The gray November skies and chilly rain weren’t enough to dampen the spirits of a new Charleston homeowner.
Despite the weather, Deanna McKinney was full of smiles and joy as she accepted the keys to her new home on the city’s West Side. She said she has a vision for the Beatrice Street home—a two-bedroom, one-bathroom that was once on the brink of being destroyed by the city—to be a beacon of hope in an area often stigmatized by violence and poverty.
“This is a blessing for not only me, but for the community,” McKinney said, “For God to ordain this area for me to be the overseer, knowing this will be a safe haven for this community and a place where kids can come and get their joy back, I’m so grateful that God has given me this opportunity.”
The Rain
McKinney has lived on the West Side for decades. She raised her son, Tymel, in a house on Sixth Street. It was there where, on April 23, 2014, Tymel was gunned down while sitting on the front porch. He was only 18.
In the years since, McKinney has worked to raise awareness about street violence in the area, offering her home as a safe place for youth in the community who need a little help and encouragement. She also began hosting annual block parties in front of her Sixth Street home as a way to bring the community together and to honor Tymel’s memory.
McKinney even represented Ward 6 on the Charleston City Council for a term, using her platform to call attention to the problems that riddle her area.
“I lost a lot of kids in a few years,” McKinney said, referring to other instances of gun violence that affected her neighborhood. “We really need a home like this in every part of the community because we have a lot of kids, a lot of brokenness.”
McKinney eventually lost her home on Sixth Street and with it the place where she found healing and purpose after her son’s murder. Since then, she’s struggled to find a permanent home.
The Rainbow
That is, until the Charleston Land Reuse Agency and Appalachia Service Project joined forces. Over the past few years, CLRA has worked to identify and address dilapidated properties across the city. The West Side house that now belongs to McKinney was one that the agency identified as having multiple safety issues that made it uninhabitable.
“Our agency has worked tirelessly over the past couple of years,” said Chris Campbell, chairman of the Charleston Land Reuse Agency. “A lot of folks have said we’re getting a lot of property, tearing houses down, building new houses down. The reality is, a lot of the houses we are able to obtain are too far gone for us to save. This one was very, very marginal.”
Appalachia Service Project, a Tennessee-based nonprofit that receives funding through the West Virginia Housing Development Fund’s Affordable Housing Fund and other local organizations, has completed several home repair projects on Charleston’s West Side since 2018. While their work typically focuses on minor repairs completed during the summer months by teams of volunteers, the opportunity to turn the Beatrice Street house into a home was too good to pass up.
“This is the first time we have ever done something like this,” said Annalee Posey, Assistant Director of Home Repair for ASP.
More than 100 ASP volunteers spent seven weeks tearing the house down to the studs before adding new electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems and replacing walls, floors, cabinetry, and other elements to make the house livable once again.
“This was a big project, but we had so much fun doing it,” said Sam Humphrey, Kanawha County Center Director for ASP. “We started at the very beginning, bringing it down to the studs, and we built it back. We had about 100 volunteers here over seven or so weeks, and then about two weeks after that we brought in AmeriCorps and CCC volunteers, so with the help of ASP full-time staff we kept going and were able to finish this beautiful home.” Several local contractors also volunteered labor, materials, and other services.
While the home was being rebuilt, ASP worked with other local housing partners to identify a local community member who could benefit from the new home. The partners referred potential homeowners to ASP, who then had conversations with each referral before eventually selecting McKinney.
Now, McKinney hopes to open her home to the community. She kicked things off by offering food and cake to those gathered for the dedication ceremony, and she promised her service to the area wouldn’t stop any time soon.
“This isn’t my house,” she said. “It’s the community’s house.”