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Rebuilding in Greater Minnesota

Brian Johnson//February 23, 2021//

Rebuilding Together Twin Cities

A Rebuilding Together Twin Cities crew works on an accessibility ramp in Minneapolis. (Submitted photo: Rebuilding Together)

Rebuilding Together Twin Cities

A Rebuilding Together Twin Cities crew works on an accessibility ramp in Minneapolis. (Submitted photo: Rebuilding Together)

Rebuilding in Greater Minnesota

Brian Johnson//February 23, 2021//

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Like many Minnesota communities, the southwest Minnesota town of Windom has a shortage of homes for sale at a time when more housing is needed to keep businesses and the local economy humming. 

Homes for workers are at a premium, but the Cottonwood County city of 4,400 residents needs to expand and preserve its housing stock across the spectrum, said Drew Hage, Windom’s economic development director. 

By way of example, the city has a mere 15 homes on the market at a time when there should be 50 homes for sale to maintain a healthy vacancy rate, Hage said. A new 45-unit apartment building, he added, was filled to capacity within a month of being completed last fall.

“Housing is our top issue for economic development, because we have business growth, we have industrial growth. It’s just trying to get additional housing,” Hage said in an interview. 

To that end, Hage said, Windom is welcoming Rebuilding Together Twin Cities, which recently announced plans to enter the southwest Minnesota market. Besides the Twin Cities, the nonprofit will now serve Cottonwood, Jackson and Nobles counties. 

With help from volunteers and paid crews, Rebuilding Together Twin Cities — an affiliate of a national nonprofit – repairs and revitalizes homes for seniors, military veterans and low-income residents.  

“You’re trying to keep people in homes, so you’re doing grab bars and safety improvements for seniors, you’re trying to do those fix-up programs for people that are in need. And that just helps to maintain our housing stock in Windom,” Hage said. 

Rebuilding Together projects include accessibility ramps, fall protection, roof repairs, electrical, plumbing, window installation, HVAC, landscaping, siding and more. 

“We’re looking at a home pretty much in two different aspects: What’s broken and needs to be fixed? And how can we make it more accessible and enable someone to age more successfully?” said Kathy Greiner, executive director of Rebuilding Together Twin Cities. 

Rebuilding Together Twin Cities
This photo shows a complete accessibility ramp in Minneapolis built by a Rebuilding Together Twin Cities crew. (Submitted photo: Rebuilding Together)

Volunteers help with smaller projects, but the organization brings in professionals to do more ambitious work, such as roofing. 

The nonprofit typically works with 100 to 120 families per year, but that fell to 70 projects last year amid the pandemic, Greiner said. Similarly, COVID reduced the volunteer ranks to 25, down from the usual 700 to 800. Outdoor work, such as roofing and accessibility ramps, represented much of the 2020 workload.

With the volunteer numbers reduced for safety reasons, Rebuilding Together has relied more on contributions to pay professional crews. But Greiner said the public has answered the bell. 

“That was a very, very pleasant surprise last year,” she said. “I think the pandemic really opened up people’s willingness to donate. So we did see an increase in individual donors last year.” 

Rebuilding Together says it obtained $275,000 in grants to establish its Greater Minnesota office. Funding sources include the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, the Minnesota Department of Human Services and The Housing Assistance Council. 

Since it started in 1997, Rebuilding Together Twin Cities has completed “a few projects” in Greater Minnesota, Greiner said. The new office will “allow us to identify numerous homeowners in need throughout the region and hire local contractors to make the necessary repairs,” she added. 

The organization said it’s accepting applications for home improvement and accessibility projects. More information is available at its website, rebuildingtogether-twincities.org.

Jennifer Ho, commissioner of Minnesota Housing, said in a statement that Minnesotans across the state are struggling to afford housing. 

“The work Rebuilding Together is doing with owner-occupied rehabilitation is essential in keeping more families and seniors in their homes,” Ho said. 

Rebuilding Together Twin Cities is one of 130 affiliates of Rebuilding Together, Inc. The national organization says it provides “critical repair and renovation services for nearly 10,000 homes and community spaces each year.”

RELATED: COVID-19 puts strain on Habitat

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