I had the amazing privilege of sitting down for coffee with a wonderful woman just the other day, and I am excited to share her story with you. Due to the sensitivity of the area of work she is in, I have changed her name in order to keep this anonymous.
Getting Into Real Estate Investing
Sarah moved to Colorado back in 1989. She always an interest in real estate but never saw herself becoming a real estate broker. So she decided to learn how to invest in real estate. She and her husband had purchased multiple multifamily buildings that they renovated and then rented out.
After a while, and due to some experiences with family members, Sarah had noticed that there was a great need for transitional housing for former prison inmates who were on parole. She saw there were not a lot of great options for transitional housing.
The halfway houses, and other transitional homes that were out there were too expensive for recent offenders who may not have a lot of money. Not only were these places expensive, but they were not in the greatest condition nor the safest areas in Denver. That’s when Sarah had the idea to provide her own housing for those who were reentering into society after being in prison.
Related: 5 Mistakes I Made as a New Real Estate Investor
Buying Their First Transitional Home
In 2009, Sarah and her husband started out with one house on the east side of Denver. Originally, they had handed over the property to a transitional housing company so they could manage it, but that didn’t work out so well.
Sarah decided that she could do it on her own, so after one year with that property she took on the business all by herself. Things were going pretty well so they added a few more houses into their portfolio to be able to house more former offenders.
Eventually, in 2013, they decided to sell those houses in order to buy a large apartment complex in the south suburbs of Denver.
They started to search for an apartment complex down south and they found one that had been on the market for about 5 months. They weren’t sure why because they found out that there had been multiple offers on the property before, the seller just didn’t accept any of them. So Sarah and her husband believe that God was waiting for them to come along and snatch it up!
Related: Married to a Real Estate Investor
Trusting God’s Plan
While they were under contract on the property there seemed to be different things that kept going wrong. Their broker even encouraged them to back out of the deal at times, but they were very sure that this was the property that God had lined up for them.
It seemed as though the enemy was trying to get them to stop their ministry in its tracks. They recognized that this was all the work of the devil, and continued to trust God’s plan with this complex.
God’s blessing was clearly over their endeavors at the apartment complex. They reached capacity quickly, and they currently have a waiting list of men who need housing after prison. After a couple of years, they started to recognize that women on parole were lacking a housing solution too. So in 2015, they purchased a duplex in order to house women.
Related: Expect the Unexpected
Re-Entry Housing
Traditionally, this type of housing is called Transitional Housing and the former inmates who live in these properties are not taken care of well. Sarah doesn’t like the term Transitional Housing because it usually leaves a bad taste in peoples’ mouths. She likes the phrase Re-Entry Housing instead because her goal is to truly prepare these people, whom she considers her clients, to re-enter into society, and to do it well! The respect, love, and forgiveness that she shows her clients leaves a lasting impact.
Recently, Sarah did a small study to find out how successful her housing program was compared to others in the state of Colorado.
In transitional housing programs run by the Department of Corrections, about 51% of the offenders go back to jail within 3 years of getting out. Out of the 92 clients that Sarah housed in 2018 only 7 violated parole and went back to prison, and 3 committed a crime and went back as well. That comes to about 11%. So clearly, Sarah must be doing something different in order to produce great results like this!
Who Can Live There
When it comes to deciding who gets to be a part of their program, Sarah approves all of the incoming clients. Before the offenders even leave prison, she begins working with each of them to find out if they will be a good fit for their homes. She is in contact with their case managers and sets up phone interviews with each offender.
This helps to create relationships with each person before they even step foot on the property. From there, she staffs all offenders with a re-entry specialist at the parole office. Once accepted into the program, she continues to work with the offender’s case manager.
Rules, Regulations, and Bible Study
While living in her complexes, each client agrees to abide by the rules of the home. The rules include staying sober, keeping their rooms clean, having a good relationship with their roommate, obviously no crimes, and to obey their parole rules as well. Sarah also does not allow the clients to have guests over on the property. In the past, it has created a distraction so she feels that it is better to not allow guests. So any family or friend time must be done off the property on their own time.
Both the women’s and the men’s properties have Bible studies that are held regularly. The women are required to go to a twice-monthly Bible study that is held for them. Sarah has seen how the Bible studies have impacted the women positively, so she requires each of her clients to attend the study. It gives the women a chance to connect with the other clients in the house and create closer relationships.
The men, however, are not required to attend their Bible studies. But she said that a lot of them attend anyway! One of the studies that they offer for the men is taught by a former offender who came to know Jesus while in prison. Though being a Christian is not a requirement in order to live in either of her homes, Sarah says that most of her tenants are open about the topic of faith and learning about Jesus. In fact, she welcomes non-believers into her properties because it gives them a chance to hear the Gospel.
How Can the Church Help?
Sarah believes that in order for each of her client’s re-entry to be successful, they need to learn how to be givers rather than takers. So she has partnered up with a local church that is also very passionate about the re-entry of former offenders into society. This church provides ministry opportunities for former offenders to participate in. One of the service projects they do is serve at a food bank.
Running these re-entry properties is a full-time job for Sarah. She is always on-call and she wears a lot of hats in the business. To her clients and coworkers, she is a mother, a mentor, a friend, a supervisor, and a manager.
After being in this business for quite some time, she has learned to recognize what her clients need even if they don’t realize their own needs. She feels that one of the most important roles that she plays in her clients’ lives is the role of a mentor. In fact, I asked her what one of her biggest needs is right now in her business and she said MENTORS!
She says that the one thing that the Church could do for these former offenders is to take the time to mentor them. Investing in someone else’s life can make the biggest impact on any person, but especially these people who truly need guidance.
She says that each one of her clients has the potential to re-enter into society and to be successful. All it takes is for them to have the right resources and encouragement. And with God’s help, Sarah is able to do that for these people. Mentorship is most beneficial when someone can give a one-year commitment to do so.
Related: Business as Missions
Future Goals
Sarah’s goal would be to expand her business and add on another house or two so she can offer more housing to these former offenders. In order to do that though she needs some more help.
Sarah is currently looking for more staff members to join her team and help to manage her properties. If this might be something you are interested please don’t hesitate to reach out and I will put you in touch with her!
After my coffee date with Sarah, I left thinking, “How can I use my real estate endeavors to serve the Lord more?” Her story has inspired me to look for new ministry opportunities through my investing – because as we know, we are all called to full-time ministry as Christians!
Really fascinating story! Super cool to hear how God can use real estate as a ministry for former inmates!
This actually sounds like the perfect program for former inmates, especially for those willing they can turn their lives around with proper guidance and a good environment to live in
Absolutely! It’s really cool to know that there are people out there who are providing this kind of support to those who were previously incarcerated.