Fifteen years ago, Yaphett El-Amin was a state representative who wanted to revitalize the North St. Louis neighborhoods that she represented. She saw herself as a future state senator, maybe even a congresswoman someday, making policy that would uplift her community.
She never imagined back then that she would be rolling up her sleeves and redeveloping these neighborhoods herself – no longer in the rarefied air of the state Capitol, but one block at a time as an affordable housing developer.
“I grew up in a family of builders like my father, who used his carpentry skills to rehab our little North Side bungalow and make room for me and my siblings,” said El-Amin. “So I’m thrilled to be doing this work that both takes me back to my roots and rejuvenates our community.”
El-Amin and others recently broke ground on her latest development called Finney Place, occupying the 4200 blocks of C.D. Banks, Finney, and Cook avenues in the heart of the city’s Vandeventer neighborhood.
After decades of disinvestment and decline, the neighborhood is beginning to thrive. First, from 2011-2017, McCormack Baron Salazar built 300 mixed-income rental homes in the neighborhood, helping fill development gaps and catalyzing further reinvestment. Still, some blocks remained barren or dotted with dilapidated buildings.
Hoping to continue efforts to knit the neighborhood fabric back together, El-Amin and her co-developer Matt Fulson of Kansas City-based Fulson Housing conceived Finney Place, comprising 40 new affordable three- and four-bedroom homes for families not unlike the one in which she grew up. The $9.4 million development is funded through a mix of public and private capital and made possible by the state Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, administered by the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC). After the mandatory 15-year lease compliance period, the homes will be sold to existing residents for purchase within affordable housing sale guidelines.
The groundbreaking was preceded by a series of speeches, including a tour de force from outgoing 18th Ward Alderman Terry Kennedy, dean of the Board of Aldermen’s Black Caucus. Kennedy provided a history lesson for those unfamiliar with the area, highlighting the critical role of a two-decades-old community planning effort in laying out a long-term vision that Finney Place will help realize.
In accordance with this vision, the development’s unique community house will serve as a nucleus for community enrichment activities, including block unit meetings (through the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis), financial empowerment classes (taught by Enterprise Bank), job and vocational training seminars (via SLATE and Ranken Technical College), youth activities, community beautification events, and social gatherings.
“I liken it to the Turner’s house on my block when I was growing up,” El-Amin said. “This was the house that everyone convened and gathered to address community concerns. Today we do not connect in the ways like we used to. So the community house rebuilds that connection. It will be the gathering place for block unit meetings.”
El-Amin then introduced general contractor Kevin Buchek, a young white business owner known for his staunch support of minority inclusion efforts. “If you go outside and you see that the people building these homes don’t look like this community,” he said from the stage, directing his comments at Alderman Kennedy, “then you call me immediately and I will fix it.”
A final speaker was former state Sen. Jeff Smith, now executive director of the Missouri Workforce Housing Association, which fights to protect the state LIHTC program that made Finney Place possible. Smith alluded to his hard-fought 2006 Senate campaign against none other than El-Amin herself.
“Yaphett didn’t run for office so she could have a title. She did it so she could get things done,” Smith said. “While she’s no longer in politics, Finney Place is simply a new manifestation of her passion to lift up this community, one block at a time, and I’m delighted that we’re no longer rivals but allies.”
