In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, Ruth Johnson watched her community respond the way much of the country did: Neighbors checking on neighbors, businesses reopening their doors and people showing up for each other.
Johnson, a real estate broker and owner located outside Minneapolis at the time, thought about a call made by President George W. Bush in the weeks after the attack; he urged the private sector to continue showing up instead of waiting for the next crisis to bring people together.
Her son, Mark Micek, had an idea. “What if we gave a portion of our commission from our real estate company back to heroes when they transact in real estate, and that’ll be our way to say thank you to all those that serve,” Johnson recalled him saying. Johnson built the company around that idea, returning $144,000 to heroes in its first year.
How the company began
Homes for Heroes was founded in Minneapolis in 2002 by Johnson and family members Kacy Mlenar, Helen Johnson and Mark Micek, marking 25 years since the attacks that inspired its creation. This history underscores its longstanding commitment to supporting heroes nationwide.
What’s been given back
Homes for Heroes and its affiliated foundation have saved heroes over $166 million through a network of nearly 2,900 affiliates across the U.S., helping more than 80,000 heroes to date, with an average savings of $3,500 for buyers and $9,000 for sellers.
The Homes for Heroes Foundation, a separate 501(c)(3) established in 2008 and funded by the for-profit entity, has awarded $2,027,838 in grants to date, which support heroes experiencing housing crises, disaster recovery, and severe medical or family needs, according to the company. The foundation awarded $180,000 in grants to 25 nonprofit organizations across the nation in 2015.
One family, one relationship
Ruth Johnson built the company around supporting heroes through personal relationships. For example, Melissa Matus helped a firefighter buy his first home, illustrating how individual stories foster community and trust.
As a result of this relationship, Matus helped his parents purchase a home near them, connected his sister with an agent in California to help her sell her home, and assisted his daughter in purchasing her first home.
“What started with one firefighter became an opportunity to serve multiple generations of one family, and every family member I personally helped qualified for Homes for Heroes,” Matus wrote in an email to Inman.
Matus, who spent 12 years working for her local school district before entering real estate, said she has family members in the military and healthcare fields. “Homes for Heroes gave me the meaning I was looking for in my business,” she wrote. “It allowed me to combine real estate with something that was already part of my heart.”
One affiliate in Indiana has returned more than $2 million in savings since joining the network, according to the company, growing his business from a single agent to seven offices in the years since.
Amit Kulkarni, interim CEO of Homes for Heroes, said the company’s research found the hero segment better positioned financially to buy a home than the general population. Kulkarni is a first-generation immigrant who built his own career in real estate, and has said stable housing carries the power to transform lives.
Marking a difficult anniversary
Ruth Johnson said the 25th anniversary carries mixed feelings.
“We have mixed feelings at this 25th big anniversary of this terror attack on our nation,” she said. “I just think we should never forget that when things really happen that are really horrific, we have to look for the good and how can we make the world a better place, and always remember what happened and then remember what came of it.”
Looking ahead
The company intends to return $1 billion in savings to heroes by 2030 as part of Ruth Johnson’s larger mission to acknowledge every hero in America.
“Will we ever get there? Maybe, maybe not,” she said. “But it’s a noble goal, and we really want to make sure that we do our best to give back to all these people that have given so much to us.”
