"...even though rich Christians assumed God must have been kidding..."

Rick Steves has caused me to reevaluate my opinion of Rick Steves:

Back home, one of my pet social causes has long been affordable housing. Twenty years ago, I devised a scheme where I could put my retirement savings not into a bank to get interest, but into cheap apartments to house struggling neighbors. I would retain my capital, my equity would grow as the apartment complex appreciated, and I would suffer none of the headaches that I would have if I had rented out the units as a landlord. Rather than collecting rent, my “income” would be the joy of housing otherwise desperate people.  I found this a creative, compassionate and more enlightened way to “invest” while retaining my long-term security.

Steves just gave a $4 million apartment complex to the YWCA.

(via Fresh Signals, a feed that, for me, has been exactly that for the past couple of weeks that I’ve been subscribed).