Paul Thompson
Northeast News

The story of Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph and the Historic Northeast begins on the 400 block of Elmwood, with the donation of a single home.

The woman who had lived in the house had been at the address for more than half a century, but when she moved to a new home, she made the fateful decision to donate the house in the Northeast’s Indian Mound neighborhood to Catholic Charities. Suddenly, the organization was on the prowl for a tenant.

They eventually identified an ideal candidate: a military veteran who was in dire need of a break.

“He and his children were going to be homeless,” said Jarrod Sanderson, Executive Director of Housing Development with Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph. “They had just been evicted from an apartment they were living in, and he couldn’t get access to the benefits that he was eligible for through the VA.”

Catholic Charities took a leap of faith, offering the three-bedroom house to the veteran and his family for $500 a month. For the past year and a half, the family has been making the rent payments without incident. The non-profit organization’s faith in an individual who was down on his luck proved fruitful.

“Most of the people that we work with have convictions or evictions in their background, and so the traditional housing market just won’t touch them,” Sanderson said.

Sanderson doesn’t believe that hesitance to provide housing for those with convictions or evictions is derived from malice; it’s the result of not having the resources needed for an extended vetting process. Catholic Charities, however, has the infrastructure in place to get to know their clientele for 8-12 months before identifying them as candidates for long-term housing assistance.

“We have been engaged in housing services for 100 years,” Sanderson said. “Historically, we’ve done case management for people that are needing housing, and so we’re placing them in other people’s properties, working with the landlord, and then really we don’t get to control a whole lot.”

The mission of Catholic Charities isn’t just about helping people; it’s about giving their clients ownership over their own lives. An affordable roof over their heads is just the beginning.

“Our new tag line is called ‘To Serve and to Lift.’ When you serve the person, you help them with their immediate need, which is what Jarrod does with the housing part of it,” said Kevin Murphy, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications with Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph. “Then you also try to lift them to the dignity of self-reliance.”

Murphy added that he’s personally witnessed the transformation that can take place when an individual rediscovers their self-worth.

“They come in downtrodden about whatever’s happened in their life. This is not only giving them the positive aspects of what they have – that they sometimes don’t see in themselves – and then things like giving them a resume. Suddenly that simple step gives them renewed confidence go back out there.”

The work Catholic Charities has done in housing helped spur an idea: what if they could find a way to develop, own and operate homes themselves? The organization could then fill a need in the market for those struggling to find affordable housing, while also controlling the process from start to finish.

“We’re not giving away anything; we have to have people who pay rent, and we have to have people who are gainfully employed,” Sanderson said. “But we help people get there.”

Those were the seeds of a dream in the Historic Northeast for Catholic Charities. Already, the organization has identified two families to move into its to-be-constructed homes in the area. The lots have already been acquired, and permit applications were submitted to the City last month.

“The lots are purchased, we’re waiting on permits to get approved to start building the first two; and that’s proof of concept,” Sanderson said. “We want to do 20 more after that, and then hopefully, scale up to 100 a year for 10 years.”

The plan is to build energy-efficient, 1,120 square-foot concrete houses with three bedrooms and one bathroom, beginning with the two homes in the Indian Mound neighborhood. According to Sanderson, the veneers of the homes are malleable, which means the outside appearance of the homes can be adjusted to fit the aesthetics of specific neighborhoods.

“It really is just a matter of making sure that we’re getting input from the community. We can make it look any way we need to make it look to fit,” Sanderson said. “We can do stucco finish, we can make it look like brick, you can make it look like stone. Anything you want to do with the exterior, you can, and at relatively affordable pricing.”

For every three-bedroom, one-bath home, there are estimated hard construction costs that fall between $105,000 and $115,000. Catholic Charities has pledged to cover half of the construction costs, but that doesn’t include the service side, including ongoing case management for the families who move in.

“The math there just scales with how many people we’ve got coming in the door,” Sanderson said. “You can typically tack $5,000 per family back onto the construction cost.”

All things considered, the final cost for hard and soft costs are estimated between $125,000 and $150,000. Of course, a project of this magnitude requires funding. That’s where former Parks Commissioner Carl DiCapo comes into the picture. DiCapo told the Northeast News that he began helping Catholic Charities at the request of Bill Dunn.

“We need money to do everything they want to do,” DiCapo said.

The non-profit organization is relying on partnerships to help make its dream palatable. Christina Hoxie is an urban planner who recently put together site maps for the Lykins neighborhood, identifying portions of the neighborhood that are most ripe for development. Hoxie initially met with Sanderson in mid-March, when the pair discussed Hoxie’s work in Lykins. Hoxie found herself impressed with Sanderson’s housing vision for the Historic Northeast, and believes that the organization has the wherewithal to successfully implement its plans.

“When he told me about what he was doing, it did seem ambitious, but the fire in Jarrod’s belly, the backing of the organization, along with the partnerships that he was making, it made all the sense in the world,” Hoxie said. “I think it’s a fantastic idea.”

Catholic Charities also has partner agencies who work in specific industries. One client who is set to move into one of the first two Indian Mound homes is coming from an organization that trains single moms in dog grooming.

“Pet grooming is a multi-billion dollar industry,” Sanderson said. “We’re working with groups that are doing specific industry, and then we have our own workforce program that connects to all industries.”

Gregg Lombardi is the Executive Director at Neighborhood Legal Support of Kansas City. Lombardi helped Catholic Charities clear the titles on their first two homes in the Indian Mound neighborhood. Lombardi believes that the sturdy design of the homes, combined with the workforce development aspect of the non-profit’s plan, could make Catholic Charities a legitimate, ongoing housing provider in the Northeast.

“They’re setting people up to succeed,” Lombardi said. “They’ve done research and have been really smart about this.”

Eventually, the hope is that the clients identified for these Historic Northeast homes become so successful that they can sponsor additional housing projects in the area. To Sanderson, that situation would be a dream come true.

“In a perfect world, some of those individuals end up doing so well that they can actually come back and support the next group of people, so that we’re truly removed from this,” Sanderson said. “We’re just connecting communities, and then watching the magic that happens when people connect.”

First, Sanderson and the folks at Catholic Charities know that they’ll need to walk. But they’re eager to start running. How many homes does Catholic Charities think it can build and manage in the Northeast?

“So I think the scale there is anywhere between 20 and 1,000,” Sanderson says with a chuckle. “Really, it all comes back to, ‘How much support can we get behind this?”