore. Rezoning church land to allow for affordable housing would serve to prevent more displacement and correct past sins.  Some Black churches are eager to provide affordable housing on their underutilized land, please allow them to do so.

#12: Churches are and have been for many years an indispensable part of our City’s social fabric and have dedicated themselves to feeding the homeless, tutoring children, raising the City’s youth, keeping people in their homes. This history of investment in the community and neighbors creates a perfect marriage with new neighbors living in affordable housing on their property.

#13:   Churches are and have been for many years an indispensable part of our City’s social fabric and but many today are on the ropes because of long term trends, COVID-19 and today some need ways to generate income and reduce expenses to be able to continue in their mission. Affordable housing on their property can do just that.

#14:  An Overlay Zone is a locally-focused solution that will do a better job than proposed state legislation. A local solution designed by the community enables us to craft the kind of creative neighborhood-based housing solutions that enhance the design, beauty and character of our city.

Covid Evictions and the LA Housing Crisis Prof. Gary Blasi, UCLA and Leonardo Vilchis, LA Tenants Union (ICUJP Friday Forum)

 

Please join us online ICUJP Friday Forum December 4, 7:30-9:30 am Pacific Covid Evictions and the LA Housing Crisis Prof. Gary Blasi, UCLA and Leonardo Vilchis, LA Tenants Union (invited) Join videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87042145654 Call in by phone: +1 (669) 900-6833* Meeting ID: 870 4214 5654 PASSCODE: 188890 Passing the Virtual Bucket We can't pass the bucket in person, but ICUJP still needs your support. Please give as generously as you can: • On our donation page. You can set up recurring gifts too! • Use the Give+ app for iPhone or Android • Text a gift amount to 323-701-1467 Thank you! ---------- Help Support Families in Need The need for Immanuel Presbyterian's Food Pantry is greater than ever. Please donate here. Thank you! *Meeting controls for call-in attendees: To mute/unmute yourself: *6 To raise hand: *9 Los Angeles was already suffering a severe housing crisis before Covid-19 hit early this year. Since then, more than half of LA households have reported "facing serious financial problems" from lost jobs or reduced hours, from depleted savings to inability to pay rent. Although evictions due to unpaid rent were temporarily banned at the local, state, and federal levels, many people have been illegally evicted and unaware of their rights. Now, with the bans starting to expire, countless more families and individuals are again threatened with eviction and homelessness. Gary Blasi, Professor of Law Emeritus at UCLA School of Law, and Leonardo Vilchis (invited), LA Tenants Union, will discuss the legal issues and potential impact of mass evictions, and what we can do to help families in this dire situation. Prof. Blasi's most recent research, published in May, provided the first estimates of the expected massive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and unemployment on evictions and homelessness in Los Angeles. He then co-founded an informal Eviction Defense Consortium of academics, tenant activists, lawyers and software engineers. This group supports families facing eviction who cannot obtain lawyers to defend themselves, and helps them connect with tenant organizations and each other. ----- Start your morning with us! Reflection: Paul Nugent Facilitator: Steve Rohde Zoom host: Michael Novick * Link to this week's agenda. *   ** Meetings begin promptly at 7:30 am Pacific. ** ----- Here's how to join the online meeting: To join by video conference, you'll need to download the Zoom app on your computer or mobile device. Click on the link to join the meeting and then enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You'll be able to see slides and video, as well as speakers and other attendees. If you prefer to join by phone, you'll be prompted to enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You won't be able to see the visuals or attendees, but you can view them on the meeting video recording afterward.  If you're new to Zoom and would like to use the video option, we recommend you download the app well ahead of time. ICUJP Friday Forum 12/4 Time: 07:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Option 1: Join videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87042145654 Meeting ID: 870 4214 5654 PASSCODE: 188890 Option 2: Dial in by phone only: +1 (669) 900-6833 US (California) Meeting ID: 870 4214 5654 PASSCODE: 188890 (To find a dial-in number closer to you, go here.) ----- Please note: Our Friday Forums and other events are open to the public. By attending, you consent to having your voice and likeness recorded, photographed, posted on ICUJP's website and social media, and included in ICUJP materials and publications for noncommercial purposes. If you don't want to be photographed or recorded, please let the facilitator know. UPCOMING EVENTS MON, JAN 11: Save the date! Close Guantanamo NOW vigil, 10:00-11:30 am. Online event. Details coming soon. FRIDAY FORUMS DEC 11: TBD DEC 18: ICUJP Holiday Party You are receiving this email because you are a part of the ICUJP Mailing List. You cannot reply to everyone through this email. If you wish to send something to the entire discuss list, email: icujp-discuss-list@googlegroups.com. Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace     Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace · 3300 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010, United States This email was sent to communications@icujp.org. To stop receiving emails, click here. You can also keep up with Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace on Twitter or Facebook. Created with NationBuilder, software for leaders.