Western & Southern Financial Group Wants to Tear Down Affordable Housing for Women and Build Condos — Don’t Let Them!
By Susan Quinn Bryan, Cincinnati, Ohio
Presbyterian ministers join others to lead a rally in support of affordable housing
August 5, 2012, is Homelessness and Affordable Housing Sunday. But it is not just another “issue” day. It is churches in the Presbytery of Cincinnati working together with other people of faith to save the Anna Louise Inn, an institution that has been providing safe, affordable housing for women in Cincinnati since it opened on Memorial Day, 1909—a home now threatened by a corporation that wants to seize the land and build condominiums.
This Sunday is also a day for people with nowhere else to go:
After losing her job, Sarah’s daughter recommended that she move to the Anna Louise Inn as an affordable place to live. In addition to a safe home, she has found a new family of women. One thing Sarah loves about living at the Anna Louise Inn is the many friendships she has built. She and another woman on her floor knock on the wall between their rooms each evening before going to sleep to let the other know that she is okay.
In high school, Becky began using drugs. When her habit increased, it strained her relationship with her family. After several visits to treatment centers, Becky was sober and starting over. The Anna Louise Inn provided a place to live while she got her life back together. She needed time to save money, and she wanted a place where she felt safe so she could focus on staying sober each day. For a year, she lived at the Inn before getting an apartment of her own and reuniting with her daughter.
Anna graduated from a local college and earned a Master’s degree. Diagnosed with mental health issues, she has had difficulty finding employment. Sometimes her symptoms are bad; sometimes they aren’t bad. When she has an episode, it is difficult for her to leave her room. When she is feeling better, she is a productive worker. Right now, she finds comfort in living at the Anna Louise Inn, where she won’t be judged for her struggle with mental health issues.
Cincinnati Union Bethel, which operates the Anna Louise Inn, began with a group of Protestant ministers who came together to serve the needs of sailors coming into the port of Cincinnati in 1830, and soon saw other needs in the city. In the early 1900s, young women, who were coming to the city seeking work in offices and industry, often didn’t make enough money to afford suitable housing. Cincinnati Union Bethel, seeing the need, approached the Charles P. Taft family who gave the money and the land (literally in their front yard) to build an Inn that would house 120 women. They named the Inn after their daughter, Anna Louise Taft Semple. The Inn was filled on its first day and had a waiting list of over one hundred. The Tafts generously gave more money and land to expand the Inn.
For over one hundred years, the Inn has continued to provide safe, affordable housing in the same location under the supervision of Cincinnati Union Bethel, which is now a small non profit social service agency that oversees two other important programs: early childhood education and the Off the Streets Program, which offers support for women seeking to leave lives trapped in prostitution.
A New Threat
Almost two years ago, the Inn received zoning approval and found funding for a long overdue major remodeling of the rooms of the Inn – turning the rooms from their original dormitory style to apartments that will feature private baths and small kitchens.
But one of their neighbors, Western and Southern, a large multinational corporation, has been opposed to the remodeling of the Inn.
Western and Southern sought to purchase the Inn with the intent of tearing it down and building condos for ‘high end’ clientele, seeking to redevelop the area into a ‘gaslight’ district. Cincinnati Union Bethel, however, has remained convinced that the location is best for the women of the Inn and the rest of the neighborhood has been very supportive of the Inn.
So, Western and Southern has sued the Inn, Cincinnati Union Bethel, and the City Zoning board, in an effort to delay the remodeling of the Inn, and eventually drain the social service agency of its resources so that it will have to cry ‘uncle’ and be forced to sell the Inn to Western and Southern.
The judge in the first lawsuit (a friend hand picked by Western and Southern) ruled that the Inn had to go through the zoning process again. Recently, after receiving approval from the Historic Board, Western and Southern filed yet another appeal.
The situation will remind biblical scholars of the story of Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings 21). The story goes like this: Naboth has a small vineyard; it is all he owns. But unfortunately for him, it happens to reside next to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. Ahab decides he wants Naboth’s land for a “vegetable garden” and offers to buy Naboth’s land or relocate him. Naboth refuses, explaining that this land (much like the land donated by the Tafts) is his “ancestral inheritance,” the land of his family, and he cannot give it up. So Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, conspires with “the elders and the nobles” of the city to have Naboth brought up on false charges. After taken before this mock trial, Naboth is stoned to death, and his land seized by Ahab. All because Ahab wanted a vegetable garden.
Anna Louise Inn Prayer Vigil
The Religious Community Organizes
Last September, with the story of Naboth in mind, a group of pastors who meet regularly and are concerned about urban ministry, asked the Presbytery of Cincinnati to sign a letter of support for the Anna Louise Inn. The Presbytery voted unanimously to support the Inn.
Our recent theme is Western and Southern: Thou Shalt Not Steal the Anna Louise Inn.
The definition of stealing is “taking someone else’s property without permission or legal right and without the intent of returning it.” It does not matter how one does that (through physical threat or bogus lawsuits) and it does not matter why one steals.
And in this economy, when a large, wealthy, powerful corporation tries to take the property belonging to a small non profit social service agency who uses that property to provide affordable housing to women in need, we are shocked at the shamefulness.
We have enlisted the support of other faith communities, including Episcopalians, Unitarian Universalists, United Church of Christ, Muslims, and Jews; held rallies, prayer vigils, and fund raisers; written letters to the editor; and created web sites and Facebook pages to garner support.
At a recent rally, speakers from four national groups came out in support of the Inn, including the National Fair Housing Alliance and NETWORK (the national Catholic Social Justice lobby).
This is not just a Cincinnati issue.
Justice has no boundaries.
The question we have been asking is this: If corporations can do this, what can’t they do?
Sign a change.org petition
Follow Cincinnati Union Bethel on Facebook and learn more on their website
Follow the Anna Louise Inn on Facebook
Follow Western and Southern Needs a New Direction on Facebook
Rev. Susan Quinn Bryan is pastor of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, OH. She is a member of the Urban Pastors Network, a dozen or so members of the Presbytery of Cincinnati – from newly ordained to honorably retired, some who belong to the Covenant Network, others to Presbyterians for Renewal, and others to neither. They have been meeting together weekly for over 5 years in one another’s churches and homes to share breakfast, encouragement, best practices, spirited conversation, prayer, and Bible study. While not all in urban churches, all have a connection with and heart for the challenges faced by urban congregations and communities. And that, they believe, has put them in touch with God’s heart for justice and community and what the Church should look like.
Links,
I am the executive director of a non-profit in Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. The non-profit I work for, called Our Daily Bread, serves many of the city’s people who are classified as: working poor and/or homeless and/or poverty stricken. We are a soup kitchen, a community center, a provider of social service assistance and an after school program. We serve hundreds of people on any given weekday.
As the city of Cincinnati continues its revitalization and rebuilding projects, I am regularly confronted by one particular question. It is a question that our guests regularly ask in one form or another, and it sounds something like this, “Where is our space?”
To me, the key word in this question is, “our.” It signifies a recognition that being economically poor makes a person different. In modern day America, and in Cincinnati, being poor means not having a voice. Being poor means knowing that when your neighborhood is rebuilt and revitalized, you have to move out.
The Anna Louise Inn represents a challenge to this basic reality about poverty. The ALI allows women to have safe, affordable housing, in the economic heart of the city. The ALI represents a vision, which was recognized by the Taft family, one of the wealthiest and most powerful families of Cincinnati history. It’s a vision that acknowledges that wealth should not be hoarded among the wealthy. It’s a vision that realizes that wealth should not only be measured in money.
The most valuable asset of a city, the very soul of a city, is its people. We devalue our city when we ignore and abuse and push around any of its people; and we show a city’s true values if we allow the people least able to defend themselves to be abused by the most powerful individuals.
For those who suffer from poverty, I echo the question, “Where is OUR space?”
For the city of Cincinnati, for the people who are the city, I ask, “To whom does this city really belong?”
Tyler – thank you for your very thought provoking response. It is gratifying to have voices such as yours in our community.
Dear Rev. Pettigrew,
Thank you for this powerful, eloquent, and prophetic response! I am moved by your question about space: to whom it belongs, whom it includes, and whom it excludes. I grew up in Cincinnati and it was there that I first experienced my call to social justice ministry when, in the eleventh grade of high school, a white police officer shot a young unarmed black man in the back, bringing to the fore long-building racial questions of whom Cincinnati belonged to – and didn’t. I am so grateful to know that there are people like you working for justice, working to open up the space to all people, particularly those who have been made marginal by our society’s powers.
These are Gospel words you offer!
As the Executive Vice-President of Cincinnati Union Bethel, I know firsthand how much the support from the community has mattered during our struggle with the Anna Louise Inn. It has truly sustained us. As Rev. Bryan points out, the faith community has responded with verve and passion. Western & Southern claims it has a vision for the Lytle Park District, but it doesn’t include women who get to work on a bus. It is hard to imagine that someone else’s vision includes taking away someone’s property and home. It is also disheartening that this could be happening after our almost century of living in close proximity to each other as good neighbors. During a meeting with city officials, representatives from Western & Southern were asked, “What do you really want?” The spokesperson for Western & Southern said bluntly, “We just want them out of there.” The residents of the Anna Louise Inn, who simply want to live their lives, were dismissed that quickly – all because they do not have the same financial resources. Over 90% of our residents make less than $11,170 (the 2012 poverty guideline). I don’t know how they do it, but they do because they have to.
As property owners and a social service agency, we continue to defend our right to renovate this beautiful and safe haven for women. We know this is not just an issue about the Anna Louise Inn. It is also about what a community, our community, believes is right. Do we want big corporations with unlimited resources to be able to push others aside just because they want your property? Many in Cincinnati are clearing saying, ”No, we don’t.” That’s why we see so many people standing up in support of the Inn and the women who live there. They believe we do have a right to renovate and improve our property to enhance the quality of life for our residents.
Throughout our struggle, I have tried to remember the women themselves, who have been disparaged by Western & Southern in the press. They need a voice because too often they are ignored by society. I think about Mary Catherine who has been at the Inn for over 30 years. She is over 80 now and doesn’t want to move. There is Rebecca who is an Iraqi War veteran who is trying to recover from a head injury. The quiet of the Inn allows her to work on her recovery, playing computer games that rebuild her brain function. And there is Kathy who works second shift at the IRS and appreciates the short walk to the bus. The Inn is their home; it isn’t a piece of prime real estate property.
This is an issue of bullying, property rights, classism, and discrimination. This goes against our community and national values…. and should concern all of us.
Dear Mary,
Like Tyler’s message, your word strike me deep. In a society that privileges money over rights, and that would kick out certain people simply because they are not the “kind” of people a corporation wants around itself, it is heartening, inspiring, to know of people like you, and organizations like this, that are drawing a line in the sand, saying no more.
I deeply appreciate you sharing some of these women’s stories. It is far too easy to abstract issues like this one.
Can you give us an update about the recent ruling of the Historic Conservation Board? What are the next steps? Do you anticipate further opposition from Western & Southern?
Patrick – thank you for your response and request for an update.
On August 27, 2012, the Historic Conservation Board approved Cincinnati Union Bethel’s conditional use application for the Anna Louise Inn. We went before the Historic Conservation Board for a second time as part of the zoning process for the planned renovation of the Inn. In May 2012, Judge Norbert Nadel’s ruling in the lawsuit filed by Western & Southern against the Anna Louise Inn and the City of Cincinnati remanded all matters back through the City’s zoning process.
We are very pleased with the ruling and so appreciative of our supporters. Numerous neighbors and community supporters came to speak on our behalf during the hearing. It was a wonderful and special reminder how much the Anna Louise Inn is an integral part of the Lytle Park District fabric of life. We are also pleased that this ruling puts to rest whether we are zoned properly or not, and we may now proceed with our planned renovations. That is a win-win for everyone in Cincinnati.
Representatives of Western & Southern have said throughout the legal proceedings that they are just interested in whether the Anna Louise Inn is zoned properly. This ruling confirms that we have the proper zoning approval in place. However, Western & Southern’s legal counsel has indicated they will again appeal this ruling.
We have done everything we have been asked to do and the appropriate city authority has approved the zoning. We are hopeful there will not be an appeal – enough is enough. The women deserve to have their home renovated and we need to proceed with the project.
Thank you for your continued interest. If you want to read more about the legal battle, there is a well written and well researched article in City Beat, a local Cincinnati newspaper. They also have some related articles about the ruling you can find on their website. You can access the story from the link below.
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-25973-surrounded_by_skyscr.html
You can also go to our website, http://www.cinunionbethel.org where we will post updates and to our Facebook pages – Anna Louise Inn or Cincinnati Union Bethel for more information.
Thank you for the update, Mary! And congratulations on this big win! As we wait to hear if Western & Southern file an appeal, I understand that, in addition to the online petition linked above, people can download and send a Letter of Support Statement here: http://www.cinunionbethel.org/index.php/the-latest-on-the-anna-louise-inn.