In one of those ironic twists of life, Claudia Deats Rodgers, the founder of an affordable housing nonprofit in Colorado Springs that is marking its 35th anniversary, now lives in one of the organization’s complexes for low-income seniors.

For Deats Rodgers, who before switching direction spent 31 years as a vowed member of a local convent, the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration at Mount St. Francis, her fate is also a God thing.

“It felt like God said, ‘I know a place you can go,’” she said, marveling over how her destiny has unfolded.

Deats Rodgers formed Greccio Housing in 1990, after Bishop Emeritus Richard Hanifen, who headed the Diocese of Colorado Springs at the time, asked her to help launch the Catholic diocese’s first foray into subsidized housing.

Deats Rodgers worked behind the scenes on the project in the mid-1980s, getting state approvals and funding to construct two income-based apartment buildings for seniors, Villa San Jose and Villa Santa Maria in the Southgate neighborhood.

She had some experience in the field. At Mount St. Francis, Deats Rodgers assisted with resettling Vietnamese refugees and served as treasurer for the community of religious sisters.

“That was where the seeds got planted,” she said. “I liked to see how it helped people be secure and have decent places to live.”

Deats Rodgers managed the first complex from 1986 to 1988 and left the religious order to pursue the path she was developing a love for.

“There was a real need for permanent, affordable rental housing,” she said.

Friends John and Joanne Pearring recognized her gifts and “affirmed what God had already put into her heart,” John Pearring said.

“To anyone who knew her, it was obvious she should embark on this journey,” he said. “She excelled at uniting disparate groups to achieve a common goal. She brought together people from all walks of life to be part of her plan.”

Private donations helped achieve the dream of Greccio, which was named after an Italian village where a centuries-old story about St. Francis of Assisi developed.

One day, the man who would become the patron saint of animals for his intuitive abilities to relate to all creatures encountered a rabbit that had gotten caught in a snare.

Francis addressed the bunny as “brother,” and bestowed much love and attention to the point that it would not leave after he set it down twice. On the third try, Francis handed the rabbit to religious brothers and instructed them to take it to the woods and let it go free. Francis also told the rabbit not to get caught in the snare again.

Another sign interpreted as being delivered from above, Deats Rodgers said, happened at a public grand opening last month of a large affordable housing campus in southeast Colorado Springs called Bentley Commons. Greccio is one of three organizations that developed the property.

A rabbit entered the scene where 120 people were gathered to mark the nearly 200 new units. And it hung around for a while.

“People were amazed,” Deats Rodgers said. “If it wasn’t God that started all of this, what was this? God’s sense of humor continues.”

The first property Greccio acquired and extensively renovated was at 321 N. Weber St. The building had nine apartments for low-income residents, who Deats Rodgers said had a high chance of graduating to their own market-rate place to live because Greccio provides related services to help people get on their feet.

“That’s what made Greccio unique,” she said.

Designation as a Community Housing Development Organization qualified Greccio to apply for public funding from the city, county and state. Different churches also contributed to the organization.

From those humble beginnings, Greccio now operates 845 units of affordable housing across 27 properties, according to the organization.

Those locations serve 1,133 residents, of whom 134 are single moms and 319 are children.

“What I love about affordable housing is that it’s all encompassing, especially for children, who have a stable place to live, a safe school to go to, they can have friends and see how their family is able to be together,” Deats Rodgers said.

A “Founders Wall” at Greccio’s administration building marks her contributions and dedication to improving the lives of individuals and families.

“Claudia was really a pioneer in our area in identifying the need for affordable housing as the foundation for family stability long ago,” said current Executive Director Lee Patke.

“We wanted to dedicate a permanent Founders Wall to memorialize Claudia’s impact on the organization and the community, so she’d be a permanent part of the heart of Greccio,” he said. “We thought it was important to not put it — the materials — in a book on a shelf but have it as a daily reminder of where we came from and why we exist today.”

Deats Rodgers served as Greccio’s executive director for 13 years.

In retirement, she moved with her late husband to Salida before returning to Colorado Springs in 2015 for family and health reasons. Her husband, Forrest Rodgers, died in 2018.

“At that point, I needed affordable housing, and I went to various places in Colorado Springs and put my name on a waiting list,” she said. “People were saying it would be three years before there would be housing available.”

They were right. It took three years for her name to reach the top of the waiting list, and at that point, Greccio Housing was building its first senior apartment building, The Atrium at Austin Bluffs, off Templeton Gap Road and Austin Bluffs Parkway.

Deats Rodgers, who’s 83, said she went through the process like any other applicant with no special treatment.

“That’s the way I wanted it, and that’s the way it was,” she said. “I feel privileged and thankful to live here and be part of a community and involved in activities.”

The Atrium at Austin Bluffs opened in the fall of 2021 with 54 units for very low-income seniors.

When Greccio began in 1990, the organization filled a needed gap in the local market, one that continues today, Deats Rodgers said. The organization evolved from buying and rehabbing rundown properties to building new affordable housing campuses.

Greccio’s second campus for economically disadvantaged seniors, Sunrise at Shiloh Mesa, broke ground in June in northeastern Colorado Springs. The 50-unit complex is being built in partnership with Woodmen Valley Chapel and its Center for Strategic Ministry.

“I’m in awe how the community has been so supportive,” Deats Rodgers said. “I feel Greccio belongs to the community.”