Join Us in Supporting Steve's Journey

Hi there!

Dennis and I (Brittany) have developed a relationship/friendship with a man named Steve over the past couple of years. As long as we have known him, Steve has stayed in vacant homes in our south St. Louis City neighborhood. This man is a positive contribution to the neighborhood, a veteran, and the devoted owner of a dog named Taz. He has been a blessing to us as we've taken on home renovation and maintenance. Unfortunately, stable housing for himself has not been a part of Steve's story in many, many, many years. In 2024, we learned of a vacant property that has been abandoned after it's owner passed away and no next of kin wanted to purpose ownership. We were under the impression that if we could prove we had maintained the property and made contributions to the taxes owed on it, that would keep the property from going to auction and we could eventually try to claim ownership of it. We have pursed this process to provide Steve housing and given the city's serious problem with vacant properties, we saw alot of benefit to it. For the first time in who knowns how long, Steve has been able to use a kitchen, take a hot shower, and sleep in a real bed.

This past month we learned that despite our contributions to the taxes owed, the city was going to place the property up for auction. There are some unfortunate nuances associated with the city's decision, but that's a moot point here. We could pay all of the owed property taxes to stop this ( about $5,500) or we could get on a monthly payment plan which would have the taxes paid off in 1 years time. We've decided to go with the monthly payment plan, $520 a month. With Steve's recent approval for social security (which he's not received yet), he is happy to help with those payment moving forward. However, we learned that if one monthly payment is missed it will go up for auction. Given the instability associated with social security payments and the overall plight of someone unhoused trying to commit to monthly payment like this, we are fundraising to A) Create a safety net to support Steve with future payment. B) If Steve is able to make all of the monthly payments on his own, the funds will be used toward future taxes and legal process of legally owning the home. If we lose the property, these funds will be used to find alternative housing arrangement for Steve.

We know this is an unconventional ask, but could you help us support Steve's housing stability? We believe he is worthy of having a community of people and be apart of that community. A contribution of any amount will make an impact in his life!