Kevin Kelly/Key photo Kansas City Council members Terry Riley and Becky Nace apply a symbolic piece to a housing puzzle at St. Therese Little Flower Church March 30.

That afternoon, said Council members Terry Riley and Becky Nace, the Kansas City Council passed a resolution that was needed to trigger state action toward funds to repair older homes for elderly and low-income residents of the Blue Hills neighborhood surrounding the parish.

Riley said there is a chance that the Missouri General Assembly will approve the funds this year, and, if not, a much better chance next year.

"If we don't get it this year," he said, "it's going to be on their minds next year. We'll take a busload of people down there to tell them how important this is to the community."

At a parish Church Community Organization meeting that attracted about 100 people, the parish celebrated a partnership among residents, the neighborhood homes association, city government, and key business leaders and development organizations to expand and extend a pilot project that many of the residents called a miracle.

Marie Norisse, who is homebound, sent a letter that was read at the meeting stating that the pilot "On the House" program provided her with a new roof.

Ruben Caesar said "On the House" fixed his front porch. "I called up Miss B.J. (Atkinson, parish director of emergency services) and she helped me," Caesar said.

One of Kansas City's earliest "suburbs," the Blue Hills neighborhood from 47th to 63rd streets and the Paseo to Prospect has a strong housing stock and an aging population that does not have the means to keep property in repair.

Sandra Jones told how she bought an abandoned house 18 years ago and was able to repair it because she held a good job with the federal government. Five years ago, the federal government "bought out" her job and gave her early retirement. Now on a fixed income, she can't afford to repair the porch, steps and driveway.

"There are a bunch of us like me in this neighborhood," Jones said. "We could get mortgage (equity) loans, but with the interest we'd have to pay, we'd lose our homes."

Parishioner Richard Gorell said the average value of a home in the Blue Hills neighborhood is $46,000. The median neighborhood household income is $26,000. Both figures are about half the Kansas City metropolitan area average.

Sixty percent of the homes in Blue Hills are owner-occupied, he said. Twenty percent are owned by senior adults.

A housing repair program targeting seniors and low-income homeowners would increase the value of all property within Blue Hills and invite new residents to move in, Gorell said.

"We know that for commercial and private investment to succeed, the conservation of neighborhoods is a must," Gorell said.

Parishioner Juanita Cherry said that if homes are kept up, many problems would be solved.

"This would reduce urban flight, keeping tax dollars in the city of Kansas City," she said. "Business can flourish in a populated area. Well-maintained neighborhoods help reduce social ills so that all residents benefit."

St. Joseph Sister Helen Flemington, parish administrator, said that it will take faith in God to make the vision become reality.

"The prophets were not afraid to defend the poor or to say to people that what God has in mind is far different from what people have settled for," Sister Flemington said. "We are called to help people imagine different ways of doing things, different ways of being, and not settling for what they think is inevitable."

"We are," said parishioner Fred Brown in his closing prayer, "the eyes, ears, hands and feet of God."

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