Welcoming landlords open doors for ‘Contributor’ vendors

BY HANNAH HERNER

For each of the 22 people The Contributor housed this winter, getting these folks into permanent homes required a willing landlord. Two of those landlords were Shabana Ali and Waddell Wright.

The Contributor was one of 13 area nonprofits that received a piece of the $7.8 million federal Emergency Solutions grant dollars (part of the CARES Act) in December. The goal of these 13 nonprofits was to house 400 total individuals experiencing homelessness in Nashville. Rapid Rehousing can be used to provide rental assistance and other supportive services for three to 24 months.

Shabana Ali

In The Contributor’s case, those dollars will be paying rent on a sliding scale for up to a year as well as providing case management support. The aim of this initiative is to provide holistic support such that Contributor vendors experiencing homelessness or housing precarity can sustain housing on their own by the end of the year.

Ali is the owner of Rodeway Inn in South Nashville, where she hosts some Contributor vendors. It was her first time participating in any kind of homeless service, but it had been on her mind for years, when she regularly passed people who were panhandling blocks away from her office.

“When they first reached out to me to talk about this project, I was a little skeptical,” says Ali. “You know, I wanted to help, but I also wanted to make sure it was the right decision.”

She was surprised to learn that the number of homeless people is in the thousands in Nashville, so the 400 housed by this city-wide program is just a portion of those in need of shelter.

“It was really heartbreaking for me then to hear there are so many homeless people out there that need at least a roof on their head with the weather,” she says. “You know, I never was so much into thinking about this. Honestly, I never, ever even had the plans to do it like this. But this came in my hand and I felt like God put this in my hand. I feel lucky that I got this opportunity.”

Ali has owned the Rodeway for 12 years now, though it’s operated under a couple of names, and she used to manage it remotely from Alabama. In 2016 she made Nashville her home. She learned to run a business from her father and she hopes to leave a legacy for her own children. She hopes not only that they learn how to run a successful business, but to help others when they get the chance.

“I feel like, when you leave this earth, it’s not just about how much money you made,” she says. “It’s also about the impact you can make in somebody’s life.”

Wright, on the other hand, is no stranger to working on affordable housing. He founded Stone Street Housing Foundation in 2017, a nonprofit that buys, renovates and provides affordable housing units. Wright lives by the motto “to whom much is given, much is required.” He’s had a successful career in real estate, working on huge projects with companies like Walgreens and Dollar General, and $30 million apartment complexes. He’s currently housing one of The Contributor’s families.

“I’ve always been an advocate for low to moderate income housing. With 25 years as a developer, I’ve kind of stayed on that end of the spectrum,” Wright says. “I like helping people transition and I don’t want to be the next San Francisco either. So instead of stepping over people, if I can open up doors for them, that feels a lot better.”

For the people Wright is housing, this may be the first time they’ve had a lease. He says it’s part of his job to make sure they understand their rights, as well as the landlord’s rights.

“A lot of it is educating them,” he says. “One of the reasons I like this program is that it takes people who are vulnerable, and gives them an opportunity to find their place. They get help from the landlord, because my role with this is kind of like a mentorship as well.”

Wright knows that welcoming people transitioning out of homelessness to their properties is a hard sell for many landlords, and the pushback from those touting “not in my backyard” is real.

“There’s all these myths that affordable housing, low income people, the value is going to go down, my neighborhood is going to become unsafe. You know, I don’t buy that stuff. I just work with people as individuals, I’m very straightforward and simple,” Wright says. “The perception is all wrong. And what people have to realize is they don’t own their neighborhood, they own their property.”

Ali says she hasn’t thought past the year of Rapid Rehousing dollars, but is open to hosting more people transitioning out of homelessness. Wright told The Contributor that he’d start with one tenant, and do 100 more if it went well enough.

The reality is, this program and the money that goes with it isn’t meant to be permanent. It’ll take landlords willing to work with people with poor credit, or poor rental history, or who may have a criminal record — some willing to give someone a fighting chance to get back on their feet.

“As a developer out there who’s clearly made enough money to take care of their families and get back to the community — This is a huge way to help somebody, you know, and I would say, absolutely, they should do it,” Wright says.

Interested landlords should contact cathy@thecontributor.org.