By Josie Wise

Sixty community members escaped the gloomy weather and gathered at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church on June 27 to address housing insecurity and homelessness in the area.

The meeting was held after Luther Seminary canceled plans to lease its vacant Stub Hall to Ramsey County and Model Cities for use as a homeless shelter.

St. Anthony Park Faith Communities, a coalition of local churches, planned the meeting for residents in the aftermath of the Seminary’s canceled plan,  

The meeting wasn’t meant. to settle on one solution to solve the housing problem but rather spur housing conversation and to consider steps to start taking action.

Organizations such as the Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing, Project Home and  Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative were featured as avenues for community members to engage with the housing crisis.

MICAH’s East Metro congregational organizer John Slade spoke about housing in a panel-style discussion to kick off the meeting. He addressed the pitfalls of the housing market and its contributions to the housing crisis.

“American capitalism as it stands right now has taken the housing market and made it a profit-making motive where people are drawing out the important things that we all need to go into their back pocket,” Slade said. “The market is not failing. The market is doing exactly what it is intended to do, which is concentrate money.”

Slade said he wasn’t there to give one grand solution to the housing crisis but offered ideas for action.

“Being politically aware at the city level is one thing that you can do,” he said.

Three years ago, St. Paul considered enacting tenant protections that would have prevented people from using credit scores or 20-year-old convictions to turn people down for renting, Slade said. But these stable, accessible, fair and equitable (SAFE) housing protections were barred when landlords successfully sued to block this city legislation, he said.

Slade said the city has now moved toward new renter protection legislation. He noted that by engaging with the city council, community members can help move the legislation along and get better renter protections.

Local piano teacher Rebekah Richards was optimistic these changes could occur if conversations continued and community members worked together.

“We in this neighborhood tend to have some sway,” Richards said. “How much are we willing to give up?”

Following Slade’s panel discussion, meeting attendees gathered in small groups of four or five people to discuss the issue. Community members huddled together to hear each other over the loud chatter of dozens of conversations in the church.

After the individual discussions, each group shared their most important points.

Common ideas shared by the groups included taking small steps such as community education efforts and putting pressure on the city council. Residents were also interested in addressing the underlying issues with the proposed Luther Seminary shelter and building a similar space, this time with proper procedure and community support.

Before participants departed for home to catch the evening’s presidential debate, SAP Lutheran Church council president Kristin Wiersma asked people to sign up to host future discussions on areas they were most interested in, such as tenant’s rights and inventory of community assets.

“This is how change happens,” Wiersma said. “People get in a room, they get excited, they sign up, they keep talking and they make change.”

The hardest shift is turning worry into action, Wiersma said. The interest groups are a way to help make that shift happen.

“When good people bring their open minds and hearts to a hard set of circumstances and challenges, amazing things can happen,” Wiersma said.

         Josephine Wise and intern writer for the Bugle and will be a junior at the University of Minnesota next fall majoring in journalism and minoring in political science.