Chris LaTondresse celebrates Vista 44 groundbreaking
Chris LaTondresse shared the following words while serving as the Hennepin County Commissioner for District 6 before becoming the president and CEO of Beacon. The remarks below were made during the Vista 44 groundbreaking event on May 4, 2023. They have been republished with his permission.
From the bottom of my heart, I’m honored to be here today celebrating this amazing project with you. But I’m more than honored. I’m inspired and really in awe of what you’ve accomplished here—both what this project means for Hopkins, for Hennepin, and what it took to get here.
This really is a mountain of an accomplishment.
As you all know too well, we are now facing a housing crisis of monumental proportions that has gotten worse with the sunset of the Federal eviction moratorium and emergency rental assistance dollars.
Family homelessness has more than doubled over pre-pandemic levels. The county is having to re-baseline many of our assumptions.
And we don’t have to look far to understand why. There are 73,000 extremely low income households in Hennepin County and fewer than 15,000 units available to them. It’s a startling gap. Nearly 50,000 units. And it directly connects to this surge in homelessness.
So, what does this project mean for those families?
It means help is on the way. It means very soon 50 families will be walking through a door—their OWN door—into a place called home.
It’s about way more than housing. It’s knowing your kids can stay in one place for school without having to bounce around. It’s about that career you’ve dreaming about if you can just get enough stability to see it through. It’s about feeling safe, secure and surrounded by people who have your back, even on your worst days. That’s what Vista 44 represents. And it’s really impossible to overstate Beacon’s role.
You are not only an incredible mission driven housing developer. You are a powerful family of faith rooted advocates. When you put these two together—housing and advocacy—Beacon truly stands alone.
The way you show up and bear witness is powerful. The way you believe projects like this are possible—sometimes in spite of all evidence to the contrary—is powerful. The way you ACT on that belief is POWERFUL.
It’s what makes all of this possible. It makes Vista 44 possible.
And it’s why in my capacity as Commissioner it’s been such an honor to collaborate with mission driven developers like Beacon, incredible partners like Minnesota Housing, Met Council, and Hopkins leaders, to steer these investments towards deeply affordable and supportive housing—including millions in Hennepin funding to Beacon projects. In fact, at $5.2 million, Vista 44 represents one of the larger investments Hennepin County has ever made in a single project in recent memory, especially when you factor in the additional dollars for services.
That’s how much confidence we have in you.
I want to end by sharing what this project means to me personally.
As many of you know, Hopkins is my home. I grew up here. Ashley and I are raising our boys here. It’s a wonderful community.
Back when I was a teenager, my family had just returned home from four years of Christian service work abroad. We were in a tough spot. My dad didn’t have a job. My mom, a teacher, could only find part time work back in the district. For months we were basically homeless. Living out of suitcases. Couch surfing in the basements of church friends.
But my parents desperately to put roots back down here. So when a place finally opened up Hopkins that we could afford—in this case, naturally occurring affordable housing, that’s right across the street from where I live now—it changed everything. I’ll never forget how it felt walking through the doors of that apartment the very first time knowing that, even though we didn’t have much, we were home. What it meant to not only be living there, but to be living here in this community, where there are so many rich supports and opportunities.
And you don’t know what it means to me knowing not long from now there will be 50 families having that exact same experience here.
It’s more than bricks and mortar. It’s a miracle. So from the bottom of my heart, to Beacon, to your advocates, to these partners: Thank you for making miracles possible. I close with this.
In my faith tradition I was taught, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move…” what? MOUNTAINS.
Anyone here think we’ve got some mountains to move?
Family shelter surging over 200% is a mountain.
That 50,000 unit gap in deeply affordable homes is a mountain.
Persuading elected officials like me to say YES. Winning that next critical vote at the legislature or city council—that can be a mountain.
But Beacon in is in the mountain moving business.
And that’s how we’re breaking ground today.
Thank you and congratulations.
Click here to learn more about Vista 44 and then see the ways you can get involved in the creation of more deeply affordable homes for families.
