New initiative aims to help build strong renters, prepare future homeowners

How do you get to a class that could change your life?

Who will take care of your kids while you’re attending it?

Those two issues are being resolved in an initiative that will test bringing tenant and homeowner education into neighborhood schools, starting next week at Terry Redlin Elementary.

The Community Housing Education Course is aimed at two audiences, said Michelle Erpenbach, president of Sioux Falls Thrive, the sponsoring organization.

“One is those folks who just don’t know their rights and responsibilities as renters,” she said. “You do not have to live in an apartment full of cockroaches and mold. As a human being, you have the right to live in a decent place. As a renter, you have the right to talk to a landlord and have it fixed,” she said.

The other audience is young renters who may not feel as if they are able to buy a house. They don’t know what educational programs are available or even how to get started, how to talk to a banker or a Realtor, Erpenbach said. “To some of us it seems basic. To others, it’s a foreign planet.”

The seven-part course will run from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Nov. 11-14 and Nov. 18-20. Pre-registration is encouraged because the Realtor Association of the Sioux Empire will provide take-home meals for participants and family members at home. Child care also will be provided.

The Sioux Falls Thrive Housing Action Team developed the series. Its goal is to establish a no-cost or low-cost communitywide system that provides basic tenant education in a neighborhood-based model.

Placing the course in a neighborhood school is important because transportation can be an issue for many families. They might have only one vehicle or none and cannot travel across town, Erpenbach said. Placing the course in a school means many participants already will be comfortable with the location.

Terry Redlin was chosen as the first site based on recommendations.

“The long-term hope, our aspirational target, is it will happen at least in the Title I schools once a year and maybe in the other ones as well,” Erpenbach said. “Parents or caregivers would have the opportunity in their own neighborhood to learn basic skills.”

The volunteers on the Housing Action Team have been considering such a program for more than five years, Erpenbach said. The volunteers knew similar programs existed, but accessibility could be an issue for participants. Finally, based on the date accumulated about the neighborhoods around Title I schools, it was decided that placing the course in the Sioux Falls School District’s Community Learning Centers could serve as a model for future programs.

The Community Housing Education Course fits into Sioux Falls Thrive’s “cradle to career workforce initiative,” which looks to provide an ecosystem where every child in Sioux Falls can succeed. Its three areas of focus are food security, out-of-school time and housing.

“It’s a plus for kids to have a stable family life,” Erpenbach said. “They do better in school, they achieve higher. This will be an introduction to all the concepts of what housing can mean to the future of our children.”

At the program’s conclusion, participants will receive a Homeownership Education Resource Organization Certificate of Completion for use with landlords and lenders.

Erpenbach told the story of a woman who had participated in a similar program. Until then, she never had the expectation that, even though she was a good tenant with good credit, that someday she could buy a house.

“Not only does it teach you that housing is important and this is a great way to stabilize your kids, I hope it brings hope to some of those folks,” Erpenbach said.

To register for the Community Housing Education Course, click here.