On May 30 Cinnaire Solutions purchased Tree Lane and Rethke Terrace, two troubled Madison properties in receivership from Heartland Housing, which closed down a year ago. On Friday, team members from our Madison office and WHEDA demonstrated their commitment to supporting the communities and the residents by rolling up their sleeves and getting to work removing debris, landscaping and planting flowers, and some doing general repairs. Several of the remaining residents told us how much the appreciation they felt - they’d never seen ownership representation before then.

As we move forward, our true impact will be measured not just by our actions but the tangible results and service we provide the residents. The City of Madison, Dane County and WHEDA partnered with Cinnaire Solutions to facilitate the acquisition of the properties with just under two months of due diligence to preserve their long-term affordability and to ensure units would be reserved for individuals who had experienced homelessness. Our guiding light continues to be serving these residents who have suffered greatly with respect, love, and dignity. Whenever we faced tough decisions, we let purpose dictate our path forward.

They chose Cinnaire Solutions - in fact reached out to them to get involved not because of any deep experience in supportive housing - but because of its Cinnaire’s commitment to the community. Chris Jillings is active in supporting Downtown Madison, Nicole Solheim serves on plan commission, Christina Alvarez serves on Madison Reading Project’s board, and I’m active in ACRE (which has a Madison cohort), and serve on several boards. Policy makers know that Cinnaire cares. Through the closing process we demonstrated the virtues of listening, empathy, appreciation, and stewardship. We wanted to be the group that others wanted to work with.  You can learn more about the communities by clicking here.

Much gratitude to Alex Koerner, who cut his teeth on his first closing at Cinnaire, Nicole Solheim, who supported the efforts of getting insurance on the property, Christina Alvarez for coordinating the multitude documents that needed signatures, and Ryan Brand for running countless sets of numbers. These colleagues didn’t sit back and wait for direction, they leaned in to make purpose happen. I’m grateful to support these leaders and look forward to more meaningful acts of service in our bright future.