Amidst a lot full of flowering dandelions, a groundbreaking ceremony for a new housing complex on Logan Avenue North in Minneapolis took place on May 17. The Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, led attendees in a prayer and blessing for the space.
“I began with an acknowledgement that land is inherently sacred,” said Betancourt of her blessing. “It’s not that I think we need to consecrate the soil, but rather to take the blessing of this work, this effort, and remind ourselves that it doesn’t happen without community, without organizers, without partners, without leaders. The collaborative work for justice is what makes this sacred.”
The site of the future housing complex is one of eight lots owned by the Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) Housing Cooperative, which were purchased in 2019. Each lot will house a multi-unit housing complex, and the complex will be cooperatively owned by the Black and Indigenous families occupying the units. This first complex on Logan Avenue, which is set to have three units, will be the home of single parent families who have previously rented with Urban Homeworks, a housing justice nonprofit partnered with BLUU, and who are seeking to transition to home ownership.
The project began with Lena K. Gardner, executive director and founding member of BLUU. Gardner also previously occupied a position of leadership in Black Lives Matter Minneapolis.
“The plan was really the vision of myself and another single Black mom.” said Gardner, “Both my grandpas are Black and Native, and both my grandmas are white, but the non-Black sides of the family actually disowned or distanced from us because we were Black. It (also) grew out of (BLUU’s) desire to find a project to help one of the communities that one of us (founding members) came from.”
Unitarian Universalists, Gardner explained, are members of a faith that acknowledges “many paths to the sacred or the divine.” Members affirm seven principles, but may come from faith traditions as varied as Judaism, Christianity, paganism, secular humanism and atheism. These seven principles include “the inherent worth and dignity of every person” as well as “justice, equity and compassion in human relations.”
It is that principle of individual worth and dignity, said Gardner, that underpins the BLUU Cooperative Housing Initiative’s work to provide quality housing.
“My mom was from north Minneapolis, my dad was from Rondo (in St. Paul). This project takes place in north Minneapolis,” said Gardner, “It’s really about trying to give back to one of the communities that made me, and that is really central to Black Minnesotans. We really see providing stable housing in a cooperative framework as one of the many paths to collective liberation and Black liberation. Ultimately, it’s about self-determination.”
Having a safe and secure place to live and to recharge is vastly important to a person’s mental and physical wellbeing. According to a literature review published by the Centers for Disease Control’s Healthy People 2030 framework, the quality and affordability of housing can greatly affect wellbeing. For example, housing that is “substandard” exposes people to various elements that negatively impact health, such as mold, while being unhoused puts people at a greater risk of premature death.
There are, however, disparities in home ownership. Nationally, only 41.7% of Black households owned their homes compared to 71.7% of white households, according to Census Bureau data from 2015 to 2019. In Minnesota, that disparity was even greater, with 24.2% of Black households owning homes compared to 76.4% of white households. The same data also indicates disparities in Native American home ownership, with only 56.7% of Native households owning their homes nationwide from 2015 to 2019. In Minnesota, that percentage dropped to 49.6%.
For AsaleSol Young, the executive director of Urban Homeworks, having stable housing is not just healthy, but empowering.
“Having stable housing means that you have stable community,” said Young. “It means that you know where to access things like healthy food. It means that you know where to access mental health services for your family, for your children. It means that you’re building relationships for your children at their schools. It also means that when things in your community are not healthy, the air, the water quality, whatever it is, owners tend to have a lot more access to go to their city council officials and say ‘You all need to fix this. We’re making demands. We’re paying taxes in this community, and you need to meet our needs because there are things happening in this area that are not healthy for our children.’”
This housing initiative has drawn support from a multitude of entities, including the City of Minneapolis, the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, Wells Fargo, Shared Capital Cooperative, Minneapolis Homes and Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation. City Council Member Jeremiah Ellison (Ward 5) attended the event as both the area’s city council member, as well as a friend of Gardner. Ellison agreed with Gardner about the importance of housing for health, as well as self determination.
“I know a lot of people think that like, ‘OK, well, you go get a job and then you can go get a place you like,’” said Ellison. “The truth is, when people are stressed out – and instability with where you live is a huge source of stress for people – their creativity, their motivation, their hope, it kind of just goes through the floor. Obviously, increased stress can lead to health issues. Housing is just sort of that first line of defense to say no matter what, you’ve got a place where you can store yourself, store your things, keep your family. You’ve got a place where you don’t have to be worried about overheating or freezing. You’ve got a place, that at the end of a long day, once you get your job and you get your feet under you, you can sort of just sit back.”
Members of the cooperative, said Gardner, will receive education concerning the expectations of living in a cooperative housing complex, such as how to maintain the upkeep of the unit. But while the first members will be single parent Black and Indigenous families who have previously rented with Urban Homeworks, the specific families who will move in have not yet been determined.
“Families in north Minneapolis have been promised a lot and delivered not as much as they’ve been promised,” explained Gardner. “We did not wanna be another organization breaking our promise. So we are waiting until we get fully closed before we launch the recruitment efforts.”
Deanna Pistono
Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.
