Habitat turns Minnesota renters into homeowners
Families can choose where they want to live within seven counties
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Growing up, Ianna Burrell never believed she would own a home.
When she was 18, she took custody of her 10-year-old brother after her mother died in a car crash. Her father was in prison most of her childhood.
“Everyone rented,” said Burrell, 32. “My mother rented. My grandmother rented and none of my brothers owned a home. I never thought much about owning a home.”
Even after she married, Burrell remained a renter. She, her husband and their daughter lived in North Minneapolis — an area that experienced a double-digit increase in violent crime in 2016, including gang-related shootings. Their home was burglarized twice, their car, too, and a gun she’d bought for protection was stolen.
“I just wanted to be comfortable and raise my daughter in a safe environment so she could attend a good school and obtain a great education,” Burrell said.
Things changed when her husband saw an ad about the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat’s philosophy is the same across the country: Help poor people improve their lives by becoming owners of homes built, in part, by their own hands. In Milwaukee and in other cities nationwide, that is happening.
But while Milwaukee focuses its program tightly on one area at a time, and does not coordinate with efforts in nearby counties, the Habitat branch serving Minneapolis and St. Paul has adopted a regional approach that allows families to choose where they want to live within seven counties.
As a result, families can access better schools and safer neighborhoods, which in turn become more racially diverse. To be eligible for a Habitat home, an applicant must have several years of stable income and employment and must complete 400 hours of work toward the building of Habitat homes, known as sweat equity. Over the past four years, Milwaukee Habitat has built all of its homes in the northern half of Washington Park, a historically middle-class area in danger of decline. Last year, the nonprofit placed 23 families into homes.
The revitalization strategy has contributed to a 48% decrease in crime in the area, according to Brian Sonderman, executive director.
“Our homeowners are deeply rooted in the community. They are involved in the neighborhood block watch. They serve on the art and culture committee and they participate in the healthy eating programs,” Sonderman said. “They are working hard to make the neighborhood better.”
Compared to the Twin Cities, which boasts one of the largest Habitat organizations in the country, Milwaukee’s program is tiny.
During the next four years, the Twin Cities organization plans to sell homes to 500 families. Twin Cities Habitat allows families to find a home anywhere in a seven-county area that encompasses 180 municipalities.
Historically, Milwaukee has been considered one of the nation’s most segregated communities, with less than 9% of African-Americans in the Milwaukee metro area living in the suburbs, according to a 2013 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study.
If the Twin Cities approach were in effect here, participants could choose to live within one of seven counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Sheboygan, Racine and Kenosha.
Such a move would not only benefit the Habitat owner, but it would improve the neighborhoods by making them more diverse and inclusive, Sonderman said.
But to make it work, seven separate Habitat organizations — one in each of the counties — would have to come together. Operations would need to be streamlined and boards combined.
“A regional approach would make all of us stronger because it would allow us to share resources and expand our reach,” Sonderman said. “Right now, too many poor families feel trapped in an unsustainable housing dilemma.
“They are stuck renting apartments in highly distressed neighborhoods. They deserve better affordable home options in safe neighborhoods.”
There is some debate about which approach works best to get low-income people into permanent housing, according to Sue Haigh, president and CEO at Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
On one hand, the block-by-block approach helps solidify communities.
On the other, people who move into well-established areas can learn to be good homeowners and flee the oppressive violence and despair of some of the areas they come from.
By allowing families to build their homes anywhere in the seven-county region, Haigh said, Habitat gives greater control to the buyers, allowing them to decide where they want their kids to go to school, how close they want to live to their jobs, or if they want to live in a suburban neighborhood.
Haigh’s organization has built and sold homes in 58 of the region’s 180 municipalities, though about half remain in St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Coming to a regional solution took time and collaboration among local officials. Cities that participate and create affordable home opportunities can receive grant money from a regional planning group that can go toward parks and transportation.
“There is a carrot dangled, but people really get it now,” Haigh said.
Burrell, an administrative assistant with Hennepin County, is among those in the Twin Cities who chose to build their Habitat home in the suburbs. She moved into her 1,224-square-foot, threebedroom home in Shakopee, a quiet, pedestrian-friendly town 20 miles southwest of Minneapolis, in April 2016. It took her 14 years to get there. After her mother died in a car accident on snow-covered roads in December 2002, Burrell raised her 10-year-old brother, Martrez, the best she could. Of her four brothers, he is the only one who has not spent time in prison.
“I did what I could do to protect him,” she said of Martrez. “And while we didn’t always live in the best places, I did my best to keep him out of trouble.”
Burrell’s father, Michael Toussaint, was sent to prison for attempted murder when she was in second grade. He was released in 2002, a week before the accident that killed her mother.
He’s been a delivery driver for Quicksilver Express Courier for 14 years. In 2005, Toussaint became a homeowner through Habitat.
Burrell believes the system is set up for black men to fail.
“They can’t find work so they end up committing crimes and get locked up and when they get out they really can’t find work or housing, so they go back to what they know and they usually end up right back in prison,” she said.
For her father, Habitat broke that cycle. Toussaint has not been back to prison.
“My father was my inspiration to get a home,” Burrell said. “He is so proud of me.”
Twin Cities Habitat is headquartered in St. Paul and employs 75 people. The big, brown building with staggered windows hides an interior beaming with light and color at every turn.
On the wall just inside the front door, a mural makes the organization’s purpose clear: “Our Mission: To eliminate poverty housing from the Twin Cities and to make decent, affordable shelter for all people a matter of conscience.”
The 27,000-square-foot, three-story facility takes advantage of every inch of space. The office walls double as whiteboards where workers can calculate what it will take to get families into homes: monthly housing costs, salaries, debt ratios.
A first-floor room has toilet tanks, door frames and circuit breakers — space for new homeowners to practice the skills they will need to maintain their houses.
“These are people who have always rented, so they had other people to fix things for them,” Haigh said. “We make
sure that they know how to take care of some of the simple things so they can not only be good homeowners, but good neighbors, too.”
Like Milwaukee, the Minneapolis/St. Paul region has one of the largest white-to-black homeownership gaps in the country. In the Milwaukee metro area, 68% of whites own their homes compared to 29% of blacks.
In the Twin Cities, the gap is worse, with 75% of whites owning homes compared to just 25% of blacks. One reason is the high cost of housing there, where the median price is $231,700, compared to $104,300 in Milwaukee.
Prior to partnering with Habitat, families typically pay 40% to 50% of their monthly income for housing, Haigh said. That cost goes down to a maximum of 30% through Habitat, which provides people with customized mortgages based on income.
That savings means more money in families’ pockets, which they can use to continue their education and get better jobs, thereby increasing their income.
Habitat has set the goal of placing 500 families in homes over the next four years because the need is so great, Haigh said.
Every year, about 4,000 families express interest in the program.
“The reason I come to work every day is because I know that if we can find a home for a family that means that their children have a better chance of succeeding in school,” she said. “It means that the health outcomes for everyone in the home will be better, and it increases the chances for the adults in that home of continuing their education.”
Until last year, Burrell was among the 75% of African-Americans living in Minneapolis who were renters.
She and her husband began the journey with 12 orientation meetings in 2013. After that, she had to continue alone because her husband was sent to prison for stealing a police squad car.
She worked to improve her credit score and spent 300 hours helping build Habitat homes, including her own. In order to begin coaching with Habitat, candidates need a credit score of 570, which is considered “poor.” They need to raise their credit score to 620, or “fair,” in order to buy a home.
Because she had a fulltime job, putting in the mandatory sweat equity on her home required a lot of sacrifice.
“It’s not easy, but you don’t get into it because it’s easy,” she said. “I wanted to provide a safe environment for my daughter.”
Members of her family also helped build her house, which created a special bond among them. Her father helped, too.
Burrell did her research before deciding to move to Shakopee. One big selling point was the school system. Her daughter Ayana, 11, is bilingual and an “A” student. Since kindergarten, she has attended a Spanish immersion school in Minneapolis.
Burrell didn’t want to move her daughter in the middle of the school year, but Ayana will move into the Shakopee School District for sixth grade next year.
Burrell also fell in love with the peace and quiet Shakopee offers.
Neighbors can take walks after dusk and not worry about being accosted. She can leave her door unlocked if she wants to, even at night.
Shakopee is 77% white; 10% Asian; and 4.3% black, according to the 2010 U.S. census data.
Haigh, the Twin Cities Habitat director, hopes the organization’s regional approach will lead to more diverse neighborhoods.
Last year, Twin Cities Habitat started construction of a 33-unit townhouse project in the city of Hugo — 35 miles north of downtown St. Paul. Some families were skeptical about becoming the only minority families in the mostly white area.
But when they visited the Hugo townhouses and saw how close they were to a quality elementary school, they got excited about it, Haigh said.
While the Twin Cities’ light rail system doesn’t stop in Hugo, families can drive to a park-and-ride and take the bus downtown for work, school or church.
In St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood — where Habitat has built dozens of homes over the last 20 years — the light rail system has helped to accelerate other housing construction in the area, Haigh said.
“Building housing that is affordable near transit is critical in helping families be successful,” Haigh said. “It makes getting to work, school, church so much easier.”
The plan to sell 500 homes throughout seven counties has opened doors for Habitat to tap new donors. In 2016, Minnesota was home to 17 Fortune 500 companies — including UnitedHealth Group, Target, U.S. Bancorp, 3M and General Mills.
Twin Cities Habitat collects $8 million a year in grants, corporate, individual and church donations. Individuals contribute the most in donations, $2.4 million a year to the nonprofit.
In contrast, Milwaukee Habitat collected $2.2 million in donations last year, raising about $300,000 in individual donations, Sonderman said.
Haigh said companies and individuals like being part of something big — and Twin Cities Habitat’s ambitious plans have attracted more volunteers.
Chuck Coskran, 78, has worked on Habitat homes for 10 years. In February, he was part of a team of 15 volunteers installing flooring in a two-story townhouse in Glenwood, Minn.
“I’ve seen how stable housing benefits people with my own eyes,” Coskran said. “I’ve seen how the health of the adults improve; how kids do better in school and how it helps to stabilize marriages.”
In addition to building homes, the Twin Cities Habitat also helps low-income homeowners who need help with repairs. The “Brush with Kindness” program does exterior painting, roofing, window replacement, siding, tree removal, plumbing and accessibility modifications like ramps, grab bars and ADA toilets.
The program is designed to keep seniors and those with disabilities in their homes, Haigh said. Those who qualify typically have received citations from the city,
and Habitat helps bring them up to code.
The low-cost loan to the homeowner is customized to their ability to pay. If they stay in the home for 10 years after the repairs, any remaining debt owed is forgiven.
“Our goal is to improve the neighborhood,” Haigh said. “And if this helps to keep people in their homes longer, then that’s best for everyone.”
*** On weekends, Burrell hosts movie nights with her nieces and nephews. Sometimes, she invites just the adults over for cards and dominoes.
The brother she raised, Martrez, now 24, is the father of a 1-yearold with another child on the way. He helped build Burrell’s house and visits often.
Ayana’s bedroom is decorated with pictures of princesses and hanging dream catchers that reflect her father’s Native American heritage.
A sign over the door reads: “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.”
“People say I’m a little princess, but I love video games, too,” Ayana said.
The bathroom closest to Ayana’s room has been converted into a “makeup studio,” where she has 20 different colors of nail polish.
Burrell, who is now divorced, said the only addition her split-level home needs is a deck in the back. Once that’s done, she will truly be living in her dream house.
She has never stopped giving back. When her oldest brother, Larry got out of prison, she let him move in with her. He landed a job at Shutterfly in Shakopee within a couple of weeks. The move made it easier for him to see his children in St. Paul.
“He would have never found a job that fast if we still lived in North Minneapolis,” Burrell said. “I don’t want to think about what would have happened if we still lived there. I know here they believe in giving you a second chance.”