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Helping Homeless People Restore Vacant Homes - YouTube
Channel: Freethink
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- This house cost $3,500.
(cash register clangs)
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This one, $6,100. (cash register clangs)
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And this one, $2,000.
(cash register clangs)
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But why are they so cheap?
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- It needs full roof, it
needs kitchen, bathroom,
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plumbing, electrical, foundation
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and mold remediation.
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- Oh. That's why.
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In this episode of Catalysts,
we'll meet Acts Housing,
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an innovative, non-profit
helping low income families
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achieve their dreams of home ownership.
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- We believe that home
ownership is possible
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for anyone that's willing to work for it.
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- Building on their success
of helping thousands
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become homeowners in Milwaukee,
they're trying to see
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if their model will work in
other cities. (crowd cheering)
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And that $6,100 home,
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it was just purchased
by Christina Patterson,
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and she's their first homeowner
in Beloit, Wisconsin.
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- From homelessness to home ownership,
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that's my story.
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(eerie music)
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(birds chirping)
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- Today Christina gets to
share her vision of the home
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with the entire Acts Housing team.
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- And most of the team,
you haven't met most of us.
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They don't know much about your story,
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so if you want to just share
for a minute if you're willing,
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we'd love that.
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- Anybody got a tissue? (people laughing)
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I promise I won't cry this time.
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So in 2011 I had brain surgery
and wasn't able to work,
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so as a result, my family and
I became homeless. (cries)
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(sad music)
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We were homeless.
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We didn't have anywhere to go. (sniffles)
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And look at me. (cries)
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This is my house. (people cheering)
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(soft music)
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- When I couldn't even put
a roof over my kids' heads,
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that was probably the
lowest part of my life,
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cause I think as a parent,
everybody wants that,
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a home for their kids to
grow up in. (sniffles)
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(soft music)
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- Who are the photos?
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- This is my grandma and grandpa,
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and these are my mother.
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- Oh wow.
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- My grandma would have
been very proud to see this.
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- Christina is inspiring,
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and we're privileged that
we get to work with her.
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We have a really strong
conviction at Acts.
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Families are capable of
just tremendous things.
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If we can just tap into it
and give them an opportunity,
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they can be successful.
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(soft music)
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The housing system is broken,
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even more so for the
families we're working with.
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Most solutions, they're
top down solutions,
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they don't deal with people.
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They think, if we just build enough
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that's gonna fix things.
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But they don't necessarily
solve the problem
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because that doesn't help
families provide for themselves.
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And what we're doing at Acts
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is we're starting from the bottom up.
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We start with a family.
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- Finally we're gonna be with you
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through the entire process.
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- Their model is unique
because they're able
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to come alongside families and
provide every single service
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they would need to become
successful homeowners.
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- We're a one stop shop
for home ownership.
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We can help a family
prepare for home ownership
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through our home buyer counseling,
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purchase a home,
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and then if the home requires rehab,
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we'll coach a family through the rehab,
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providing rehab counseling services,
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and also finance some
of those transactions
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providing our home loan funds.
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- What's the total scope?
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Like how much are you investing?
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- There's my total.
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- $44,726.
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It's a big investment.
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- Yep.
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Buying a home is scary.
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It is a big decision,
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and to have someone
show you how that works,
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I don't know how to explain that,
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other than amazing.
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(upbeat music)
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- After experiencing homelessness,
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Christina's credit was in bad shape.
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That was one of the biggest barriers
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Acts needed to help her overcome.
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- Maria, she went through my credit report
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and explained to me the things that
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I needed to do to fix it.
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- Once Christina had elevated her credit,
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it was time to move on to the
next phase, house hunting.
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Acts helps families choose the homes
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that are right for their situation.
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- Sometimes that's a move-in ready home
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that's available on the market,
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other times that's a foreclosed home.
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- Families invest their own
money and take out loans
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for the home purchase and rehab.
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Christina purchased a foreclosed home
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that needed a lot of work before
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she and her family could safely move in.
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- While there's a lot of work
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that goes into rehabbing
a distressed home,
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families are saving
upwards of $3600 a year.
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Those savings are huge
in terms of making sure
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there's better food in the fridge,
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but also so that they have a little bit
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of an emergency fund, so when
life deals them challenges,
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they're able to overcome it.
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When they take on this distressed home,
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oftentimes it's been attracting
crime, attracting nuisance,
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and all of a sudden, our family comes in,
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and they're investing in
it, and they care about it.
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That sort of care, it's contagious.
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And so it can be a real game
changer in these neighborhoods.
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- So when Acts was founded 24 years ago,
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it was a dream that some
day, not only would we
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help families in Milwaukee,
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but we could share it
with another community.
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Having that be a reality,
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it makes this a really special day.
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So with that (cuts ribbon)
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(crowd cheering)
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And better than that,
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we have a tradition at Acts,
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which is that, when a homeowner
completes the long process
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of preparing themself for home
ownership, purchasing a home,
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we have a ceremony where we actually
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have them ring the
doorbell. (doorbell rings)
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(crowd laughs and cheers)
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(inspiring music)
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- We absolutely think our model
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is one that can be successful
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in literally hundreds of
cities throughout the country.
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When we prove that that works,
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I think it changes the narrative
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about what's possible
in our country's cities,
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These families,
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Though they didn't seek out home ownership
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because it was gonna
improve their self-esteem
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or it was gonna give them more confidence,
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I think that's very frequently the result.
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They're standing a little bit taller.
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(inspiring music)
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- I don't like to be told
what I can and cannot do.
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You know what I mean?
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So I set out to prove that I can do this.
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I absolutely feel like
I can do a lot of things
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I didn't know I could do.
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I don't know how to do that,
but I'm gonna learn today.
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This is a goal that I've had for years,
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and I finally did it.
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My kids are happy.
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My life is just complete now.
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This is me.
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This is my house.
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This is my counter.
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This is my door.
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It's my house.
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(inspiring music)
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- Thanks for watching.
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Acts Housing's innovative
model is empowering families
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through home ownership.
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Subscribe to Freethink for more stories
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of inspiring leaders who
are catalysts for change
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in their communities.
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