Mar 29, 2018 2 min read

Gregg Anders is a Charleroi minister who cares deeply about sheltering his congregation. So deeply, that he has organized a new nonprofit organization that strives to provide home ownership for members of his CityReach Church under a program that offers them affordable housing.

“I want to see more people own their homes,” says Anders, 44.

Anders is focusing his attention on giving new life to Charleroi houses in a borough where many landlords live out of state and let their properties go. “We want to localize just in Charleroi. I’ve seen rentals here that are disasters,” he says.

His goal is to get a family into a house that will cost them $30,000 with monthly payments that are cheaper than traditional mortgages, and will lead to home ownership in five years under his nonprofit, The Home Growth Project.

One of the families is paying $450 a month for their residence, $250 less than what they were paying at a previous rental. “We hope to do five a year,” Anders says.

One member of his congregation, Dawn Swafford, and her family have moved into a 2 1/2-story brick house on Washington Avenue that was purchased for $16,000 out of foreclosure. “I think it’s amazing,” she says, referring to the nonprofit that helped to get her there.

Anders says he wants his organization to do more than provide people with homes, such as offering classes on parenting, maintaining budgets and resume writing. And he works on these initiatives with his wife, Joyce, who is also a pastor at CityReach Church. They have three children.

The church also participates in an annual Day of Hope in Charleroi Trustees Park, where people receive free food, haircuts, clothing and family photographs. It’s an effort of nine churches and Mon Valley Hospital, and takes place on the third Saturday in September.

CityReach is located in a former Roman Catholic church at 1006 Fallowfield Ave. For more information, visit charleroi.cityreachchurch.org.