Star Tribune
Calvary Baptist Church in Minneapolis solves 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.
“My wages weren’t going up as fast as everything else in the country,” she said.
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.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke about the importance of new developments such as the Belfry Apartments while attending the ribbon-cutting.
“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.
The project cost about $23.5 million in total. Funding came from the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, the city, Hennepin County and the state. More information is available at belfry.trellismn.org.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
Minnesota may get snow Thursday. Here’s how much more the Halloween Blizzard Of 1991 dropped.
Suspect “led us to the evidence” in Montana camper’s brutal killing, initially thought to have been bear attack
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
Minnesota may get snow Thursday. Here’s how much more the Halloween Blizzard Of 1991 dropped.
Suspect “led us to the evidence” in Montana camper’s brutal killing, initially thought to have been bear attack