Faith in Housing
On a blistering hot Monday in July, a group of people gathered at Atonement Lutheran Church in St. Cloud, Minn., to discuss plans for the coming winter. They are volunteers from different walks of life and religious/spiritual beliefs who meet every Monday to talk about the needs of one of the most vulnerable populations in our community: people who are unhoused. This group, known as Faith in Housing (FIH), works to educate the community and end homelessness by organizing temporary overflow shelter programs, offering educational community summits, fundraising and hosting volunteer drives.
FIH’s mission statement says it works to “Unite faith communities to address and alleviate the surge of homelessness in Central Minnesota.” These words on a page seem simple and clear, but they don’t do justice to this group that meets weekly to discuss the needs of local shelters, organizes meetings with local city councils to advocate for more affordable housing, collaborates with agencies on city, county and state levels, organizes letter writing campaigns, provides education to the community on homelessness, and even chases fastmoving state representatives and senators through the Minnesota State Capitol to discuss concerns regarding homelessness.
FIH members are constantly looking for resources to ease the difficulty of people who are unhoused, such as bug spray and sunscreen in the summer and blankets, handwarmers and warm clothing in winter for people living outside in tents or in abandoned buildings. FIH tackles hard questions such as: How do you assist people who have no bathroom facilities or the ability to wash their laundry or shower? How do you arrange transportation to appointments for folks who are simply trying to survive from day to day and may sleep in a different location every night or have spent all night walking the streets and are too exhausted by morning to attend appointments?
FIH meetings always include prayer, usually include laughter, sometimes tears and the sharing of fear for not only people directly impacted by homelessness but the tireless people who work to end this scourge every day. These meetings also include the very important opportunity for people to come together in hope. A very wise man said hope is not blind optimism, but rather the choice and belief that something better is possible through hard work and action. That is an echo of James 2:14-17, verses that talk about the importance of accompanying our faith with deeds.
In retrospect, maybe Faith in Housing can also be called Faith in Hope — hope that we will continue to resist division and come together to make tomorrow just a little bit better for our neighbors and fellow human beings. That we as individuals and groups can share that hope with others with simple deeds like holding the door open for someone, helping a neighbor carry groceries or sharing a smile with someone that tells them:
“I see you. You are not invisible.”
Elizabeth Reum, Director of Social Justice Ministries
This article was featured on page 29 in the fall 2026 issue of Call.
Photo: Provided by Pexels.com
