Thrive Alliance Housing Services built more than an affordable home for Columbus resident Jennifer Morgan in 2007. They built her a future.
“The house meant financial stability for me,” said Morgan, one of 106 first-time homeowners through Housing Services. “It was my safe place, so that made it represent stability.”
It also represented hope, becoming the catalyst for Morgan to move toward her current post — a nonprofit Coaching For Success position in which she works with clients needing a boost and an opportunity just as she once did. Plus, she is returning to college soon to further her education.
“Life has now come full circle,” she said.
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Housing Services’ life and mission comes to a milestone at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at The Commons when the nonprofit marks its 30th anniversary of assisting people such as Morgan. In fact, she will discuss that impact in a video clip to be shown at the event.
The nonprofit program began as an Sunday School class’ outreach of First Presbyterian Church after members studied local housing needs for a year. The church donated $30,000 to the program to hammer home its long-term commitment to making a difference.
“Part of what I think about today when I look back on that time is that affordable housing is still a problem today,” said Bob Hyatt, the first president of the agency originally known as Housing Partnerships Inc.
Housing Partnerships became a part of Thrive Alliance in 2011.
City leaders have regularly discussed and taken aim at affordable housing especially since the 1990s.
Mark Lindenlaub, Thrive Alliance’s executive director, acknowledged that the nonprofit agency’s mission may be never-ending because there will always be some families who can’t afford decent, safe housing. But he said the program is a definitive way to change lives, one family at a time.
“Maybe we’ll never get this work to be a 100 percent solution (to housing challenges),” Lindenlaub said. “But it’s built on the idea that our community should provide opportunities for people. And people can then can access those opportunities and then do well for themselves.”
“And we have no shortage of people looking for these kinds of opportunities.”
For example, after consulting with staff at Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, Thrive Alliance committed to adding three houses to its program serving families in Turning Point’s programs. Those houses are still under construction, and Thrive Alliance is already serving eight families who are renting other homes through Thrive Alliance.
Morgan said her opportunity surfaced when she “could never have afforded a (regular) home on a minimum-wage income,” as she put it. But Housing Services repairs existing homes mostly with trained and seasoned volunteer crews, which Lindenlaub calls “the biggest piece of the work.”
And then the agency structures a mortgage within a client’s financial means — after taking them through extensive credit counseling, home-buying help and guidance, and offering them sweat equity to lower their overall cost.
Helping complete the picture of assistance is everything from grants to donated lots to donated materials for a structure to keep costs reasonable for the families. Today’s refurbished homes for Housing Services generally are valued at $170,000 “and are built as well as any house as you’ll ever see,” Lindenlaub said.
Yet, the value of the structures stretches far beyond the price tag. The redone homes slow crime and boost safety in once-blighted areas, sometimes reducing the number of police patrols needed on a street, according to residents. And the rebuilt structures boost the quality of life in a neighborhood, according to Kevin Johnson, Thrive Alliance’s director of housing.
“You guys continue to impact my life,” said one Housing Services homeowner to Johnson not ago along Werner Avenue, where the agency continues to revive homes in disrepair. “This is so much of a better place to live now.”
Johnson also mentioned that his crews of volunteer builders love not only the physical process of their expertise, but also the emotional result of helping give individuals and families hope for a better life. Most often, workers meet the new homeowners.
“The main thing for them is that they get to see the real impact,” Johnson said.
Amid success, Housing Services has faced its share of challenges. For instance, its rental home program currently is operating with a deficit since the county reversed its determination on property tax exemption. Although HPI successfully appealed that decision to the state, the county is appealing its loss. In order to cover program losses during the extended legal process, the agency was forced to sell several of its homes to cover the tax bills.
But Housing Services is hoping to see the Indiana Board of Tax Review’s latest decision stand — one that says Bartholomew County should repay the building agency for its taxes, although that decision has been appealed.
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The original Housing Partnerships, Inc. was created in June 1989 by an adult Sunday school class at Columbus’ First Presbyterian Church seeking to help alleviate the great need for decent, safe, affordable housing for working families. Their pilot project was repairing the exterior of a home of owned by a woman in the church neighborhood unable to afford the repairs necessary to make her house weather tight.
• 1990: The agency was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization. First Presbyterian Church provided an initial startup grant of $30,000 and seven other local churches quickly joined as members.
• 1994: Began a home rental program in addition to the home ownership program.
• 1996-98: Renovated the old National Guard Armory at Seventh and Franklin Streets (now known as The Armory apartments) into 25 affordable apartment homes for seniors. The effort was named 1998 “Project of the Year” by the Indiana Association for Community Economic Development.
• 1997-98: Worked with the Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center to renovate 14 substandard houses into decent, affordable rental homes in the neighborhood.
• 1999: Celebrated its 10-year anniversary by reaching the milestones of 100 homes built and 50 homes sold.
• 2001: Received nearly $500,000 in federal grants to create 10 homes to sell to first-time home buyers.
• 2003: Broke ground on its first-ever subdivision on McKinley Court, platting five lots and building the first three houses.
• 2005: Reached a milestone of more than 10,000 volunteer hours recorded for the year.
• 2006: The agency faced an unforeseen and what its leaders have called potentially devastating financial challenge when the county assessor reversed his previous determination that the agency’s rental homes were property tax-exempt. The agency appealed the decision, but as financial losses accumulated, was forced to sell off homes for the first time in its history.
• 2009: The agency celebrated its 20th anniversary by expanding the original mission to include all aspects of neighborhood redevelopment, not just affordable housing.
• 2013: Purchased and renovated Cambridge Square Apartments in east Columbus providing housing units for 70 families. The previous owner, Senior Center Services of Bartholomew County, used the proceeds from the sale to help build Mill Race Center.
• 2015: Renovated four vacant historic buildings in downtown Greensburg into 40 senior apartments. The Historic Greensburg Square project was honored with the Indiana Lt. Governor’s Award for Excellence in Senior Housing.
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What: 30th anniversary of Thrive Alliance Housing Services, which provides affordable housing to be both purchased and rented
When: 5:30 p.m. with light food and cocktails. A program is set from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: The Commons, 300 Washington St. in downtown Columbus.
To help organizers: Let them know you are attending by responding on the Facebook page for Thrive Alliance or by calling 812-372-6918 or by emailing [email protected]
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