An initiative to empower Black and Indigenous families for generations to come.

• What is the BLUU Housing Initiative?

  The BLUU Cooperative Housing Initiative is a project that embodies our commitment to improve the material conditions of Black lives as an act of our faith.

  We started the BLUU Cooperative Housing Initiative in the summer of 2019 by purchasing eight vacant lots in North Minneapolis. Now, we are planning a process that will transform those vacant lots into actually affordable, multi-family units.

  At the end of this project, 17 Black and Indigenous families will be empowered as homeowners in Minneapolis, something that will fundamentally transform access to resources and wealth for generations.

• Why this project and why now?

  We understand this movement moment we are in as a critical turning point in the history of the country.  

  As the pressure continues to mount to abolish the police, we understand stable and affordable housing to be one small piece in the puzzle to ending the carceral state.

  Creating new actually affordable, long-term housing that can help build wealth for  families is a small drop in the bucket, but it’s a drop we want to make to help stabilize communities and change the material conditions for some of our people.

  We think liberation comes in many forms, but we know how important stable, clean, aesthetically beautiful housing is to any collective liberation work. We seek to create something that doesn’t exist in the Twin Cities, working in partnership with other groups and organizations that have  experience in housing development.

  It is our hope and dream that this initiative will change the material conditions for Black and Indigenous families who move into the units we build.

• How can you help us change the material lives of Black and Indigenous Families?

  We are excited to offer an opportunity for communities dedicated to Black liberation, including UU congregations, to support a project that will empower Black families in Minneapolis for generations.

  This project is funded by the gifts of UU congregations and individuals; by the generous and visionary investment of the City of Minneapolis; and by a construction loan secured with support from BLUU’s modest endowment. The challenge right now is to drop the expected monthly payment for future Housing Initiative residents from $1800 to $1200 – the difference for most between truly sustainable and perhaps impossible.

  We can help future residents lower their monthly housing payments if we raise $100,000 by Dec. 31, 2024, a very attainable goal if the those who’ve supported this vision from the start help us get there.  

  You can commit to supporting affordable, sustainable homeownership for Black people today.

  We hope you’ll help us with this today by making a contribution in an amount that makes sense for you!

  You can donate online or via mail by sending a check made out to “BLUU”.

  Please include “Housing Initiative” in the memo line and send the check to:

  BLUU

  165 Western Ave N Ste 8

  St. Paul, MN 55102