Habitat

Habitat

Congregants with Church of the Redeemer are helping to build housing in Roslindale. Courtesy Photo

Church of the Redeemer, an Episcopal church in Chestnut Hill, is partnering with Habitat for Humanity to build housing for low-income families in Roslindale. The church contributed $500,000 and will be providing volunteer labor.

This project, on a site located near the Arnold Arboretum, will be rehabbing two existing units and constructing two new ones.

The church sees helping others as an important part of its faith.

“The Gospel message is radically local,” said the Rev. Michael Dangelo, who has been the parish’s rector for a decade. “The neighbor we’re called to love is closer than we think.”

Several years ago, the church replaced its pipe organ, which cost around $1.5 million. Dangelo realized if they weren’t giving away as much as they were spending on themselves, they were missing the point, which led him to dedicate 10% of their pledge offerings to outreach ministry.

While their involvement with housing is new, their involvement with supporting the community is not. Church of the Redeemer has long provided food to those in need. Seven years ago it started Fuel, a program that prepares and delivers food to low-income students in Newton and Boston Public Schools. During the pandemic, the church partnered with the Epiphany School, an Episcopal school in Dorchester that serves low-income families.

Dangelo would bring chicken, milk, and eggs to be distributed to area residents. He asked the school’s principal, Michelle Sanchez, if there was anything else they really needed. She said what they really needed was housing.

Dangelo and his parishioners initially considered purchasing a building, but they realized that would be extremely expensive, and the church isn’t equipped to be a property manager. This led them to contact Habitat for Humanity.

The Habitat for Humanity model provides condos with affordable mortgages to low-income households, who will not be expected to pay more than 30% of their income toward housing. Prospective homeowners are also expected to put 250-to-300 hours of labor into the building of the home.

Initially, they hoped to work on a site in Dorchester, close to the Epiphany School. Bureaucratic setbacks have made this difficult.

“It’s slower than I ever would have imagined. It’s harder to build a 5-unit affordable housing project than a 50-unit skyscraper, because that’s where the money is,” said Dangelo.

This led them to shift to the site in Roslindale, although the Dorchester project is still progressing, albeit extremely slowly.

It will take around two years for the buildings to be livable, and 80% of Habitat for Humanity labor is volunteer.

“Their intentions are much greater than their capacity for carpentry,” said Dangelo, who has participated in other Habitat projects in the Boston area.

The other 20% is from hired contractors who perform services volunteers can’t do, like laying foundations or electrical work. In a tight labor market like Boston, where construction workers are in high demand, this means that a Habitat project takes much longer to complete than a for-profit development.

But Dangelo is hopeful for the inevitable outcome, even if it’s a few years away. “A house you can come home to is something a lot of folks around here take for granted,” he said. “A safe place for the kids to do homework…that’s something that helps people build roots in a community.” This is especially true in Roslindale, a family-oriented neighborhood with a low crime rate and good public schools.

The application process is not yet open, but will likely be open this spring. To learn
more about the process of applying for a Habitat for Humanity home, its their website.

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