Pastor Provides Housing | Reducing Homelessness in Houston TX Ep. 1 | Dr. Rudy Rasmus

Need an intro and overview on the affordable housing programs we use today? https://bit.ly/ahintrocourse 👈 Check out my course--Intro to Affordable Housing. This course has been developed from many presentations I’ve given to people at every level of the Affordable Housing industry—people who want to better understand the basics. — Are you tired of only hearing about the problems in housing and never the solutions? Do you wish you could sit down and learn from people who have successfully created affordable housing and helped people experiencing homelessness? Do you ever think, “Yes, there’s a housing crisis—I KNOW—but what can we actually DO to solve it?” You’re in the right place. Here at Affordable Houser we’re interviewing people who have helped their cities and communities make great strides in developing affordable housing and alleviating homelessness. These are people using good data to make intelligent decisions to help people. They work with their hearts truly turned to the people they’ve served. Dr. Rudy Rasmus is Pastor Emeritus, Author, Founder/Exec Director of Bread of Life Inc. You are going to love him. He is one of my favorite people. He loves through action. He has been working with people experiencing homelessness since the 90's and has played a key role in the success we've seen in reducing homelessness in Houston. Check out Rudy's work here: Bread of Life, Inc. https://www.breadoflifeinc.org/ Rudy's Website: https://www.rudyrasmus.com/ Instagram:   / rudyrasmus   In this episode we’ll talk a little about his personal housing story—where he grew up and how his housing impacted his life. We’ll then cover how he started serving people experiencing homelessness and the work he’s done and continues today. This episode will be the first in my series where I interview people who played key roles as part of a team who helped decrease chronic homelessness in Houston by over 70% in a span of 3 years. I hope in these interviews you'll learn some best practices that could help your community and others across the country. While I am an attorney, none of the information in this podcast is legal advice. This podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Time Stamps: 0:00 Episode preview 0:45 Intro - More about me, Neal Rackleff, and why I’m doing this podcast. 3:44 Interview with Rudy starts. 5:40 What is Rudy’s Housing Story? 6:50 Where Rudy grew up in Houston. 8:40 Rudy’s family rental properties. 11:03 Rudy’s early childhood education and community. 12:07 One moment that changed Rudy’s life. 14:06 Rudy moves from Houston to Dallas. 15:36 Early days of desegregation and middle school. 18:36 Rudy describes meeting Joe Kirven. 20:43 Importance of self reliance. 23:18 Nobody makes it alone. 23:25 Rudy describes meeting Jack Blanton. 25:56 Where Rudy received land for Knowles-Temenos Place. 26:06 Rudy starts a church in Houston in 1992. 26:52 How did Rudy start serving people experiencing homelessness? 27:33 The church should be doing more. 29:02 St. John’s Downtown in early 90’s. 30:10 The social determinants of health. 31:39 Trajectory towards solving problems. 32:25 Veterans experiencing homelessness. 34:03 15,000 in Houston experiencing homelessness every night at this time. 34:29 Houston was first major city to “effectively” eliminate veteran’s homelessness—defined. 35:13 Housing First —Rudy was pioneering this effort. 37:21 Talking to Democrats vs Republicans about homelessness. 37:38 It costs less to house people than leave them unhoused. 38:36 What lessons can we learn from Rudy’s experience? 39:40 We need to address mental illness. 42:19 Neal took Ben Carson to Los Angeles. 44:44 Rudy has seen a lot of success stories through caring about people. 45:20 Rudy introduces Bread of Life. 47:46 Bread of Life served 240,000 people in 2023. 48:47 Focus on people and ignore the noise. 49:43 “Nothing beats failing like trying.” -Rudy’s dad 50:50 "Don’t be afraid, and be nice." -Rudy's dad 53:48 Knowles-Rowland House 55:00 Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth from proceeds of “No, No, No” by Destiny’s Child. 57:34 Rudy’s books - “I’m Black. I'm Christian. I'm Methodist.” and “Love. Period.” — Subscribe to the channel here:    / @affordablehouser   — Sign up for our email list: https://bit.ly/affordablehouseremail — Follow along here: Instagram:   / affordablehouser   TikTok:   / affordablehouser   LinkedIn:   / nealrackleff   Website: http://affordablehouser.com