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Rent Relief
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Pastor Jon Laughlin is a do-it-yourselfer in the truest sense. He is using his hands to renovate some apartments near his home in Wyoming...but he's also using his heart to help those facing financial emergencies. It's rent relief that is literally keeping some folks from homelessness. |
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Next to a busy intersection in Cheyenne, Wyo., the new landlord is fixing up the Brave Heart Plaza Apartments.
Jon Laughlin: “Right now, I’m just finishing up some wiring for cable and telephone.”
These units were once a dilapidated and dangerous eyesore. About the only person who saw any value here was the pastor of Cheyenne’s Grace United Methodist Church. Jon Laughlin and his wife bought the property to help homeless families, but soon saw an even more urgent need.
“The problem with this community and I think it’s true across the country is people aren't getting liveable wages.”
Cheyenne is no different than many cities struggling with economic downturn – a downturn fueling a crisis for working people who need affordable housing immediately.
Jon Laughlin: “I mean, they’ll walk in off the street saying, ‘I need a place tonight.’ I just recently had to place a lady with a baby two days old from Mexico with a husband.”
Dana Oguma isn’t whom you’d expect to find in low-income housing. He’s an Air Force enlisted man, but military pay doesn’t go far in today’s market.
Dana Oguma: “For two bedrooms, it’s like, the minimum was $750. That’s the lowest I think I’ve seen, 750, 730.”
For $350 a month, Oguma gets a new furnished apartment, utilities included.
Jon Laughlin: “What we’re trying to do is figure out a way that people can come in without having to spend a ton of money to get set up.”
Nearly every minute he’s not at his church, Pastor Laughlin works to increase the value of his investment – an investment in people that pays dividends with each home that’s created.
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Pastor Laughlin expects to finish the last renovation in January, giving him a total of 12 units.
He continues to take in low-income tenants, and will also have a unit in the building for homeless families.