HISTORY

History

In 1985, the leaders of three Faith-Based organizations in Washington Village/Pigtown met with the President of the Washington Village Improvement Association.  The topic that brought them together was the vacant and abandoned housing units that were so prevalent in the community.  With the support and guidance of a city official, the group pulled together to form the St. Jerome’s Housing Corporation.  Originally housed in the attic of St. Jerome’s Catholic Church Rectory, the organization which consisted of one staff person and a novice Board went to work immediately, learning the process of developing affordable housing.  Within that first year a dilapidated unit on Hamburg Street was identified, acquired and rehabilitated.  Our first homeowner was a retired Baltimore City School teacher, who also was a first generation immigrant from Holland.  She still happily lives in that house and is one of our most dedicated volunteers.

Over the next decade St. Jerome’s Housing Corporation would go through several changes but never stopped redeveloping property.  The organization is responsible for the rehabilitation of properties on Scott, Hamburg, Mangold, Wyeth, West Cross and Barre Streets to name just a few areas, but the organization was going through the natural growing pains of an emerging non-profit.  This eventually led to the relocation from the attic to our current home on Scott Street, but it also meant developing a more separate identity.  St. Jerome’s Housing Corporation officially changed its name to Tri-Churches Housing, Inc. in 1994.

While we were exploring the relocation of the agency, simultaneously the leadership and volunteers of TCH implemented a new educational component for the organization.  Through partnerships with conscientious realtors & banking institutions TCH began offering Homebuyer Education Workshops.  Additionally, TCH invested in a trained Housing Counselor to provide individual counseling to prospective homeowners that needed more intensive assistance. 

As we edged toward the new millennium, TCH once again responded to the concerns and issues of the neighborhood by introducing a community organizing component to its programs.  TCH made a firm commitment that the projects that we would support through this initiative would be driven and created by residents.  After several planning sessions with a large diverse group TCH identified several key areas where residents were looking for assistance, including clean-ups, a community newsletter and youth activities.  The real launching of the community organizing was focused around helping residents organize to prevent the closing of the local library (which is still open today).

TCH celebrated the new millennium with the completion of Park South I, a seven unit, gut-rehabilitation project.  This project produced a variety of types of units.  Some were straightforward row house rehabs but we also added extensions to the rear of some units and in two cases removed the party wall to make the unit double-wide.  In each case the goal was to meet the need of the future homeowner by providing adequate space for their family.

TCH continues to be a vibrant active agency in the Washington Village/Pigtown neighborhood.  There are currently several rehab projects that are in preliminary phases, along Bayard, Carroll & Ward Street.  We continue to provide our workshops and counseling, averaging over 30 clients a month but we have again broadened the program by adding a financial fitness component.  We also began taking those classes “on the road” to other neighborhoods and agencies to ensure that any prospective homeowner has the “keys to homeownership.”  As our organizing capacity has changed over the years we continue to be a key participant in any activity whether resident or partner agency led.  Recently we assisted in the implementation of an EPA project educating residents on the importance of recycling, and we are also assisting two local schools in creating peer-to-peer tutoring programs.