For many years, Angeline Rainey and Allen Weitzel never dreamed they might someday own a home.
The longtime couple spent years in public housing. At one point, Rainey lived in her car.
“Having a house wasn’t in any type of reach of reality,” she said.
But in 2025, they were the first family to buy a house thanks to Pathways to Success, a Minneapolis Public Housing Authority partnership with several nonprofits, including Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, Twin Cities Rise and PRG Inc.
The program started in 2023 to help public housing residents work toward home ownership.
Abdi Warsame, executive director of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, said the nonprofits already provided resources, but the partnership helped people connect with them more readily.
The program is geared toward public housing residents who are beginning to earn too much to continue to qualify for public housing.
“Now they need to find different opportunities,” Warsame said. “And one of the opportunities is, how do you become a homeowner?”
The steps involved in buying a home can be overwhelming, and the partnership helps make that undertaking easier, he said. Also: Public housing in Minneapolis has a significant wait list, and Warsame hopes the program will help get more people off of that list as current residents look to own or rent elsewhere.
Making the leap from public housing
Rainey first lived in public housing as a child, when her mother moved her family into an apartment in Minneapolis’ Little Earth development, the only Native preference project-based Section 8 rental assistance community in the United States.
Weitzel, who is also Native, came to Minnesota from Pennsylvania in 1980 with his mother. He and Rainey met in 1999.
They lived in apartment buildings, then got a letter informing them that they qualified for public housing. They also learned that they would be able to live in a single-family house instead of an apartment.
For about 15 years, Rainey and Weitzel rented a home in south Minneapolis through the Housing Authority. They have fond memories of their time there. Rainey and Weitzel, who each had children from previous relationships, combined their families, then had a daughter together, and also became grandparents.
Their grandchildren would often stay at the south Minneapolis home, growing excited in the car when they would turn onto the street to visit.
“It was the little safe haven they always wanted,” Rainey said.
Over those 15 years, Rainey worked as a driver and Weitzel in construction and roofing, and they began to build up their finances.
Then they were notified that their income was approaching the point where they would no longer qualify for public housing. They would have about two years to find their next place to live.
The Housing Authority told them about the Pathways to Success program and asked if they were thinking about home ownership.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know, that’s a lot,’” Rainey said.
But the family decided to take the step and work toward buying a home.
Connected resources reach more people
Thanks to the partnership, Rainey and Weitzel underwent home-buyer education and programming with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
The classes, mostly online, covered topics such as the steps in buying a home and basic financial education.
At the same time, the couple consolidated their debt, worked to pay off loans and improved their credit scores.
“All the help, the programs that we went through to get here, there’s a lot out there that we never even knew about,” Weitzel said.
Shereese Turner, chief program officer of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, said it’s important that organizations work together to help residents, instead of existing in silos. The Pathways to Success program was born out of conversations she had with public housing officials.
“It’s a reminder that we just can’t stay in our home-ownership lane, and we have to be gearing off in other lanes if we’re going to stabilize and transform our communities,” she said.
The program also partners with Twin Cities Rise, a nonprofit that helps residents find employment. Alex Merritt, vice president of program operations at Rise, said the nonprofit offers an eight-week employment program.
“This gives and makes the achievement and attainment possible for so many more people that may not have had the standard journey of go to school, get a job, save your money, buy a house,” she said.
The housing nonprofit PRG Inc. joined the partnership in 2024.
Warsame said each family can take advantage of services that best suit their situation. The program takes time to complete, but he hopes more families will stick with it and buy homes.
“We want to give a couple more years to see where the successes are, where the challenges are, where we need to do interventions,” he said. “But so far for us, this is very exciting.”
After tragedy, “our own little space in the world”
As Rainey and Weitzel worked toward home ownership through the partnership, tragedy struck.
In May 2024, their daughter Krissa died. She was 19.
The loss was unexpected and heartbreaking. The family wasn’t sure if they could go on and be able to buy a home.
“I could have just not cared anymore,” Rainey said.
She began taking part in full moon ceremonies to help her through her grief, and leaned on her siblings for support. She thought of her other children and grandchildren, and how they had inspired her to seek home ownership.
Weitzel said they had already put so much work toward owning a home that they decided to keep going.
“We made it this far, we might well see how far we can go,” he said.
In July, Rainey and Weitzel bought a home in Brooklyn Center, a red-orange house on a quiet residential street. They live there with their teenage granddaughter.
In September, staff from the Housing Authority and linked nonprofits gathered to celebrate Rainey and Weitzel’s achievement.
“The kids love it, we love it,” Weitzel said. “We do our best to keep what we have.”
Turtle decorations can be found around the house, references to Krissa’s Native name, Turtle Woman. A tank in the living room houses her pet turtle, which her parents now care for. And Krissa’s cat, Dusty, roams the halls.
In the basement, Rainey has an area set up where she sews and makes ribbon skirts. A nearby shelf holds photos of Krissa.
Rainey and Weitzel packed away photos of their daughter for about a year after her passing, a tradition in some Native cultures. Now they’re bringing them out again, placing them around their new home.
“I think of it as our own little space in this world, our own nice little sanctuary,” Rainey said.
