Project Raise The Roof

12/21/2019

Project Raise The Roof will give the gift of Home to one St. Louis City family–by paying $250 toward their real estate taxes! Thanks to an anonymous Secret Santa, “Mr. J”, for making this possible.

If you or someone you know are behind on your taxes and your home is at risk of being auctioned by St. Louis City in 2020, please send us an email to be considered for this gift. [email protected]

Our awardee will be notified on or before December 28, 2019.

Please include in your email:
1. Who lives in your home? (Please include your own name. Names of other occupants are not required.)
2. Describe your situation. How did you fall behind, and what does your home mean to you? (You may include senior citizen, veteran, or disability if applicable.)
3. Include the address of property, total tax amount owed, and the amount you are able to pay yourself, if any.

Rules/Requirements:
- Property must be located in North St. Louis City MO, with taxes currently 2-3 years (or more) delinquent. (Properties located in St. Louis County or other municipalities are NOT eligible and will not be considered.)
- You or your family must live in your property (no landlords). Must be willing to show proof of identity to our outreach team and accompany us to City Hall to make a payment toward your taxes. (If you are not physically able to attend, we understand. Please let us know.)
- This is NOT a cash prize. Check will be written directly to the St. Louis City Collector Of Revenue, on your behalf, with your address in the memo line, and you will receive a receipt of payment made.
- If you do not have access to internet or email, please text or call us with your name and address to schedule a brief phone interview. 314.467.0127

09/22/2019

Sadly, this happens to at least a dozen veterans (and 2-3 dozen more families) each year in St. Louis City, for a fraction of the $6,000 tax bill this veteran owed. We need to do better everywhere, but especially here.

An elderly veteran who has owned his home since the 1930's was evicted and thrown out on the street by government because he couldn't afford his property taxes.

09/25/2018

Ritenour HS students in GIC (Geometry in Construction) course will be auctioning off their tiny house. All funding earned will go back to the program to continue more construction.

09/02/2018

Mr. S began rehabbing houses out of absolute necessity when his parents' Wells/Goodfellow, St. Louis home was all but destroyed by the tornado that swept the St. Louis area in 2011.

Last week, Project Raise The Roof set out to give away a house in the O'Fallon, St. Louis Neighborhood, destined for the Sheriff's tax auction. By the morning of the auction, we still had no takers. The Sheriff called the parcel number, but no one placed a bid. Parcels that receive no bids by the final auction day become property of the City's Land Reutilization Authority (LRA), and are then most often boarded up, left vacant, and forgotten.

Fortunately, on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. S stepped up to pay the back taxes of $1,500 to remove the house from the auction list. PRTR met him at City Hall, handed him the key, and signed over the deed.

Using the skills he picked up by restoring his parents' home, Mr. S has since transformed three other decaying buildings into functional homes for 3 of his 4 children. This will be his fourth, and PRTR is honored to play a small role in helping Mr. S build generational wealth for his family.

Congratulations, Mr. S! And thank you for keeping one more City property online. We look forward to following your progress.

08/19/2018

Project Raise The Roof is giving away this house on the 41XX block of Turner Avenue, 63115.

The person who was purchasing it from us on a finance plan disappeared two years ago and stopped making payments, leaving it in very rough condition with taxes unpaid. We have tried repeatedly to locate them, but we’re down to the last minute and still have had no luck.

Unfortunately, the property currently owes $1,357 in back taxes and will be auctioned at the Civil Courts Building, 4th Floor at 9:00am on August 28, 2018 for the starting bid of ~$1,500, plus Sheriff’s fees and court confirmation costs.

We hope this house finds a new owner to call it home. If you would like more information on the auction process, or if you’d like to take ownership of this property prior to the auction, please send us a Facebook message, text us at 314.467.0127, or email [email protected].

***Please note: We are giving this property away, but you will need to pay property taxes in full, directly to the Collector Of Revenue, prior to the auction date. We can guide you through this process at the time we issue your deed, but no financial assistance is available.

08/09/2018

The city’s property-information website is a great place to start—but uncovering the rest of the picture can require a bit more digging.

11/24/2017

We apologize for the timing, but the has concluded. Thanks to everyone who came out! Keep an eye on our page and be on the lookout for the next one.

11/14/2017

One year ago, Ma'De Life created 's official t-shirts. Project Raise The Roof is proud to continue to support Sam and Manik in their local business to promote northside economic growth. We're happy to have played a part in saving their property from the LRA.
Please consider supporting Ma'De Life Clothing as they expand their presence and inspiration into our community.
https://www.gofundme.com/made-life-community-outreach

08/30/2017

Project Raise The Roof Summer 2017 Recap:
• prevented 6 homeowners' houses from going to auction so that they may transfer their family assets to future generations
• assisted a family in buying the problem property next door to stabilize and build up their block
• helped 2 families become homeowners
• educated over 1 dozen people on the 2018 tax auction list about the process and how to avoid it before next year

We'd like to extend a huge, heartfelt thank you to our donors and supporters who made all of the above possible. We look forward to continuing to support our community throughout the winter and spring.

08/26/2017

Last summer, Project Raise The Roof visited a vacant house in The Ville, St. Louis. Inscriptions of dates and family member names lined the porch and walk of this once-bustling beloved family home. Based on nothing but a loose lead from a neighbor that the son of the home's former owners was still around, PRTR went to auction on the last day and won the house for minimum bid. Then came the task of searching for the rightful heirs. We found Mr. Stone and his family renting a home elsewhere in the North City, still coming to grips with the cold reality that their family home would soon become yet another neglected LRA-owned property they would never be able to pass on to their children. Boy, were they in for a surprise...

PRTR met with Mr. and Mrs. Stone to let them know we had kept the property from going to the LRA and did an emergency repair to stabilize it. At first, the Stones thought it was just too good to be true. "What a blessing," they told us. But it still needs a lot of work before they can move in to restore it to its former beauty.

Of this property, Mrs. Stone wrote:

"When I think of the house on Maffitt, I think of family, stability, togetherness. For as long as I can remember, this house has been filled with generations of memories. (I could go on with so many stories!) Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, and children–all filled with laughter, love, and hope. My husband was 5 years old when he moved into this house where he grew up. What an exciting moment for a young, up-and-coming African American family in the city!

"My mother-in-law was always bustling around the kitchen cooking up something for a get-together. My husband was very close to his mom and would love nothing more than to continue her legacy. Being able to reclaim this home, to keep it in our family, would be a meaningful step toward preserving her memory. And it would mean having a place for our children, 16 and 5, to call home for generations into the future. As for me, I didn't have that stability growing up. Maybe that's why I fight so hard for my children to enjoy the basic things I lacked.

"At one point in time, The Ville was filled with families, with a true community who looked out for one another; it was a place where young men and women grew up, bought homes, and had children of their own. Today, the neighborhood is filled with dilapidated buildings. For us to be able to own and fix up our family home would mean happiness for not only our family, but hope for other St. Louis families and their future generations."

PRTR currently seeks to raise ~$2000 for legal expenses to transfer the deed and to give this family a boost for basic repairs. Please see the article (link below and in the comments) on how you can donate a few dollars to help the Stones hold on to their memories, build wealth across generations, and become the community leaders who begin restoring a neighborhood for the people who built it up to begin with.
http://projectraisetheroof.org/2017/08/the-stone-family-gets-a-summer-surprise/