You're Invited: Land & Housing

Update: September 21, 2023

Wow! We are feeling warm and fuzzy after Rally Sunday and the All Church Family Meal. One of the most sacred places in our homes is our kitchen table where we gather, pray, and eat. It was lifegiving to see our church family gathered around ‘kitchen tables’ in Collins Hall having a meal together.

The meal and the ministry fair were a great kickoff for the year to come. Here’s an update on what the Land and Housing Circle is cooking up:

Upcoming LHC Forums

We’re exploring our mission through housing all year by connecting with our neighbors already doing this work. Mark your calendars and join us for monthly forums looking deeper into Portland’s housing crisis:

September 24 – Marisa Zapata, PSU Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative

October 22 – Brandi Tuck, Path Home

November 5 – Laura Moulton, Street Books

Also, save the date for the United Methodist Church’s District Housing Summit on November 4th. More details coming soon!

What Else is the Land and Housing Circle Working On?

LHC Education Subcommittee: will schedule and host regular educational opportunities during the 2023-2024 church season. Working with church and community partners, we’ll invite speakers, host forums, and promote opportunities for learning and meaningful dialogue.

LHC Community Connections Subcommittee: will identify opportunities to for church members to be in community with our neighbors who are homeless or housing insecure. We’ll support the work of other local churches also doing this work. And we’ll share opportunities to advocate for local, state, or federal level policies that deliver housing solutions to our neighbors.

LHC Finance & Legal Subcommittee: will collect the information, resources, and documents to help us understand how financing for affordable housing works. Using the feasibility study as a starting point, this subcommittee will learn about different models of affordable housing employed across the region.

If you’re interested in participating in the Land and Housing Circle or any of these subcommittees, please contact dianawhite101@gmail.com.

“We’re fine to help an orphan in Africa get an education, but we beat back every opportunity to eliminate student debt at home.”

“We’re fine to participate in Habitat builds across the county or two states away, but we dare not say yes to a low-income housing being built in our community.”

“We’re fine telling institutions and municipalities to minimize their carbon emissions, but how many of us drove a car here today instead of using the light rail that stops right there?”

“WITH requires us to get in the ditch of poverty, neglect, abandonment, and despair. WITH doesn’t call for us to just look at it or to assume its somewhere else. WITH calls for us to come alongside.”

– Bishop Cedrick D. Bridgeforth, Rally Sunday Sermon, September 10, 2023