Dear Friends,
As the year comes to a close, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for residents, supporters, donors, volunteers, staff, and community. Without your support, we could not build stable homes, strong futures, and vibrant communities. Thank you!
I have been serving as CommonBond’s President and CEO for a decade, and I can honestly say that the past four years have been the most challenging in this organization’s 53-year history. While the COVID-19 pandemic may seem like a distant memory, we are still feeling its effects.
Emergency rental assistance and funding for services have decreased. Operating costs for housing, like maintenance, insurance, and security have increased. And renters – especially our lowest income families – continue to struggle.
As a result, we have seen a huge increase in the need for our wraparound Advantage Services. Residents – particularly seniors and families on fixed incomes – need even more support with basic needs like food and transportation. Our Advantage Services have evolved with the goal of providing equal access to all CommonBond residents. But there is more to be done to get there.
We are refocusing our operational model to double-down on our core mission of housing and services to ensure CommonBond can meet its mission well into the future. We remain committed to continuing to offer our Advantage Services, which are among the most robust in the nation. Moving forward, we will:
- Actively assess our portfolio for financial longevity. This means using third-party management companies for some properties and selling other properties that we can no longer support financially.
- Continue to build new affordable housing while reinvesting in existing communities. The housing crisis is not going away, and we must invest strategically to ensure our neighbors have access to housing options.
I strongly believe that this new approach is how we ensure CommonBond can remain a leading housing and services provider long into the future.
It also gives me courage to know that we are not alone in this. Many of our peer organizations are facing similar problems and have been openly discussing the challenges the industry is facing. Our collaboration with them has already resulted in policy, funding, and practice changes that are important for the health of our sector.
As always, with challenges come opportunities to innovate and adapt. Our campaign, “Framing the Future: People, Places, Progress,” is one piece of our response and has already enabled so much good to happen, including:
- Building 976 new units of affordable housing, including Rise on 7 in St. Louis Park, which has a Minnesota-first childcare partnership; The Lumin in Saint Paul; and The Radiant in South Dakota.
- Preserving and renovating 1,058 existing units to ensure residents have a quality home, regardless of the age of their building.
- Maintaining a deep level of Advantage Services programming across our portfolio to support residents like Miriam, a single mom who found a fresh start for her family.
I want to express my gratitude for you and all of those who support our mission. I ask that you continue to join us on this journey. Whether donating to the campaign, volunteering at a property, or advocating for change, your support is needed now more than ever.
Thank you for your compassion, commitment, and care.
Forward together,
Deidre Schmidt
President and CEO
CommonBond Communities
