Leaven Community Land & Housing Coalition
A program of Leaven Community, the Land & Housing Coalition (LCLHC) is a statewide interfaith collective organizing people of faith and courage to advocate for and steward faith land toward affordable and transitional housing.
VISION
The Land & Housing Coalition believes that faith communities in Oregon and beyond can lead a reversal of our regional housing crisis if we commit in full faith to creative stewardship of our own lands and the assets of our ecumenical partners for diverse affordable housing.
MISSION
Land & Housing Coalition is a statewide collective organizing faith-owned land for affordable housing, mobilizing land, people, and money toward reparations, countering narratives of ‘Othering’ in our communities, and growing a diverse base of leaders to change the broken housing systems that press in on our neighbors.
What do we do & who does it impact?
(6 min video) We are a part of a larger movement home called the Sacred Organizing House. This video gives a snapshot of what this looks like as we move together as a movement.
Our movement platform
Our Sacred Organizing House shares a platform. It is shared by our Reckoning with Racism, Youth Solidarity, Liberadora, Spiritual Leaders, Land & Housing, and Climate Resilience organizing bases and states:
Who and what do we hold sacred?
Not money. Not private property. Not the unbridled accumulation of material possessions, nor security and certainty for the wealthy few at the expense of the many.
Rather, we hold as sacred human dignity. Our truthful and vulnerable stories. Our honest efforts and labor to care for one another and the land that sustains life. The mountains, the rivers, the cedars and the deserts. All beings, and the breath that connects us across space and time.
Housing first and health for all.
Our hearts ache, knowing so many of us – especially young people – struggle with anxiety and depression, while far too many of us and our neighbors live with the stress and uncertainty of not knowing if we’ll have a place to rest our heads at night. We strive for communities where housing and health - especially mental health support - are accessible and affordable for everyone.
Clean water, breathable air, healthy food.
Our water and air are not for sale. This Earth is beautiful, abundant, and generous. We give thanks for the gifts she offers, and we pledge to tend to her with care for current and future generations, human and more than human. When we love the places we call home and fight for them, our communities flourish.
Healing and wholeness for land and people.
Violence perpetrated against peoples and the land in the past continues to harm our communities today. We commit to uncovering and sharing the truth about our histories, repairing racial and ecological wounds, and fostering communities that respect sovereignty, honor treaties, and treat the land as sacred.
Communities and systems where all belong.
We commit to belonging without othering. We want to live in communities where our differences and inherent interconnectedness are celebrated. Where all people - Black and Brown; young and old; gay, straight, trans; immigrant and Indigenous; everyone beyond and across all identities - have opportunity and agency to co-create the structures and systems that form the basis of our shared life together.
This document is amended as we learn and grow. Inquiries to Julia Nielsen.
LAND & HOUSING NEWSLETTERS
03/11/2024 - Assembly Follow Up: A Place to Call Home
LAND & HOUSING COALITION VIDEOS
Building Power Through House Meetings
(video models a house meeting)
Unveiling, Mapping and Engaging Power
(video chapters in description)/ Desvelar, mapear y comprometer el poder (ver capítulos de vídeo en la descripción)
Encountering Our Ancestral & Land Stories (video chapters in description)/ Encuentro a través de la historia ancestral y la tierra (ver capítulos de vídeo en la descripción)
Discovering Shared Self-Interest through Encounter (video chapters in description/ Descubrir el interés común a través del encuentro (ver capítulos de vídeo en la descripción)
2024 Statewide Assembly
A Place to Call Home
2023 Multi-County Community Assembly
Thank you for engaging in this work together through relationships that are building power for Housing and Wholeness for All in Oregon.
La Casa Comun
Building Power with Neighbors
L to R: Blanca & Jazmin
In the Cully Neighborhood of Northeast Portland at a mobile home park called El Rancho, residents are building power together to assert their rights as tenants. Jazmin Velez of La Casa Común (a participating community in the Multnomah County Leaven Land & Housing Cohort), is helping to facilitate this tenant-led energy for change using the Sacred Organizing practices learned in the cohort.
Prior to October 2021, like many residences, each of the families living at El Rancho had their garbage collected once a week by a garbage truck. In October, however, the truck stopped coming. For a while, there was no pickup at all. The trash accumulated and the owner of El Rancho said the responsibility fell on the residents to solve the problem. READ MORE. HERE is the update
Ways to Share Your Financial Gifts
Your financial gifts create capacity for stabilizing communities so people in Oregon can come home. Donations made to Leaven Community are deductible as charitable gifts Leaven Community’s Tax Identification Number is 46-4368893.
Donations by check and Bill pay
Mail Check
1. Make check payable to “Leaven Community”
2. Memo Line: Write “Land & Housing Coalition Organizing”
3. Mailing Address: Leaven Community, 5431 NE 20th Ave, Portland OR 97211
Bill Pay
Set up payment from your account to Leaven Community with memo for “Land & Housing Coalition Organizing.”
Contact Eric: ericj@pacifier.com
Donation by Debit/Credit Card
Debit/Credit Card
1. Click the Blue LC Land & Housing Coalition Donation button below and fill in the donation information.
2. Next: Click the PAYMENT BUTTON on the bottom of the donation form to make and complete donation through our PAYPAL portal. You can log in as a guest.