A historic Minneapolis church solved its budget crisis by housing homeless people

Facing a dire situation and on the verge of closure, Calvary Lutheran Church found a way to save its historic building in south Minneapolis: partner with a nonprofit and turn it into 41 apartments for people experiencing homelessness or with extremely low incomes.

The church had more than $1 million in deferred maintenance costs a few years ago, and it was unclear whether the church would be able to continue at its site. Instead of abandoning the building at 3901 Chicago Av. S., Calvary Lutheran turned the dilemma into an opportunity to help address the homelessness crisis. Calvary Lutheran reached out to nonprofit developer Trellis, and in 2021 sold the campus with the agreement that the site be redeveloped to create affordable housing. Sarah Shepherd, the church’s council president, said the partnership with Trellis was ideal and that the project aligns with their values of social and racial justice and fostering a good relationship with neighbors

“We desperately needed a solution,” Shepherd said at a ribbon-cutting event for the apartments. “We could move, we could merge with another congregation, or we could close. But Calvary was committed to our mission of being in the city for good.”

The partnership was also beneficial to the church. Trellis now leases the space to Calvary Lutheran so it can continue its weekly services. The development improved the aging space with new interiors, lighting, and a much larger food shelf in the basement, which offers groceries for residents and community members.

The Belfry Apartments opened in December and are in a redeveloped school building next to the church, in the church basement, and in a new apartment building next door on land which had been a parking lot. The units range from studios to four-bedrooms and are reserved for people who make 30% or less of the area median income. That ranges from a $26,100 annual salary cap for a single resident to $37,260 for a family of four.

Fifteen of the units are reserved for people exiting homelessness or with disabilities.

One of the new residents is 51-year-old Talicha Whitmore, who just moved in with her 10-year-old daughter, Brooklyn. Whitmore has spent 21 years as a cafeteria worker for public schools in Bloomington, and previously lived in Bloomington using Section 8 vouchers. But as inflation rose, she had trouble affording her housing and had to move out, realizing her income wasn’t keeping up with the higher costs of living.

Whitmore and her daughter moved back in with her mother in Minneapolis because she couldn’t find a place that would take her housing vouchers.

She got a few extensions on her vouchers, but eventually they expired, she said. After moving in with her mom, she was walking her dog and saw a phone number on the church advertising the new apartments. Twenty days after getting a call back, she had keys to her new apartment, excited that her daughter would get her own bedroom after they shared a room at Whitmore’s mother’s house.

“It’s a nice place, and my daughter loves it,” Whitmore said.

Calvary joins a growing number of churches using their space to house people as homelessness rates jump to record levels in the country. In 2023, the U.S. saw a 12% increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness, according to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

It’s also another instance of repurposing churches and other buildings to be used as affordable housing. Hennepin County, for example, purchased five hotel properties with more than $25 million — mostly paid for by federal pandemic recovery funding — with the intent of turning them into hundreds of affordable single-room units.

“This is a tremendous step in the right direction, and we need more deeply affordable housing in this city and throughout the region,” Frey said.

While the church’s main worship area is still used for services, it has also been augmented to benefit the residents living there. To the left of the altar is a modern kitchen space, and up in the balcony is a display screen that can be pulled out for residents to watch movies.

The idea of affordable housing wasn’t immediately popular with everyone at the church; Shepherd noted some were resistant. But when the congregation held a vote on whether to sell the property to Trellis, those who attended voted unanimously for it, Shepherd said.

One of the church members who has supported the project is Anne Boone, 76. She said skyrocketing rent in the area makes it all the more important to build affordable housing there.

“You basically priced them out, so to have affordable housing in a decent building, it makes a big difference,” she said.