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Garden Party
  
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By RUSTY GRAHAM
The Women’s Home in Montrose has branched out.
Neighbors from Spring Branch welcomed the future Jane Cizik Garden Place, an 88-unit affordable housing complex for women, to their community Saturday.
Several hundred people turned out on a bright, crisp fall afternoon for a festival-style event at the complex site new complex site.
Houston Mayor Bill White praised both the “perfect weather” and the people who were making the complex happen.
“I’m so proud of The Women’s Home and the neighborhoods that are supporting it,” said White.
The event was a celebration of cooperation and understanding, said Paula Paust, executive director of The Women’s Home, located in the Montrose area.
“We’re just thrilled to be here (in Spring Branch),” said Paust. “We’re so happy to have neighborhood support.”
That wasn’t always the case. Resistance to the complex was initially swift and intense.
“It took many hours convincing groups that no, (the new building) is not a treatment facility,” said Praust.
The Women’s Home operates a residential treatment facility in Montrose and has an office at 607 Westheimer Road. For more than 50 years, The Women’s Home has offered long-term rehabilitation to women in crisis through an 18-month program.
The Jane Cizik Garden Place will be affordable, permanent housing for women who meet qualifying criteria, Paust said. Residents must abide by certain rules, including no alcohol on the apartment grounds.
Spring Branch neighborhoods had seen and heard it before, or so they thought.
“We’ve just been conditioned to say ‘no’ to affordable housing out here,” said Bart Harris, president of the Spring Branch East Super Neighborhood. “When (Praust) showed up, people were just conditioned to say no.”
Harris said the area has a history of developers who get low- or no-cost loans, build housing and then disappear, leaving the properties to decline.
His and other Spring Branch neighborhood groups formalized their resistance to the projects through votes.
Harris and others were shown around The Women’s Home in Montrose and came away with vastly different opinions.
“(The Women’ Home is) well-managed and well-funded,” said Harris, who now sits on The Women’s Home board. “Everything is paid for. This land is paid for. They operate debt-free. They’re not going to flip this property in 15-20 years.”
Jo Lightsey was one of those early non-believers.
The president of the Old Spring Branch Civic Association said her group thought the apartments were going to be a halfway house, a place for recovering drug and alcohol addicts.
Her group even sued to stop the project, but learned that nothing could be done.
“So I said, ‘why don’t we help,’ said Lightsey.
“(The apartments) are going to be an asset,” she said. “(The Women’s Home) has been wonderful to us. They’re really trying to rebuild this community.”
She said she’s trying to “re-educate” what she calls “pockets of resistance” that linger.
“I tell people that these people are probably going to be better neighbors than what you have now,” she said.
The neighborhoods’ support also cleared the way for Toni Lawrence, who represents District A on the Houston City Council, to support the project. That support has allowed The Women’s Home to apply for a $2.5 million federal grant.
Community members mingled and talked with one another and The Women’s Home staff and board members over music from a live band. Children played games, bounced in a moonwalk, watched balloon animals being made, talked to a clown.
The Old Spring Branch Civic Association opened up its garage sale in one of the warehouses on the site. A group from Treasure Forest Elementary ran a concession stand.
Lightsey said The Women’s Home is letting the Old Spring Branch Civic Association use one of its warehouses on the building site for storage, mostly its garage sale items.
The Jane Cizik Garden Place recognizes The Women’s Home longtime volunteer board member Jane Cizik. A former dressmaker, Cizik first taught sewing to Home residents, then found herself raising funds for the Home’s Cottage Thrift Shop at 607 Westheimer.
Paust said The Women’s Home looked at 21 sites around Houston before settling on the Spring Branch location.
Criteria such a proximity to libraries, bus lines and shopping were considered. The Spring Branch site also faces a park and a Trasure Forest Elementary, which is a real plus, said Paust.
“It’s all about community,” she said.
Neighbors from Spring Branch welcomed the future Jane Cizik Garden Place, an 88-unit affordable housing complex for women, to their community Saturday.
Several hundred people turned out on a bright, crisp fall afternoon for a festival-style event at the complex site new complex site.
Houston Mayor Bill White praised both the “perfect weather” and the people who were making the complex happen.
“I’m so proud of The Women’s Home and the neighborhoods that are supporting it,” said White.
The event was a celebration of cooperation and understanding, said Paula Paust, executive director of The Women’s Home, located in the Montrose area.
“We’re just thrilled to be here (in Spring Branch),” said Paust. “We’re so happy to have neighborhood support.”
That wasn’t always the case. Resistance to the complex was initially swift and intense.
“It took many hours convincing groups that no, (the new building) is not a treatment facility,” said Praust.
The Women’s Home operates a residential treatment facility in Montrose and has an office at 607 Westheimer Road. For more than 50 years, The Women’s Home has offered long-term rehabilitation to women in crisis through an 18-month program.
The Jane Cizik Garden Place will be affordable, permanent housing for women who meet qualifying criteria, Paust said. Residents must abide by certain rules, including no alcohol on the apartment grounds.
Spring Branch neighborhoods had seen and heard it before, or so they thought.
“We’ve just been conditioned to say ‘no’ to affordable housing out here,” said Bart Harris, president of the Spring Branch East Super Neighborhood. “When (Praust) showed up, people were just conditioned to say no.”
Harris said the area has a history of developers who get low- or no-cost loans, build housing and then disappear, leaving the properties to decline.
His and other Spring Branch neighborhood groups formalized their resistance to the projects through votes.
Harris and others were shown around The Women’s Home in Montrose and came away with vastly different opinions.
“(The Women’ Home is) well-managed and well-funded,” said Harris, who now sits on The Women’s Home board. “Everything is paid for. This land is paid for. They operate debt-free. They’re not going to flip this property in 15-20 years.”
Jo Lightsey was one of those early non-believers.
The president of the Old Spring Branch Civic Association said her group thought the apartments were going to be a halfway house, a place for recovering drug and alcohol addicts.
Her group even sued to stop the project, but learned that nothing could be done.
“So I said, ‘why don’t we help,’ said Lightsey.
“(The apartments) are going to be an asset,” she said. “(The Women’s Home) has been wonderful to us. They’re really trying to rebuild this community.”
She said she’s trying to “re-educate” what she calls “pockets of resistance” that linger.
“I tell people that these people are probably going to be better neighbors than what you have now,” she said.
The neighborhoods’ support also cleared the way for Toni Lawrence, who represents District A on the Houston City Council, to support the project. That support has allowed The Women’s Home to apply for a $2.5 million federal grant.
Community members mingled and talked with one another and The Women’s Home staff and board members over music from a live band. Children played games, bounced in a moonwalk, watched balloon animals being made, talked to a clown.
The Old Spring Branch Civic Association opened up its garage sale in one of the warehouses on the site. A group from Treasure Forest Elementary ran a concession stand.
Lightsey said The Women’s Home is letting the Old Spring Branch Civic Association use one of its warehouses on the building site for storage, mostly its garage sale items.
The Jane Cizik Garden Place recognizes The Women’s Home longtime volunteer board member Jane Cizik. A former dressmaker, Cizik first taught sewing to Home residents, then found herself raising funds for the Home’s Cottage Thrift Shop at 607 Westheimer.
Paust said The Women’s Home looked at 21 sites around Houston before settling on the Spring Branch location.
Criteria such a proximity to libraries, bus lines and shopping were considered. The Spring Branch site also faces a park and a Trasure Forest Elementary, which is a real plus, said Paust.
“It’s all about community,” she said.
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