Apartment Building Rebuilding Hope in Residents

By Melissa Maynarich, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An apartment building located in Oklahoma City's poorest neighborhood is being revitalized, as new, hopeful tenants move in.

The Refuge used to be a crack house, but now it's a work in progress as young people and families move into its rooms and help to transform the lives of those around them.

"You're knocking on people's doors in the morning to go to the bathroom, and it's not comfortable," resident Anna said. "It's not what you thought it would be, but you feel that you want to love Jesus more than you want to be comfortable."

New windows will be installed in the apartment building to keep heath in and many of the bathrooms are being renovated. The residents come from as far as California, and as close as Oklahoma City. They hold full time jobs, have cars and are all eager to move into what they call an intentional living situation.

"We have the intention of moving into lower income neighborhoods or neighborhoods that don't have a lot of accountability, and call them to accountability," resident Jake Phelps said.

After only a couple of months, the residents have noticed a difference.

"We've seen people's lives change, we've seen the area being cleaned up, we've had people coming up to us on the streets saying they've been really hoping someone would come down here and make a difference," resident Michael Smith said.

They said they're giving hope to people who are hopeless and homeless, in downtown Oklahoma City.

There are 25 apartments at The Refuge, and about 10 are filled.