A Message from our Associate for Mission
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Back in the summer of 1990 a small group of committed parishioners at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer gathered together to imagine how they might address the concern for a growing population of Cincinnati residents experiencing homelessness - many of whom were women and children.
Coming off the heels of the AIDS epidemic and the emergence of the War on Drugs, a combination of high unemployment rates, gentrification of downtown areas, and deep cuts to federal funding for public housing converged to create a noticeably inadequate supply of affordable housing options in most major cities in America. Cincinnati was no exception, recording our highest number of unhoused residents since the 1870s.
In 1991, after a year of collaborative planning, Church of the Redeemer, and eight other local houses of worship representing faithful practitioners of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, founded a local chapter of the national organization called Interfaith Hospitality Network, or IHN. In so doing, we opened our doors to our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Providing meals and overnight accommodations to families who would otherwise be sleeping in cars, under highway overpasses, or in the nooks and crannies of large downtown buildings, Church of the Redeemer parishioners helped form a network of care that grew into what it is today: A dynamic web of local, state, and national partners that help address the deep hunger for safe and affordable housing here in our city.
IHN, which is now an independent local organization called Found House: Interfaith Housing Network, began by providing overnight emergency shelter and a simple meal for our neighbors experiencing homelessness. It has grown over the years to include a fully-staffed day center with social workers and other professionals who provide a plethora of wrap-around services for the whole family, including, but not limited to: professional counseling and mental health services, access to state and federal social services, educational programming for children and adults, job-skills training, recovery programming, and nutritional health education.
Over the past 30 years, Church of the Redeemer’s support for IHN has grown physically, financially, and programmatically. We’ve altered our church building to better accommodate overnight guests, contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the mission of IHN, hired Redeemer staff specifically dedicated to outreach ministries, and even purchased the building and property that now serve as the IHN Day Center. Church of the Redeemer parishioners have volunteered countless hours over the years and cooked thousands of meals for IHN guests and we have grown in closeness with and understanding of the personal and systemic factors that keep people from acquiring and maintaining equitable, affordable, and sustainable housing for their families.
The 2020 onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented social disruption and nearly all of Church of the Redeemer’s in-person ministries came to a grinding halt. One devastating development was our inability to host our IHN neighbors in our church building. Over the past two years, in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, IHN guests were moved out of churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples, and into local motels.
This has been an expensive undertaking. The cost of housing and feeding twelve families (current max capacity) in private motels adds up to over $36,000 per month, totaling nearly a million dollars since the pandemic began! The local community has, of course, contributed funds to cover some of this extraordinary cost, but the majority of the money needed has come from the federal government through the CAREs Act, which ceased distribution of funds to Found House: IHN in May of 2022.
As our community began the shift our relationship with COVID from pandemic to endemic this Spring, the short-term solution of providing emergency shelter for families in our local houses of worship returned as an option for consideration.
On May 31, 2022, IHN moved four families from a motel in N. Kentucky into Knox Presbyterian and Hyde Park Community United Methodist Churches as a re-launch of their program’s pre-pandemic model, but with one major difference, families would be staying for several months with staff support on-site rather than the previous model of moving families to new sites each week through volunteer support.
Church of the Redeemer worked to assure that hosting for an extended period of time would be possible in our church building, mobilizing a small group of parishioners and staff in order to be able to understand and meet the safety needs of hosting residents for upward of six months. Our Hyde Park neighbors at Knox and HPUMC ran into challenges with the abrupt re-start of the pre-pandemic model and found that staff shortages and decreased volunteer support, made it impossible for them to maintain this model throughout the summer. As fall approaches, IHN staff have been working diligently to increase the hosting capacity of area partners, and there is once again potential for Church of the Redeemer to host short-term.
Our plan is that a return to the pre-pandemic model is a short-term solution. Found House: IHN is currently preparing to open Melrose Place, their first 26-unit apartment building which provides permanent supportive housing, in the beginning of 2023.
The transformation of our relationship with Found House: IHN over the past two years has found new energy in the midst of disruption. Instead of providing emergency shelter for only one week at a time, we are making plans to partner with them, Model Group, and Chaatrik Architecture + Urban Design in the creation of desperately needed transitional and permanent supportive housing that breaks the cycle of homelessness for Cincinnati families.
Formed out of trusting relationships, these partners have been chosen for their professional expertise, diverse and dynamic perspectives, and shared vision for a brighter future for our city. Together, we believe that we can help end homelessness in the Queen City.
With your support, the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer will embark upon a new era of engagement with our partners. With the help of life-long Church of the Redeemer parishioner, Brian Henning, we have begun looking for property for purchase in neighboring Madisonville, and are actively engaging our ongoing mission partners for support of this monumental community housing project.
As we look forward to the next chapter in our shared ministry with Found House: IHN we ask that you lend your professional expertise, resources and prayers as together we build a new future for our community. Please reach out to me with questions, concerns, and insights as we garner support for the work ahead.
In Peace,
The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
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