Beacon Housing Update

In a continuing effort to keep the congregation informed on the issue of affordable housing, the Oak Knoll Beacon Housing Committee likes to share relevant housing articles, information and events. The following article recently appeared in the Beacon Collaborative newsletter. More will appear in the October Newsletter.

A Child Now Sleeps Safely in North Minneapolis

A child’s safety. That’s what the grand opening of Emerson Village means.

This July marks a tremendous milestone in the Twin Cities’ fight against family homelessness: the grand opening of Emerson Village, a new supportive housing community in North Minneapolis that now serves as a permanent home for 40 families. Fully leased, the building is already full of life—kids playing, doing homework, sleeping soundly. Parents and guardians are breathing easier for the first time in a long time.

These moments reveal the true power of family supportive housing. They are worth celebrating.

And Emerson Village is aptly named. It embodies the very idea that it takes a village to solve homelessness. This development came to life through Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative and a network of deeply committed partners:

• Project for Pride in Living (PPL) provides person-centered on-site services;

• Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) brings generational supports to families;

• Juxtaposition Arts convened a design process where Damon Farber (landscape architects) and UrbanWorks (building architects) gathered input from families and young people with lived experience;

• Faith communities across Minneapolis helped fund and advocate for this vision.

Most importantly, this milestone belongs to the families who bring courage, hope, and resilience into these walls every day.

For more information about Beacon Housing, visit beaconinterfaith.org.