Open 4000 Doors to Affordable Housing
CommonBond has raised funds to support the opening of 2600 new homes in the region. The first capital campaign in our 40-year history is well underway. With your support we can build and preserve 4,000 affordable homes to serve those most in need. Thanks to a challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation, our campaign has received a strong national endorsement.
We are challenged to raise $3 million over the next eight months to leverage the Kresge Foundation grant. A gift of $5,000 will open a home for a family or person in need. A gift in any amount will count toward the Kresge challenge and help us receive this prestigious national gift.
Ways to participate:
- Make a gift to the CommonBond Open 4000 Doors campaign. Gifts of $5,000 or more receive the one of a kind book Allowing Flowers by Alec Soth.
- Introduce CommonBond to your friends, family and coworkers.
- Volunteer in CommonBond programs, events or in a leadership role to help fulfill the CommonBond mission.
The need for safe, affordable homes has never been greater, and CommonBond is in a unique position to address this challenge.
Why Is It Important to Open 4000 Doors?
There are more people earning less
One out of four current job openings in Minnesota pays less than $8.82 per hour.
An average apartment in the Twin Cities costs nearly $900 a month. To afford this apartment, someone earning minimum wage ($6.15 an hour) would need to work over 100 hours a week.
People who never needed help are losing the homes
The rash of foreclosures makes finding and keeping housing even more difficult. There has been a 75% increase in foreclosure filings in the Twin Cities in the past year.
Nearly one in five Twin Cities households need help
Nearly 20% of households in the greater Twin Cities region are both low-income and cost burdened, paying more than 30% of their income for housing. A cost-burdened household must cut back on other expenses like food and healthcare to avoid homelessness.
There aren't enough homes to help
50,000 households will need affordable homes by 2020 to avoid becoming both low-income and cost-burdened.
There are 5,000 households currently on waiting lists for CommonBond housing. Recently, we received 10 applications per unit at Trails Edge, a CommonBond housing community in Maplewood. Our waitlist at Skyline Tower is more than two years long. Some, like a grandmother who recently called about helping her daughter and grandson move out of an abusive home, simply can't wait that long.
Families are becoming homeless
Aproximately 9,000 people are experiencing homelessness on any given night in Minnesota. In 2009, nearly 15% of youth in Minneapolis Public Schools were homeless or highly mobile.
Without Homes, Communities Bear the Consequences
Homelessness sets kids back long term
“[Homeless and highly mobile students without stable housing] as a group have the highest risk for low achievement. Achievement gaps are clear among the youngest students… and these gaps remain or worsen over time” –CURA Reporter summer 2008
In fact, research indicates that 43% of homeless students repeat a grade, 25% are placed in special education, and 50% are failing academically (Bassuk & Rubin, 1987).
Communities end up paying the difference
In 2003, Hennepin County reported that for each family living in housing with supportive services, county costs for services such as emergency room visits were reduced by an average of $6,200.
Thank you to Wilder Research, Jobs Now Coalition, The Minnesota Homeless Coalition and Hennepin County for statistics.
