That policy ended after the Great Recession 10 years ago. It required developers to build a percentage of affordable units in all new projects, or to contribute financially to housing programs. The city used to have a law that ensured affordable housing. Now Longmont’s own median income is close to $100,000. In the past, “if you couldn’t afford to live in Boulder, you moved to Longmont,” Matheis-Kraft said. Next year, they’re going to Puerto Rico to help with hurricane recovery.īut over those same years, the housing stock in and around the city, a half-hour northeast of Boulder, has changed. UCC Longmont members built a home with Habitat for Humanity, went to Mississippi five years in a row to help build housing at UCC-related Back Bay Mission after Hurricane Katrina, and rebuilt homes after a Colorado flood. The church has provided years of financial and volunteer support to organizations that offer a hand up to people in need, including The Inn Between and the OUR Center, which helps people move toward self-sufficiency using community resources. The idea emerged from a long history of affordable-housing work at UCC Longmont (that’s the name it uses now it was originally First Congregational Church and is still legally First Congregational UCC). Sarah Verasco, who moved from Connecticut in 2018 to be UCC Longmont’s senior pastor. “Reading about this project was one of the things that really got me excited about this congregation when I applied,” said the Rev. And, per a deed restriction, the property will revert to the church if it ever stops being used to house people whose income is at or under 40 percent of the local median for now, residents will be under 30 percent. The church and The Inn Between split significant preparatory costs. The church did provide the land, but actually, “donated” isn’t precisely right, Matheis-Kraft says.
Among the inaugural tenants are a couple who lost their home due to medical bills resulting from an accident and were once living in a camper a single senior citizen and a parent and her autistic son. Residents will share a community room, laundry facilities and a courtyard.ĭepending on the families that will occupy them over time, the apartments can hold up to 14 people. Built by The Inn Between, a nonprofit specializing in housing, they include four one-bedroom units (450 square feet) and two two-bedroom units (750 square feet). The Micah Homes are scheduled for December occupancy. Ten tenants will move into six new “microhome” apartments on a quarter-acre next to UCC Longmont, in a city where housing is becoming less and less affordable. Now, after four years of preparation, paperwork and partner recruitment, her church in Longmont, Colo., is about to welcome low-income neighbors onto land it donated to house them. It dawned on United Church of Christ member Carol Matheis-Kraft that her local government had certain ways of helping low-income people, but providing affordable housing wasn’t one of them. Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support.General Synod 2021 Racial Justice Offering.General Synod 2021 Thursday in Black Offering.Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ.The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog.Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA).The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team.The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications.Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD).Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD).Office of the General Minister & President.Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo.The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries.
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