2024-2025 Research to Action Summary
On May 5, 2025, Congregations Acting for Justice and Empowerment (CAJE) held its annual Nehemiah Action in the auditorium of Benjamin Bosse High School in Evansville. The event culminated CAJE’s research-to-action process that began in the late summer of 2024. This post describes that process and its outcome.
Listening
During August, September, and October of 2024, team leaders within CAJE’s 26 member congregations conducted 50 listening sessions with approximately 425 participants. People shared their anxieties, fears, and anger about perceived injustices locally that affect them, their family members, friends and neighbors. Based on the stories heard in these meetings, CAJE congregations gathered on November 11 in a community problems assembly where they affirmed that Evansville’s affordable housing crisis would be the sole focus for research, problem-solving, and building “people power” in 2025.
Research Findings
From December through March, CAJE’s research committee examined the housing crisis via interviews with builders, developers, and city officials. The committee studied publicly available data and analyses from Evansville’s Housing Authority and the United Way ALICE Report. The findings reinforced what CAJE’s years of work on the issue had long ago revealed: Evansville’s housing crisis is worsening with no end in sight.
As identified in previous years, Evansville’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund is key to reversing the crisis with loans and grants that enable construction and repairs. CAJE contends that when the city establishes a permanent revenue source for substantial annual funding to the AHTF, it will become a dynamic driver for reversing the affordable housing crisis. Currently, the fund functions as a modest repository for piecemeal project funding that falls woefully short of what is needed.
Money for the AHTF comes primarily from revenue the city receives from casino operations. In 2025, the casino paid Evansville approximately $15.5 million, of which $750K went into the AHTF. In a discussion with city councilor Zach Heronemus, CAJE researchers learned that in 1996, as city leaders debated how casino revenue should be used, they crafted a resolution for guidance. Heronemus also indicated that a revised resolution could play an important role in addressing the affordable housing crisis.
The text of the 1996 resolution is as follows:
WHEREAS, the Common Council of the City of Evansville, Indiana recognizes that a riverboat has been operational on the Ohio River since Decetnber 1995, and operations are expected to continue through 1996 and subsequent years, and
WHEREAS, the City of Evansville, Indiana is projected to receive approximately $8 million during the twelve months of 1996 in admission and waging taxes and land lease revenues, and
WHEREAS, it is the intent of the Common Council of the City of Evansville to set direction on how these revenues are to be appropriated.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Common Council of Evansville, Indiana, as follows:
SECTION 1. APPROPRIATION DIRECTION
The Common Council intends to appropriate riverboat tax and land lease receipts for special and/or one-time projects, including but not limited to, capital in1provements and equipment purchases, storm drainage and street repair projects, economic development, economic revitalization, community development, disaster or emergency situations, establishing a trust fund to benefit future generations, or bond repayments. In no event shall these revenues be used for operations.
SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE
This Resolution shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage by the Common Council and signing by the Mayor.
Filed May 20, 1996
Roberta Matlock, City Clerk
In April, the housing committee recommended to the CAJE Board (representatives from CAJE's member congregations) that CAJE ask city leaders to revisit the 1996 resolution and establish a percentage for annual infusions to the AHTF. There was cause for optimism that officials would embrace such a response, given the many public expressions by the mayor and councilors alike that housing is a priority. CAJE provided the questions to city councilors and the mayor in advance so they could prepare to answer thoughtfully and negotiate a solution.
At the Nehemiah Action
On May 5, 839 people in CAJE’s network came to Bosse High School Auditorium and stood in solidarity on behalf of the thousands of people in Evansville struggling under the weight of housing costs. Mayor Terry and Councilors Zach Heronemus (Ward 3) and Mary Allen (At Large) attended on behalf of the city. Seven councilors were absent.
CAJE leaders presented the facts of the crisis and posed these questions to Councilors Heronemus and Allen:
Will you write a resolution amending the original 1996 resolution such that it dedicates 35 percent of casino revenue annually to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund?
Will you write a resolution amending the original 1996 resolution such that it dedicates 28 percent of casino revenue annually to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund?
Will you write a resolution amending the original 1996 resolution such that it dedicates 25 percent of casino revenue annually to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund?
Coucilors Heronemus and Allen each answered “no” to these questions and spoke for two minutes in defense of their refusals. In his remarks, Heronemus indicated he was willing to revisit the resolution at some point in the future.
CAJE leaders next invited Mayor Terry forward and asked:
“If a revised resolution for the use of casino revenue directs annual funding to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, will you sign off on that resolution and honor it in your budgeting?”
The mayor did not seem to understand the question, so it was repeated. The mayor’s response was inconclusive. CAJE then asked:
“Mayor Terry, you’ve seen and heard the compelling data that shows just how critical the need for housing is in our city. You’ve heard the stories. Our people are hurting. You, more than any other individual in our community, have the power to do something about it. Will you make affordable housing the top priority and dedicate $10 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in 2026?”
The mayor said no, and CAJE asked:
“Will you dedicate $5 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in 2026?”
The mayor said no, and CAJE asked:
“Will you dedicate $2 million?”
Again, the mayor refused. She then spoke for two minutes, reading from a typed statement, a copy of which her office provided to CAJE, reprinted here:
“Good evening, and thank you for the invitation to be with you tonight — and more importantly, thank you for the work you do every day to lift up justice and empower the residents of Evansville.
“CAJE has asked tonight for a big commitment: to allocate 35% of our casino revenues — which would come to about $4.75 million — to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. I want to start by saying: I share your commitment to affordable housing. That’s why this year’s budget included the largest-ever investment in the Trust Fund — $1 million — and it’s why we continue to support housing developments, blight removal, and neighborhood revitalization all across out city.
“But I also have to be honest with you: right now, I cannot responsibly commit to allocating nearly five times that amount. Doing so, especially in light of revenue losses from Senate Bill 1, would mean significant cuts to other vital services that our residents depend on every day — services like public safety, park maintenance, and essential infrastructure.
“That doesn’t mean we aren’t committed. It means we’re being careful — and balanced — as we move forward. I will continie to grow the Affordable Housing Trust Fund as resources allow — in fact, I hope to be able to increase it again in the 2026 budget. I will continue to fight for safe, stable housing in every neighborhood. And I will continue to work alongside partners like CAJE to make progress, step by step, toward the community we all believe in.
“Thank you for keeping this work front and center — and for reminding all of us what it looks like to lead with purpose.”
When Mayor Terry finished speaking, Spokesperson Rev. Alice Burris, Mt. Olive Galilee Baptist Church, summarized the outcome:
“We are thankful these officials came here tonight and faced some hard truths. We had hoped their answers to our questions would be consistent with their espoused priorities for affordable housing. Sadly, they were not. It is disappointing. The house is on fire, and instead of an all-out response, we get a little bucket and prayers for rain.
“If there is a silver lining, it is this: we know that God hears the cry of the poor. Our congregations will answer those cries and continue their works of mercy—to clothe, feed, and care for our neighbors in need. Meanwhile, their struggle to afford housing will only grow more difficult, more painful… and more shameful to a community that has the resources but lacks the will to address this crisis with the urgency it deserves.”
What Next?
In the aftermath of officials’ refusals to take Evansville’s affordable housing crisis more seriously, CAJE remains hopeful of progress on the issue. Perhaps the biggest disappointment lies not in the answers heard on stage, but in the fact that seven elected leaders declined to attend the event.
CAJE Founding Member Kimron Reising, Bethlehem UCC, offers a good expression of how CAJE can view this moment and recommit its efforts to justice. In an email to CAJE leaders on the morning after the Action, Kimron wrote:
“Dear CAJE Leaders,
Thank you for all of the work and commitment that brought us together for the Nehemiah Action.
It was well organized, and well executed, and well attended (with the exception of our elected officials). I want to remind you this morning, that Jesus and his Way of Good News for the poor, the Way of Justice was often rejected. The work of Justice is hard, because it speaks the truth of Love, to the power of scarcity and fear. Much of our current culture and our political system is grounded in scarcity and fear, this is the truth that is being revealed in ever widening circles.
I feel gratitude and compassion for Mayor Terry and council persons Zach Heronemus and Mary Allen for respecting CAJE enough to show up last night. I believe that they are good, faithful people who are serving in a political system that needs to be reformed. Their decision to say no to our proposals were grounded in the fear and scarcity that characterizes the current political system in which they serve.
CAJE can be an important catalyst in reforming this system, the system by which we determine the social and economic rules by which we will live together in community, and how public resources will be used for the benefit of all God’s children.
CAJE is an organization that has brought together 27 faith congregations to work together for Justice, organized on democratic principles and guided by God’s unconditional love for all people. We must persevere, our witness to a new way of shaping community life is more important than we can imagine.
Take comfort in the love and commitment expressed by all who showed up last night, and throughout the past year.
Take hope in knowing that we continue serve God’s Love, as an expression of our Faith.
Take courage in knowing that God will continue to guide us, and that the moral arc of the universe does indeed bend towards Justice.
Grace & Peace to you, my friends.”