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BY CARRIE MADREN
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT

For decades, churches in downtown D.C. have witnessed – and tried to help as best they could – people who are chronically homeless and sleeping on church front steps, said Rev. Dean Snyder, senior pastor at Foundry UMC. Upset neighbors have asked Foundry to call the police and have them removed. "We understood, but did not want to do that," Snyder said.

So several years ago, volunteers from Foundry and other churches conducted vulnerability assessments that were used to prioritize the 1,000 people who needed permanent supportive housing the most.

So far, this process has proven efficient: almost nine out of 10 people living in permanent supportive housing have found life stability. With a success rate of 90 percent, this solution costs less than what the city spends on shelter beds, emergency hospitalization, jail and mental hospitals. People need a place to live first, then they need help with their individual issues – a concept known as ‘housing first.’

Foundry teamed up with other churches in the Washington Interfaith Network – including Emory and Metropolitan UMCs – to figure out how to create more permanent supportive residences.

One solution: to use the building of Calvary UMC in Columbia Heights, which was closed in 2010. The Calvary building, owned by the Baltimore-Washington Conference, will become Calvary Place: a five-story, 40,000-square-foot apartment building adjacent to the preserved 1905 Calvary sanctuary.

"Most people say that ending homelessness is a pipe dream," said Bishop John Schol. "But I want to invite people into a miracle where lives of the homeless are literally being transformed."  This ministry, Schol continues, asserts that what people need first is a home of their own — then they can receive help with addiction, food or other life issues.

One model that inspired Baltimore-Washington Conference church leaders was non-profit Common Ground of New York City, a network of clean, affordable apartments and life resources that have helped more than 4,000 individuals to gain back their health and their economic independence. That successful project motivated Foundry and others to initiate a similar program in D.C.

"Most people who experience homelessness manage to escape it within a relatively short period of time, a few months," said Snyder. "But some people get stuck in homelessness for months and years. They move from shelter to shelter to the street, perhaps back to another shelter."

When Calvary Place is built, the ministry will have 79 fully furnished studio units and support services equipped to help with mental illness, health, addictions and more. So Calvary Place will not just be housing, it will be a process to help people deal with the underlying issues of their homelessness. Such a solution is actually cheaper than running large shelters and covering emergency room health care, Snyder said.

"The idea is that we’re actually ending homelessness," said Schol, "not just getting people into shelters. There’s a real difference here."

Each Calvary Place unit will have a living room, a sleeping area with a double bed, a dresser, a closet, a dining table area, a full kitchen and a full bathroom. Additional community spaces and meeting rooms will house supportive services.

The new congregation that will blossom in Calvary’s sanctuary will be mission-focused. "This will not be a traditional church," said Schol, it will gather those whose interest is to be an unbound and outbound congregation."

A new community development corporation is being formed, BeTheChange Development Corporation, which is working to secure funding. Foundry contributed a small start-up sum for incorporation costs and minor expenses. So far, much of the funding has come from a Neighborhood Investment Fund grant from The District to research the project’s viability and to complete basic architectural drawings.

When it’s completed, Calvary Place will be an effort of United Methodists in cooperation with other entities. Church leaders are considering focusing efforts on veterans who are chronically homeless.

"It’s truly about God’s movement in the hearts and minds of people, to literally change lives in the community," Schol said. Not only does this type of ministry offer life-changing help for the homeless, it also transforms the church and the lives of people in the community.

The conference is looking to partner with other congregations to repurpose part of their building for ministry. "This is something that we want to do in other parts of the Conference where there’s interest," said Schol, including Baltimore.