| The Methodist Roots of WHDC | ||
An Urban Consultation, planned by the Special Concerns Committee of the Northern Virginia United Methodist Board of Missions was held at the Arlington United Methodist Church in April, 1974. The theme that united participants was that the church should have programs to meet the human needs of people and not just build more places of worship. The Consultation sought to identify the needs of Northern Virginia residents and to develop a mission to meet those needs. Seven Task Forces were appointed: Child Care, Youth, Crime and Jails, Transportation, Alcohol and Drugs, Ageism, and Housing. The House Task Force was co-chaired by Audrey Apler of Fairfax UMC and Virginia Peters of Walker Chapel UMC. It gathered information from local governments, the Metropolitan Council of Governments, and the Northern Virginia Planning District Commission. The task force conducted field trips to Fellowship House (for senior citizens), Interfaith Housing (to be built), and Dulles Park (public housing) in Reston. It saw decrepit housing in Lincoln-Lewis-Vanoy Park (Martha Penino escorted the tour), and visited an Annandale Christian Community for Action (ACCA) renovation in Bailey's Crossroads, the Route 1 Corridor in Fairfax County, plus areas of Arlington County, Alexandria, and the District of Columbia. The Task Force reported a severe housing shortage especially for people with low income, and described several specific cases.
The Task Force concluded: "As a Christian community, it is absolutely necessary that a mission program be developed to help. The poor in our community live in substandard housing, overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. Many of their physical and social problems are a direct result of their living conditions and they are helpless to change anything." The task of the Housing Task Force was to translate the abstract "caring" into plans for constructive action by understanding background facts, housing trends, and resources. The Housing Sector of the Consultation recommended to the Methodist Church of Northern Virginia through its Northern Virginia Board of Missions the establishment of a housing development corporation that would be flexible and free to function to meet housing needs and have sufficient seed money to do business. Funding sources were: local, state, and federal government; private foundations and individual donors; donated property; and church funds. Eleven churches successfully involved in housing in the metropolitan area, were identified. One, Arlington Retirement Housing Corporation, sponsored by the Unitarian Church of Arlington, was in Northern Virginia, and was developing 210 rental units for the elderly. The Task Force also concluded: "The church can be effective in housing. The church, because it loves and cares, should involve itself in helping people by creating decent housing for low-income people. If the church is to develop a sense of compassion in community life, it must itself show compassion. Suitable housing is a basic human need. If our society is to work, we would argue it is also a basic human right. Providing suitable housing for low-income families is a very complex problem. With housing should come adequate public transportation, child care services, programs for youth and the elderly, medical facilities, and education and recreation programs. We can't solve the whole problem, but we can make a vital contribution. It starts when we unfold our hands and begin even in a small way to meet what is surely a Christian challenge." Following the Consultation, The Board of Missions, and the Arlington and Alexandria Districts of the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church considered, debated, and approved the Articles of Incorporation of Wesley Housing Development Corporation. These Articles of Incorporation were issued on December 10, 1974. |