St. Pascal's SHOWED UP at the 2024 Beacon Convening! Great night with lots of energy and a list of all the initiatives of what Beacon will be working on during the 2024 Legislative Session. We will continue to have a voice for all those Minnesotan's struggling to find a home!

Watch: The Power of Congregational Organizing: What We Won in 2023

From the BEACON Interfaith Housing Collaborative YouTube channel.

PLEASE BE A VOICE FOR HOME!

Would you like to get more involved with Beacon?  Please contact Julie Moore and/or Ann Karner.

Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative News

We are thrilled to announce that Gladstone Crossing has received 14.7 million dollars in funding from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency! Gladstone Crossing is a planned 40-unit affordable supportive housing development in Maplewood. The intended resident population is youth-led families exiting homelessness (families where the primary parent is under 24). Thanks to support from St. Pascal's and other Beacon congregations, Gladstone had a successful land use meeting this past July, and this funding is a huge step in Gladstone’s life cycle.

For more information, please check out this blog post on the topic.

Maplewood City Council Meeting

On Monday, July 10, at 7:00 PM, at least 35 Beacon members including a group of 12 from our parish, attended a Maplewood City Council Meeting. We went to support the Land Use Permits needed to build Gladstone Crossing housing in Maplewood.

The council approved the permits needed to build Gladstone Crossing, with one stipulation: additional parking is needed.  In Maplewood, overnight parking is not allowed along the streets. The Maplewood City Council was not convinced that the 59 parking spaces planned for Gladstone are enough and asked the question, “what if additional parking is needed?” Beacon replied that the Philippine Center located across the street has agreed to legally contract 20 additional parking spots. The council was satisfied with this, and permits were approved. Thank you to all who came out to show your support!

Bring it Home Minnesota Bill

The Bring it Home Minnesota Bill was successfully signed into law and is celebrated as a huge success. Minnesota appropriated $46M to cover 5,500 rental vouchers in the first year. The ask was for $2.5 billion, but this is a start and there will be 1/4% metro sales tax added to continue to fund rental vouchers in the seven-county metro area. There are currently 200,000 Minnesotans statewide who are currently eligible for rental vouchers and the $46M will cover only 5,500. Beacon will continue their efforts until everyone in Minnesota who is eligible for a rental voucher receives a rental voucher. 

Celebration of the Passage of Bring it Home Minnesota

May 30, 2023 at Lake Monster Brewing

Unlock the Metro

On Wednesday, June 14, six St. Pascal Beacon team members (Kris and Leo Stadler, Ann Karner, Ann Lemke, Julie and Rich Moore and Martha Arko) met with other Beacon Members at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Paul and marched five blocks to the Met Council offices. We were invited into their meeting where Pastor Elijah spoke to the Met Council about why we would like to work together to make a policy for distributing Project Based Vouchers (PBVs). We also distributed over 1,000 house keys symbolizing all those who need rental assistance vouchers but are not currently receiving any. We were met with some skepticism, but the Met Council Chair, Charlie Zelle, left the door open for more conversation, which Beacon is looking at as a success. Thank you everyone who donated keys!

Would you like to get more involved with Beacon?  Please contact Julie Moore and/or Ann Karner.