By Emily Randall
Northeast News
Nov. 3, 2010

Two years ago, Joe Jines was living the good life.

A loan officer living in Johnson County, Kan., Jines was earning a better wage than most. The Marine Corps veteran and father of four adult children had done a lot to rise above his impoverished East St. Louis upbringing. Then, after about 30 years in the mortgage business, the real estate sector tanked, and Jines lost it all. He became homeless.

Unable to pay rent, Jines stayed with friends in Independence and Northeast for a while. Then, this summer, he saw an advertisement for a Truman Road Corridor Housing program that changed everything for him.

The program, run by David Biersmith at the Truman Road Corridor Association, connects people in need of affordable housing with the many abandoned houses in the area — creating a win-win for the new residents and the neighborhood.

Here’s how it works. Biersmith acquires vacant houses on the cheap and puts a small investment into them to get them up to living standard. Then, he connects with people in need of housing who are willing to put work into improving the houses, like Jines.

“It’s an opportunity to put someone in a vacant house,” Biersmith said, “a body that wants to be in the home.”

Jines moved into his house in the 1600 block of Topping Street in mid-September and will live there rent-free until January. During that time, he will continue to work on getting back on his feet with a better paying job than the $8-an-hour restaurant gig he has now, and he will make interior and exterior improvements.

“The whole point is to upgrade the community, get people into the houses who are willing to work,” Jines said. “It’s kind of neat — where else can you do that when you’re out and down?”

Jines has worked on the wood floors, repaired walls and painted, and he plans to replace the fireplace mantle, recarpet the bedrooms, install a vanity in the bathroom, hook up the hot water heater, install a stove and more.

Currently, Jines’ house is pretty bare bones, but he has the basics: water, plumbing and a roof over his head. He has a bed, television, refrigerator and microwave in the modest domicile, but it’s enough to live on while he works on the upgrades — and, even more importantly, it’s a place he and his Chihuahua, “Mighty Dog,” can call home.

Jines will begin paying $400 monthly rent in January, and his goal is to pay off the $35,000 to TRCA for the house in full in the next five years.

“There’s no programs for doing it this way,” Biersmith said. “We can sell [people] a house for $19,000. It really works. It’s a long-term investment.”

The TRCA is proud to be fixing up the neighborhood and provide decent housing without using any public funding for this project. In five years, the TRCA has worked on 20 houses, many between 12th Street and 16th Street in the Truman Road area, as well as in some other parts of Kansas City.

Biersmith founded Common Sense Housing, a group including other individuals and groups doing similar programs in Kansas City. Common Sense recently acquired 30 houses that were on Wells Fargo’s foreclosure roster, and so the program continues to grow.

Those interested in learning more should call Biersmith at 241-4477. Jines said he hopes to refer more “hardworking, serious people” who want to get ahead to Biersmith and see more vacant homes in his neighborhood finally occupied.

“It’s a great concept, especially for the Northeast,” he said. “You’ve got to look at it positive. You can go a long way.”