HOME Line’s move toward a shared leadership model began with an identified need for greater administrative capacity to ensure the organization could continue to fulfill its mission for years to come. HOME Line operates many successful programs to empower renters across the state, including a Tenant Hotline that provides free, confidential, & multilingual legal advice; a Public Education program that offers in-person and virtual tenant/landlord legal trainings to a variety of audiences, a Public Policy program that advocates for change benefitting renters at the local, state, and federal levels; an AmeriCorps VISTA Program that develops tenant leadership primarily in the Twin Cities Metro & in Greater Minnesota when possible; a Tenant Organizing Program that educates & empowers renters who have a desire & need to organize their buildings for safe, healthy conditions; and a statewide Eviction Prevention Program that provides legal advice to renters facing imminent evictions. HOME Line also engages in strategic impact litigation to defend and expand tenant rights, while training & supporting dozens of volunteers and interns each year who serve our clients throughout the state.
While several leadership models were considered, the shared leadership model was ultimately chosen for several reasons. This model represents where we want to be as a collective-based organization that is rooted in housing justice and community organizing—understanding that everyone in our community and workplace has significant and meaningful skill & perspective to offer, and working within a shared leadership framework orients us toward collective action and decision making rather than singular or hierarchical action and decision making. This framework will also allow us increased stability through future leadership turnover, allowing work to continue uninhibited without depending on a singular person. Finally, a shared leadership model affords the opportunity to mitigate leadership isolation and burnout, presenting a shared space for support and accountability between two leaders working in unison.
Eric Hauge, our previous Executive Director of 8 years, and HOME Line staff for 22 years overall, is moving into the role of Co-Executive Director. He began as an AmeriCorps VISTA tenant organizer after earning his B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College and later received a Master’s in Public Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, where his research focused on regional affordable housing planning. Over his career, Eric has led organizing efforts across Minnesota to preserve affordable housing, address substandard conditions, and prevent displacement, door-knocked thousands of rental units, produced original research on evictions and voucher access, and advocated for stronger tenant protections at local, state, and federal levels. During Eric’s tenure as Executive Director, HOME Line greatly expanded capacity and programs, served as a critical statewide resource during the COVID Eviction Moratoria, and celebrated the two most successful years for renters at the MN State Legislature in decades.
Jess Zarik, our previous VISTA Project Director of 3 years, is moving into the role of Co-Executive Director as well. Jess has been connected to the world of access to safe, healthy, affordable housing in various capacities for the majority of their life. Jess graduated from Aquinas College with a B.A. in Community Leadership, Spanish, and Women’s Studies in 2017, later joining AmeriCorps first as a Housing Case Manager and later as a coalition coordinator focusing on housing access for folks experiencing homelessness who were consistently let down by the systems that were meant to support them. Jess joined HOME Line and jumped right into building capacity for our VISTA Program, growing the program over 3 years, including moving from 2 members to 9, 6 of whom are currently at the beginning of their 2nd or 3rd year in the program; deepening relationships with local host sites, particularly neighborhood associations who have committed to strengthening their work in renter support and empowerment; increasing programmatic support for the program from AmeriCorps VISTA; and continuing to innovate the annual curriculum of the program, building relationships with facilitators across the community, especially longtime partners at the University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. Jess has experience working in shared leadership frameworks, most recently as the Co-Chair of Bike & Build, a now sunset organization that previously organized cross country cycling trips for young people to become informed advocates of what affordable housing access looks like across the country. Jess is motivated to bring this experience, and their desire to ensure HOME Line is doing everything it can as an organization to support and empower renters across the state, to this new role.
HOME Line will continue its work with Propel Nonprofits over the coming months to ensure the transition to a new leadership model is thoughtful, supported, and well-informed, allowing our Co-Executive Directors to facilitate leadership of the organization in a manner that deeply supports our staff and wider community.
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