Denverite recently recognized 14 professionals who are making waves in the Denver housing scene. Radian’s executive director, Tim Reinen, is one of these Rising Stars:
From Denverite: Fresh off of playing a key role in River North’s Beloved tiny home village, Tim Reinen and his nonprofit firm, Radian, are helping faith groups make use of their 5,000 acres of shovel-ready land to house Denver metro residents who need homes.
The initiative is called the Congregation Land Campaign. Some religious institutions see housing-needy people as their moral mission, and that mission gets easier when you cut land speculation from the development equation.
“They have been wanting to see action (on housing) for 30, 40 years, and they just haven’t known how to facilitate it,” Reinen said. “We’re saying, ‘You don’t need to know. We’ll match you up with who you need to know and what you want to know.’”
Radian is working with seven faith groups and has 20 or 30 congregations ready and willing.
On the horizon for Radian in 2019:
Women’s Village in Globeville
As a result of the success of the Beloved Tiny Home Village, Tim, the Radian team and partners are working on a second tiny home village that will reside in Globeville. This village is specifically for women, mothers and transgender people who have been traditionally turned down from the shelter system and are seeking a safe space for transitional housing on their journey to a permanent home.
Congregation Land Campaign
Across Colorado, the mounting housing affordability crisis has left thousands of people without homes. A shortage of developable land deepens the problem, yet a tremendous resource exists within the diverse faith-based organizations in our communities.
Tim and the Radian team, in partnership with Nathan Hunt of Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, have created The Congregation Land Campaign, which addresses the essential need for housing, while supporting diverse faith-based communities in advancing their values.
In Denver, Jefferson, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, congregations own more than 5,000 acres of undeveloped land, with no real benefit to the church or community. Through community workshops, we’ve uncovered that these congregations believe deeply in addressing the housing crisis and building opportunity on their land.
Tim and Nathan are working closely with 5 congregations (and actively looking for more) to explore housing options, identify development models that meet their needs and the needs of the community, and prepare them to quickly evaluate feasibility and begin working with developers.
Workforce housing condos in Sante Fe Arts District
Tim + Radian are leading an effort to provide workforce housing for educators to lessen the barrier to entry into homeownership within the City of Denver. The project includes 92 owner-occupied condos within a 5 story building along the 6th Ave corridor. Located within the vibrant Sante Fe Arts District, the project will serve as an anchor for the neighborhood by providing an affordable home to community-serving workforce.
In 2019, the Radian team plans to continue focusing its efforts on experimenting with micro units as a solution to affordable housing; growing the Congregation Land Campaign to every interested faith-based organization in the state; and building more tiny home villages that are proven to be an effective model for the transitioning the homeless into permanent housing.
