Open Hearts Place working on county housing crisis

Providing intermediate housing and programs to promote family self-efficiency while helping tackle the Burke County housing shortage is the mission of Open Hearts Place. 

Located at St. Matthews Church in Morganton, the organization uses funds from the Open Hearts Bakery and other donations to build homes, including their first three Phase One homes (located beside the church).

Now, Phase Two includes three more homes, located on a wooded piece of property near Mull Elementary School. 

Offering a “participation fee” of no more than 30% of a family’s income as their rent, the organization places 25% of that in a family savings account. 

Two of the many individuals behind the organization – volunteers and sponsors – are Madelyn Russ and Susan Pribyson. Two dedicated women who are organizing events, meeting with families, grant writing, fundraising, and working on the homes themselves. 

From the end of February and throughout March, the two hosted informational events in the church for people wanting to help combat the housing crisis and learn more about the nonprofit.

Among a room of dedicated minds and open ears, a listening reporter sat as Russ spoke from the heart about OHP’s background and their future steps to help Burke County families. 

Bakery to housing 

In 2009, the church established its bakery — one of the funding avenues for the housing projects. The original goal was to use the money raised for an emergency fund for any individual who needed help. 

“We quickly realized two things. One is that unless something changes –  whatever that ‘need’ this month – chances are that it most likely will be the same next month,” said Russ. “The other thing is that a lot of times when we try to help people, we actually demean them and we enable them to stay in the same position that they are in.” 

Back then and today, the church offers part-time positions and works with local organizations that help these individuals get back on their feet. They meet with a case manager and mentors bi-weekly/monthly who provide tools and local resources like Blue Ridge Community Action. 

Through that, they learn financial literacy, personal development plans, mental health, job training, parenting classes, and introduction to community events/activities. 

However, in 2018, the housing shortage grew and all these individuals couldn’t find housing even though they were financially stable and overall in a good place. In turn, OHP was born.

In 2020, the nonprofit started raising funds for their first three homes which were placed on an acre that was donated by the church. Construction started in 2021 with what started as a budget of $420,000, but the nonprofit raised over $460,000. 

A year later in 2022, three families with four adults and seven children moved into the homes— one home having one level, two bedrooms, one bath, and 650 square feet while the other two having three bedrooms, two baths, and 1,050 square feet (same model as next three homes). 

Shortly after, the nonprofit started on their next three homes which are undergoing finishing touches and families will hopefully move in April. 

“OHP is a unique organization,” said Russ. “We have gleaned from other national organizations that work with families in poverty. We have our own approach. We know if we are to break the cycle of poverty, then behavior must change for people to grow.” 

It takes a village 

Their trajectory is to have families stay for around three years, depending on their circumstances. Since these are intermediate homes, the current homes will serve many future families, but six homes compared to the housing shortage and the incoming 780 households, is just a dip into the county-wide crisis. 

“The next obvious step is to build a neighborhood,” said Russ. “Currently, we are in the process of purchasing 45 acres in the western Burke County. OHP plans to build a small community of starter homes around 1,000-1,400 square feet to sell several multifamily units to rent.”

Partnering with Habitat for Humanity, they will build around 10 units while OHP will retain 10-15 units for their housing program for families and seniors. 

Additionally, OHP plans to partner with Western Piedmont Trade Solutions Center where students will work with construction workers for on-site classes. 

The rest of the potential 100 homes will be sold to higher-income families.

This project can not be done alone by OHP, said Russ, which is why they are talking to city and county officials, local organizations, and a private construction company to join them as they bring in more families and workers for Burke County. 

“There’s an employee shortage and there’s a housing shortage,” said Russ. “People should be able to have a place to live where they work. Burke County claims to be the gateway to the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

“Yes, we do live in a beautiful part of the world and western North Carolina, an area that offers so much. But our working families need housing so that they can live, work, and play in nature’s playground,” concluded Russ. 

To learn more about Open Hearts Place, you can visit them at https://www.openheartsplace.org/.

Saydie Bean is a general assignment reporter for The Paper.  She may be reached at 828-445-8595 or via email at saydie@thepaper.media.