Love Columbia in the News
Rising rent in Columbia hits education hard, experts say
Columbia's rising rent has been hitting residents' pockets, but some experts say none are more affected than families.
"Families with children are likely going to be impacted the most because they require more bedrooms," Love Columbia program director Conrad Hake said. "Single households that are headed by a single parent are going to be impacted the greatest because they have lower earning capacity."
-Kaleb Anderson, KOMU 8, October 2, 2024
“A vast majority of the jobs in Columbia that are entry level don't meet the housing needs that people are experiencing," Hake said. "That’s had us in the process of finding how we can help people move from these survival jobs into livable wage employment." Hake said their decision to open the job fair to the city and county specifically came from trying to give back to the community.
-Trevon Bobo, KOMU 8, June 12, 2024
Anderson Homes and Love Columbia have joined forces to build affordable houses in our community! Mark Briley, president of Anderson Homes Foundation, shares how it came to be.
-Adonica Coleman, The Daily Blend w/ AC
Love Columbia received a donation of over $1 million from The Crossing, an Evangelical Presbyterian congregation located in south Columbia, to help families in need of housing. "I think I expected maybe $300,000 to $400,000," Williams said. "They had raised about $400,000 a couple years ago to help with utility assistance, so I was really expecting something in that range."
-Cameron Koffel, KOMU8, April 24, 2024
Jane Williams, Love Columbia’s co-founder and executive director, said voters must support innovative housing projects. She urged voters to elect officials who prioritize housing and vote to increase funding for affordable housing.
Williams said families with children are one of the groups that have been affected the most by a lack of affordable housing.
-Bailey Becker, Columbia Missourian, February 24, 2024
Love Columbia is kicking off the holiday season with a gift for people who are at risk of eviction.
The Home for the Holidays campaign launched on Sunday and already has more than $7,000 from the community. The Veterans United Foundation donated $50,000 to the campaign, which was then matched by QuesTec Mechanical.
-Elly Laliberte, KOMU 8, December 6, 2023
Myria Key currently works as a coordinator for downtown nonprofit Love Columbia, but she was once one of the many clients who passed through its doors.
“My experience working here is sometimes very surreal, because I’ve been on both sides of the table,” Key said.
-Evy Lewis, Columbia Missourian, December 3, 2023
Community members, nonprofit organizations, faith groups and local officials convened to address concerns in Columbia during The Source Summit on Friday.
By bringing together stakeholders of the same community issues, the conference’s goal was to generate solutions by fostering collaboration.
-Zoe Homan, Columbia Missourian, November 10, 2023
Love Columbia offers a range of financial programs in response to existing and emerging community needs that “meet people where they are,” Williams adds. She applauds Love Columbia’s clients “for having the courage to share their financial situation and seek coaching.”
-COMO Magazine
Williams said ADUs can allow housing to be expanded in neighborhoods without disrupting their flow.
"You're not building a big complex in a neighborhood that's going to change the look. You're really keeping the neighborhood essentially the way it is and just adding more capacity," Williams said.
-Jackson Valenti, KOMU, September 12, 2023
According to a press release from Love Columbia, the ARPA grant will fund the construction of a six-plex apartment building under the umbrella of Love Columbia’s Extra Mile Homes program. These homes are transitional housing for families with children experiencing homelessness.
-Mitchell Kaminski, ABC 17, July 25, 2023
Love Columbia announced Tuesday that it received a $1 million grant from American Rescue Plan Act funds (ARPA) through the Boone County Commission.
The grant will fund the construction of a six-plex apartment building under the umbrella of its Extra Mile Homes program.
-Samantha Walker, KOMU, July 25, 2023
Jane Williams, executive director of the organization, said the housing market has been consistently tightening over the last couple of years.
"We really began to see the market change in 2021," she said. "Not only are there very few rental vacancies, but the rental price has gone up, and people are being priced out of the market."
-Erik Lovelace, KOMU, June 22, 2023
Melody Parry treasured serving others and sharing their stories. “She loved everyone’s stories and felt they should be told,” said Jane Williams, executive director and co-founder of Love Columbia. The organization helps people who are struggling with basic needs or want to forge a better path forward. Until her health declined, Mrs. Parry served on its board and in other ways championed Love Columbia. “She was always just cheerleading every expansion because she cared so much about people in our community,” Williams said.
-Kevin Utz, Columbia Missourian, June 8, 2023
“We can all kind of live in our bubble if we're not in the middle of people that are being priced out and we don't know them,” Williams said. “But increasingly, employers are having trouble finding workers who can even afford to live near where they want them to work and so it's affecting everyone.”
-Kelly Dereuck, Missouri Business Alert, March 27, 2023
While the overall housing supply is up, the amount of affordable rentals in Columbia has “dramatically decreased” due to rising prices and residents upgrading their properties, said Jane Williams, executive director of Love Columbia.
-Katie Taranto, Columbia Missourian, January 27, 2023
"Even people making $17 an hour, $18 an hour are really struggling to pay rent," Williams said. "We have seen rent go up about 20% in the last year and a half, and certainly very few people's wages gave gone up 20%."
-Hannah Falcon, ABC 17, January 2, 2023
Jane Williams tells us about Love Columbia's efforts to stave off homelessness by "trying to do more things that will promote and entice more building" of affordable housing.
-Paul Pepper, Dec 19, 2022
“There's lots of things we can do,” Jane Williams, the executive director with Love Columbia said. “I think there's really a will to try to seek the solutions and work together in a creative way. It's going to have to be the government, social service and private sector working together.”
-Abby Landwehr, ABC 17, Dec 18, 2022
“If people lose their housing, it’s going to be very difficult to get a job,” Hake said. “It’s going to be harder to figure out how to get to work tomorrow morning or to find a job that starts next week because they are only focused on meeting the immediate needs right in front of them.”
-Claudia Rivera, Columbia Missourian, October 18, 2022
Jane Williams, Executive Director of Love Columbia, gave a speech on “Cultivating Hope to Impact Community” for MU School of Social Work’s 100th Anniversary.
Conrad Hake, programs director for Love Columbia, said that finding landlords who accept vouchers in the 60-day time frame can be difficult.
“We’ve talked with quite a few people that have had a voucher and they’ve lost it,” Hake said. “Those are people who’ve been actively looking and people that we’ve been trying to assist.”
-Evy Lewis, Columbia Missourian, September 23, 2022
Jane Williams, Executive Director of Love Columbia, on the network of community partners who help those who are struggling each and every day with any number of needs.
-Paul Pepper, July 11, 2022
[Dan] Atwill has been on the Commerce Bank Advisory Board for 22 years… His friend Jack Jones, said, “I think Dan’s next charge will be Love Columbia. He took me there with him for his introduction and to connect more with the community. They have noble beliefs in helping people move up seamlessly and with stability.”
-Cameron Payne, Columbia Missourian, July 3, 2022
The Functional Zero Task Force, a coalition of many organizations focused on ending homelessness in Boone County, has changed its name, according to a Tuesday news release. It will officially go by the Boone County Coalition to End Homelessness.
-Sydni Miller, KOMU, May 31, 2022
A new program announced Tuesday hopes to incentivize landlords to accept more housing vouchers from renters. “What we’ve identified is that there isn’t an inherent risk in taking a tenant with a voucher,” Hake said. “It’s more of a stigma than it is reality.”
-Maddie Orr, Columbia Missourian, May 31, 2022
When [Pat] Fowler sees a home that is either vacant or being advertised as for rent, she will take a picture of it and make a note of the address and any noticeable issues of the home. Fowler sends this information to Love Columbia, and from there the organization handles the details. She calls herself the “bird dog” within this operation.
-Brooke Muckerman, Columbia Missourian, May 25, 2022
A crowd of about 100 gathered Thursday night to brainstorm what they hope to see from homeless services contracted by the city. Jane Williams, Love Columbia executive director, suggested a homeless shelter should have at least 25 units for families. The member organization has placed about 20 families at a time in hotels since the start of the pandemic, she said.
- Hope Davis, Columbia Missourian, April 29, 2022
A public hearing was held to receive citizen input on identifying housing and community development needs within the Columbia community Wednesday night. "We need increased capacity for our homeless shelters," Conrad Hake, Love Columbia Program Manager, said. "But we know that a shelter is no place for someone to stay. We need additional transitional housing. Love Columbia alone consistently has been placing up to 20 households a week in hotels, because family shelters are just not available."
- Jayden Jagtiani, KOMU, April 20, 2022
“They may well be Columbia’s leading connector between those in need and all kinds of services to help them. Jane runs the show, always with a smile. If we could only recognize one superstar of poverty services, we would stop right now.”
- Major Curtiss Hartley, Columbia Daily Tribune, April 17, 2022
“Jane Williams, executive director of Love Columbia, said there are typically about half the number of properties available as there are people with vouchers seeking leases — and Love Columbia gets over 50 new calls for housing help each week. Cole also said fewer landlords are accepting Section Eight vouchers because vouchers require rent limits.”
- Claudia Levens, Columbia Missourian, April 7, 2022
“After 16 years of service at MU, Gary Ward has quietly retired as the vice chancellor of operations…Jane Williams, the co-founder and executive director of Love Columbia, confirmed Friday that Ward has taken on the role of executive director of operations as of April 1.”
- Alex Naughton, Columbia Missourian, April 9, 2022
“Love Columbia is looking to buyout The Love Seat building after receiving $250,000 in Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) tax credits. The organization was one of 66 nonprofits that received part of $12.6 million, which the Missouri Department of Economic Development awarded for community development projects.”
- Connor Dietrich, KOMU 8, November 17, 2021
"We’ve really noticed that the availability of affordable housing has been very limited," Program Manager Conrad Hake said. "Up until this point, we’ve been in an affordable housing crisis.”
- Meghan Drakas, ABC 17, November 15, 2021
“Love Columbia Director Jane Williams said her agency has had difficulty helping people find rental units that they could afford, that would take vouchers or could support the size of their families…
She brought up the need for aid groups to work together to meet the scale of the problem.”
-Hope Davis, Columbia Missourian, November 3, 2021
“There are other sources for broadband and stormwater projects,” she [Jane Williams] said, referring to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the U.S. Senate in August. “What’s on my mind is finding ways to build pathways to permanent housing for our unhoused populations.”
-Claudia Levens, Columbia Missourian, September 7, 2021
"Within 24 hours, my life turned around," Anderson said.
She was placed in the program, and her family moved into one of the seven transitional houses. Due to Columbia’s housing crisis and difficulty finding a rental unit to move into, Love Columbia allowed her to pay rent on her Extra Mile house.
-Roger McKinney, Columbia Daily Tribune, September 4, 2021
Although she was working, most of Shannon Anderson’s paychecks went toward hotel room costs and food…“I just felt like I was spinning in a circle with no way out,” she says. Then, a friend recommended she try something called the Extra Mile financial coaching program, offered by the poverty relief resource center Love Columbia.
-Nikol Slatinska, VOX, June 24, 2021
The city of Columbia allocated $200,000 from the city reserves to Love Columbia on Monday night at the City Council meeting. According to a council memo, the funds allowed Love Columbia to purchase a property that will provide transitional housing for families with children experiencing homelessness.
-Hannah Barczykowski, The Missourian, June 22, 2021
If you're not overly confident in your ability to create and/or adhere to a weekly budget, Love Columbia is here to help! Jane Williams tells us how their financial coaching program works, who they serve and what the qualifications are if you'd like to volunteer as a coach.
-Paul Pepper, May 27, 2021
“So far this year we’ve had 996 calls for assistance, 561 of those are related to some kind of housing need,” Williams said. “I can’t imagine today, the relief on so many people’s minds and hearts just knowing that their lights are going to stay on.”
-Jane Williams, KOMU article in response to the Crossing Church raising more than $670,000 for utility debt relief. April 19, 2021.
“Newly-christened Love Columbia executive director Jane Williams is here to talk about the name change and how this 13-year-old local non-profit stepped up to help those in our community when the pandemic first hit.”
-Paul Pepper, March 31, 2021
“The organization directly served 289 homeless families in 2020 compared with 124 in the previous year, Williams said. Additionally, it provided rent assistance for 208 families or individuals, up from 100 in 2019, and offered 2,122 coaching sessions, compared with 1,340 in 2019, to help homeless people find housing”
-David Webber, The Missourian, March 2021
“It gives me an opportunity to keep income flowing, to take care of [my kids], you know, to make sure they get to things that are important like doctors’ appointments.”
-Tarita Williams after receiving a gifted car, KOMU Article, Feb 2021
“I'm just grateful there's people like them out there that will help people. They come to the rescue when you really need to be rescued. You're fighting for what you need, but you just can't get it and they'll come to the rescue and help.”
-Scot Doolin, KOMU Article, Jan 2021
“They truly care about individuals and improving our community through the work that they do. They are able to provide so many different things. ... It's a masterful thing to watch.”
-Erik Morse, Veterans United Foundation Board President, Columbia Tribune Article, Nov 2020