November 21, 2023 | Housing
Transforming rental housing
Matthew 25 has completed renovations on a newly acquired rental home. The previous owners stopped by last week to see all the changes made to the property.
The Reinert family checks out the new floors and other changes in the main-level unit.
As part of our efforts to grow strong neighborhoods, Matthew 25 provides safe, quality rental housing at affordable rates. All of our homes are refurbished before we make them available, some going as far as a complete renovation.
We recently finished rehabbing one of our newly acquired homes, and last week we invited the prior owners, Mike and Angie Reinert and their children, to tour the home. They were thrilled to see all of the changes we made, including converting it from a single-family home to a duplex.
Originally, the Reinerts had purchased the home to be a “ministry house” for the Core College Ministry at New Life Community Church. They have fond memories of the home and were happy to see their college student tenants grow in maturity during their time living there. They remember pouring squares of sidewalk on three sides of the lot with a lot of helpful “vigor and enthusiasm” from the students. “Most had never poured cement before, but what they lacked in experience they made up for in energy!!” They also recalled transplanting the evergreen tree in the front yard, which started at just 18 inches and is still going strong at more than six feet tall.
Matthew 25 Neighborhood Building Senior Director, Brenner Myers, talk with Jonny Reinert about the new kitchen built in the upper-level unit.
After the college students moved on, the Reinerts rented out the home to a large family who, unfortunately, left it in very poor condition. While they cleaned it up as best they could without doing anything too expensive, they struggled to find a buyer. Eventually they got connected with our Housing team and were very happy to sell their home to Matthew 25, knowing it would be supporting our mission of providing affordable housing in the community. “We were glad to see someone with a Christian perspective buy the house and use it for a Christian purpose.”
After purchasing the home, Matthew 25 worked with Steve Miller at Corridor Construction Company to complete the rehab, which included turning this three-story house into a duplex so it would create two units of affordable housing instead of just one.
Contractor Steve Miller chats with the Reinert family.
Steve said it was a challenge to come up with a suitable design for this duplex conversion. He says, “We worked on at least five different versions before coming up with a final plan. There are many requirements in a multifamily conversion and the Cedar Rapids Building Department was very helpful in assisting us from pre-design throughout the construction process. The building trades were also extremely helpful and made the project go smoothly.”
Over the years, Miller has worked with Matthew 25 on more than a dozen rental renovations. He says, “Matthew 25 has done so very much for the community and I am extremely honored to be a part of it. It is very rewarding to be working with them on this type of project providing affordable quality housing for Cedar Rapids residents.”
At the end of the walk-through with the Reinerts, Mike offered a blessing for the house and any future residents who will live there. In a separate email, the Reinerts said, “I pray Matthew 25 will make an impact for Christ on people in that neighborhood — I think some of them very much need it. A key verse in that chapter is verse 40: The King will reply, ‘Truly I say unto you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’ ”
If you have a property you would like Matthew 25 to turn into quality affordable housing, contact us.
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