An effort intended to expand affordable housing in Jefferson City crossed a milestone Tuesday morning.
Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin presented recently created nonprofit Transformational Housing with a building permit for the house at 203 Cherry St., where it is creating five apartments.
Although near the path of the May 2019 tornado that hit Jefferson City, the Cherry Street building was spared from damage. Unfortunately, shortly after the tornado, a kitchen fire inside an apartment in the house caused extensive damage to the building.
The nonprofit formed and took possession of the home.
Since then, more than 100 community volunteers have helped with demolition inside.
The architect who drew up plans for the renovation is doing his work free of charge, said John Blosser, a Jefferson City native who is on the Transformational Housing board of directors. Because the architect did the work for free, it took a little longer than other plans may have taken.
"Then we had to work out the fire safety issue," Blosser said. "We decided early on that we wanted a sprinkler system."
Challenges included finding ways to create one-hour fire ratings for the ceilings and floors between each level of the building.
"The city and fire people have all been very cooperative and eager to help," Blosser said.
The nonprofit has already taken a lot of steps to get as far as it has, said Mark Kiekhaefer, pastor at Living Hope Church.
Kiekhaefer and other church leaders around the city had begun a discussion about outside-the-box housing resolutions about the time the tornado struck.
The nonprofit wants to work closely with Common Ground Community Building - which provides relationship-focused approaches to addressing needs of clients in poverty - and with River City Habitat For Humanity. Common Ground developed from a ministry of downtown Jefferson City churches into an independent nonprofit that offers solutions surrounding homelessness.
Transformational Housing organizers looked at other transitional housing programs. Some transitional housing requires families to enroll in specific programs intended to help people overcome poverty.
The housing is provided for a limited time. During that time, families are coached to set goals, create stability and save resources needed to move into permanent housing.
In November, the nonprofit kicked off a fundraising campaign, which isn't complete yet but has been successful early on.
Banks and churches have stepped up to help with fundraising, Kiekhaefer said.
"We estimated between $360,000-$400,000 for the cost of renovating," he said. "And to date, we're over $250,000 toward that goal. People have been very generous and excited."
Not only about financial gifts, he continued. Banks have asked if they may offer their employees to do some voluntary financial counseling and coaching.
"There's been a wonderful groundswell of support," Kiekhaefer said.
The nonprofit hopes to have the building ready for rentals by the end of 2021, Blosser said.