Shelter with a Cause: Meet St. Paul Airbnb hosts on mission to end homelessness

When Roger and Vicki Henry started renting out the third floor of their Victorian home in 2018, business picked up quickly. Their first two bookings in 2018 went smoothly and a third was already in the calendar. But something was nagging at Roger.

“I was lying in bed just before the third rental,” he said. “I am on the development committee for Open Your Heart and we’re always looking for ways to raise money for hunger and homeless programs.”

He says his thoughts turned to karma. They were renting out their excess space for supplemental income. What if they did it to help people who have no space to call their own?
It didn’t take much discussion for the couple to reach a decision: they donate 100% of their rental income to Open Your Heart (OYH), a grant-making organization dedicated to addressing hunger and homelessness in Minnesota. Roger has been an active volunteer with OYH for decades and is currently their board treasurer. He sees firsthand the difference their donations make.

They also renamed their listing on Airbnb “Shelter with a Cause.”

It went so well that the couple devoted their entire main floor to the Airbnb roster as Shelter with a Cause Two. To date, they have donated nearly $145,000 in rental revenue to OYH. They’ve also met people from around the world who stay in touch, make return visits, and become friends.

“One even sent us a baby picture,” Vicki said.

The concept makes perfect sense for them, given their history and the values they share.
“We met in 1992 on a Habitat for Humanity fundraising walk. That’s our other housing passion,” Roger said.

At the time, Vicki was living in a new townhome. Roger was eight years into restoring the Victorian, a project that has never really ended.

The home, in St. Paul’s Crocus Hill neighborhood, is a 1907 Victorian with a sprawling front porch overlooking Vicki’s perennial garden, and gleaming woodwork throughout the interior.
Over the years, Roger’s projects have included unearthing quartersawn oak built-ins buried under paint and plywood, moving walls and replacing a two-story porch. He’s updated kitchens and baths, overseen a roof replacement and is adding solar panels this spring. Throughout, he has also maintained a collection of houseplants so healthy that their leaves reflect sunlight into the rooms.

It’s a ton of work, they’re both quick to point out. And for Vicki, there are some things about living in a newly constructed townhome that she misses a little.

“What’s that they say about the shoemaker’s daughter having no shoes?” she asked, laughing. “Our kitchen on the second floor is the only one that hasn’t been updated.”

But the tradeoff is worth it. She loves the beauty and walkability of their neighborhood. And for both her and Roger, this is about more than maintaining a beautiful home. It’s a mission.
While the couple supports many organizations for the unhoused, Roger’s involvement with OYH has given him an especially deep understanding of homelessness in Minnesota.
He first learned about OYH when he was an investment manager for the Minnesota State Board of Investments and co-chair of the state charitable fund drive. Back then, OYH was just starting out as “a simple Thanksgiving food drive.”

The organization impressed him and within a few years, he had started volunteering. Since then, he says the organization has provided grants to “nearly every food shelf and every homeless shelter in the state.”

But homelessness in the state remains stubbornly persistent. According to the most recent Minnesota Homeless Study, a “single night count” measurement conducted by Wilder Research, more than 10,500 people were experiencing homelessness on the night of the study. The study also showed that one-third of homeless people in Minnesota on that night weren’t in shelters. They were sleeping outside or on public transportation or “doubled up,” the term used for couch surfing and other ways of briefly staying in other’s homes. Since the counts started in 1991, the numbers of people experiencing homelessness have fluctuated but remained high.
That reality is part of what drives Roger to keep going bigger. In the near future, he hopes to expand Shelter with a Cause, aiming to grow donations exponentially by asking Airbnb hosts to pledge to donate, even if it’s just 1% of their rental revenue.

With his investment management background, Roger sees the potential. It’s a compelling proposition. Airbnb reported $24 billion in U.S. host income for 2023, with an average host income of $14,000. If even a fraction of hosts donated 1%, it could lead to tens of millions of dollars in annual donations.

But for Roger, Shelter with a Cause is a launch pad, not an end point. Someday, he hopes to raise enough capital to fund an endowment by appealing to the swell of baby boomers planning to sell their homes over the next few years.

Whether he is talking to Airbnb hosts, home sellers or anyone with a space they call home, Roger’s request is clear, simple and from the heart.

To anyone who has enjoyed their own shelter, he has a suggestion: “Take some of that and give it to homeless programs.’”

Beth Dalby is a University of Minnesota student at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication.