December 2024 news from Beacon ⛄
Good news from Emerson Village
Here’s a reason to celebrate—families will begin moving into Emerson Village in a few short months!
Beacon’s newest building in North Minneapolis will provide deeply affordable permanent housing for 40 families once fully occupied.
This past month, dozens of Beacon community members toured Emerson Village to see these new homes for themselves. The individuals, families, and congregations that make up the Beacon community donated over $700,000 to make Emerson Village possible.
Thank you for your generosity in creating these homes! You envisioned and stood by Emerson Village from the start.
Marcy Frost shared at the groundbreaking ceremony, “We must build on the momentum of our Emerson Village success to ensure that there are enough resources for everyone in our community to be in stable housing. We invite you to stand up for the vision that all people have a home and invite your friends and neighbors to join you.”
If you’d like to see what Emerson Village or other Beacon homes look like, you can sign up for a tour by visiting our “Take a tour” page.
New building update: The Aragon faces challenges as it moves forward
The Aragon—a new building Beacon hopes to develop in East St. Paul—is moving through the land use process, and getting to the next development phase depends on the outcome of a vote by the St. Paul City Council on December 4.
Council Members have been hearing a great deal of concern and opposition from neighbors who are afraid that affordable housing for families and individuals with disabilities will bring crime to the area and decrease property values.
We need all advocates who live in St. Paul to urge Council Members to say “yes” to developing more affordable housing in the city.
Will you join us and stand up for The Aragon and its future residents on December 4?
Sign up by clicking here.
Policy update: Beacon, Bring it Home, Minnesota, and Our Future Starts at Home
When Beacon helped found the Bring it Home, Minnesota campaign, we aimed to create a state rental assistance program to provide rental assistance vouchers for everyone who qualified for federal rental assistance—amounting to over 200,000 households in Minnesota.
Thanks to funding from the budget surplus in 2023, Bring it Home, Minnesota was established as a new state rental assistance program that would distribute around 5,000 new rental vouchers annually.
Our next step is to strengthen the program by securing future funding. So, Beacon and partners from the Bring it Home, Minnesota campaign will direct our efforts toward the “Our Future Starts at Home” campaign, which aims to create ongoing funds for housing through a constitutional amendment.
Our Future Starts at Home could double the number of rent vouchers first created by Bring it Home, Minnesota. Given the state’s budget and political outlook, Our Future Starts at Home offers the best path to statewide rental assistance.
You can learn more about this strategic decision, Our Future Starts at Home, and how you can support this campaign by reading more on the Beacon blog.
Join us! Meeting Beacon’s Supportive Housing Mission in This Moment
We invite you to join Beacon staff and CEO Chris LaTondresse for a rich conversation about meeting Beacon’s supportive housing mission in this moment.
We’ll offer an update on the state of Beacon as an organization and consider what it means to be one of Minnesota’s largest single supportive housing providers during a time of political division and heightened community need.
If you have questions for Beacon leadership, including CEO Chris LaTondresse, this will be your opportunity to have them answered.
Register for the event today!
Featured Event: Virtual rally for Our Future Starts at Home
Gather virtually with legislators and advocates statewide on December 4 to show your support for Our Future Starts at Home—the constitutional amendment to create dedicated funds for rental assistance and affordable housing.
At this virtual rally, we’ll build power with our communities and families across Minnesota and discover why this amendment is critical to our state’s future stability and affordability.
We’ll also discuss ways we can work together to urge the 2025 state legislature to put home on the ballot.
When Minnesotans get together, we are powerful. That’s why Beacon is an active member of the Our Future Starts at Home Coalition.
Will you join us?
Sign up for this event today by clicking here.
