Housing Forward’s Post

What immediate steps can be taken to ensure the safety of the surrounding area and prevent further damage? Responding to Disaster: Preserving History and Ensuring Safety After the Fire at First Baptist Dallas A historic Baptist church in Dallas, First Baptist Dallas, largely collapsed following a massive fire. The fire, which began on Friday evening, has been contained as of Saturday morning. No injuries or deaths were reported, but the structure has sustained significant damage. Dallas Fire Rescue continues to monitor and extinguish lingering hotspots while maintaining a safe perimeter around the unstable building. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Despite the damage, the church plans to hold services this Sunday. Key Takeaways: - Safety First: Ensuring the immediate safety of the surrounding area is crucial, including monitoring for hotspots and maintaining a secure perimeter around the unstable structure. - Community Support: Mobilizing community efforts to support the church during its restoration can make a significant difference in preserving its historical significance. - Historical Preservation: Adopting best practices for restoration can help maintain the historical integrity of the building while ensuring it meets modern safety standards. #churchsafety #churchsecurity https://lnkd.in/dBZa8Ej5

My wife and I are closing on a house next week. Our current home is very close to being sold. Moving is an interesting thing. There is so much to reflect on. We've had three of our four kids in this little house. We know the neighbors. We've tilled the soil, planted things, ate fruits from the trees on the property. We've painted the walls, decorated, repaired. We've hosted reading groups, after-Mass brunches, birthdays and Christmases in this little house. We've outgrown it physically, yes. But we find ourselves attached to it. We should deeply love our home, our soil, our neighborhood, our town. We are only moving four minutes down the road, so we are hardly uprooting. But we should think deeply about this. People are from a place; they should be rooted. We should be very hesitant to uproot and move around the country and the world. We are not meant to live like that. We are meant to be where we are from, to stay there, to intentionally become more and more rooted in a community. It's hard to renew a society, a culture, when people don't put down roots. Of course people have good reasons to move (duty like military service, as well as when people from two different places get married). But uprooting should be the exception, not the norm. #home #local #community

Not only do we build new homes, but we offer critical home repairs to some of Sarasota’s most vulnerable residents. Our program replaces roofs, HVAC systems, and water heaters for income-qualified homeowners. Since our program began three years ago, we have served: • Mostly, seniors and veterans • Average age is 65 • Recipients often live by themselves • Average annual income is $13,064 from Social Security Help us be a resource for homeowners needing assistance with homes so they may age in place with dignity and independence and prevent displacement. https://lnkd.in/g9GBQZ_t #GivingChallenge2024 #BeTheOne #HomeownershipMatters

The sunset in Santa Fe on Sunday night. We have a gorgeous home here. Santa Fe is pure magic. Today we vote for Affordable Housing in Santa Fe, an initiative to help combat the insane rising costs of housing and dwindling supply we are facing. We need Affordable Housing in our community because we need people, we need young people, we need working families, we need to be more than just a retirement community. Too many amazing towns around this country are falling apart because of cost of living. The restaurants can’t find workers because there is no housing. The schools don’t have children because families can’t afford to live there. The populations are aging out, vibrancy is rapidly decreasing, the arts are suffering, cultural events are vanishing, the economy is stifled, and community is being squeezed out. Misnomers like traffic, crime, and “protecting the views” carry racist undertones, and the “I want to keep this city for myself” mentality suffocates the city’s ability to thrive. The magic of Santa Fe will always persist, it’s in the sky and it’s in the earth. But will future generations get to experience like we do currently? That’s the question. Vote YES for Affordable Housing today!

Let's dive into the candid side of Spokane living🏡🤔 While our city has its charms, there are genuine challenges like crime, homelessness, winter blues, and job opportunities. What more nuances do you know about #spokaneliving ? Comment your thoughts below! #RealTalk #CommunityDialogue #CityChallenges"

Grassy Lessons. 1.Trample, Tread, Crush...They Come back with Resilience & Mock. 2.Fodder ( for Thought)..They Feed to Enable Others to Breed. 3.Provide the Soft Mattress to the Homeless under a Starry Night. 4.Attract Flowers 🌺💐🌹 to Grow amongst Them with No Expectations. 5.Give a Living to Sell..Feed Thousands of Families. 6.Some save you Millions...Just Hic..Hic..& Be Transformed to another Paradise...Grassy you see 7.Evokes Envy..The Neighbours Lawn & Wife ...Are the Best. Grass . Class

It's not just about checking out the house — make sure you check out the neighborhood too — whether it's the schools, safety and crime rates, community services, or property values and trends. The home might be perfect, but the neighborhood might not be. https://lnkd.in/g9JDNQrY #homeinspector, #homeinspections

It's not just about checking out the house — make sure you check out the neighborhood too — whether it's the schools, safety and crime rates, community services, or property values and trends. The home might be perfect, but the neighborhood might not be. https://lnkd.in/gfcb4p-k #homeinspector, #homeinspections,#inspectionsatlanta

Church pews are sitting empty. Can they become affordable housing? My latest for The Washington Post: In an economy with high interest rates and construction costs, the answer is complicated. Regulatory barriers haven’t helped. “I don’t think it’s fair to ask [developers] to operate at a loss or at a profit margin that’s significantly lower than market rate,” said David Dworkin, the president and CEO of the National Housing Conference and former U.S. Treasury official. But that’s what developers are currently asked to do. So affordable housing isn’t built and housing deficits arise. Church property, though, could be an affordable housing gold mine. Read the full story below:

Strong Towns is a longtime Blandin Foundation grantee and thought partner that always has its finger on the pulse of changes and trends in rural culture. Their new book, "Escaping the Housing Trap," goes into the nuances of the current #housingcrisis, including all of the ways the market model is broken and no longer serving potential homeowners. In this video, Strong Towns Founder & President Charles Marohn talks about the lack of mortgage and financial products available for less-conventional housing types. Such products could help Americans fill the "missing middle" in non-metropolitan housing markets like #GreaterMinnesota. It's a gap that Minnesota philanthropies can also help fill, by seeding new financial products that create new possibilities for organic, small-scale housing work with the potential to deeply impact rural communities. https://lnkd.in/gcycKMeJ