Edina Neighbors for Affordable Housing

A building on the National Register of Historic Places is being converted into affordable apartments in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Home prices have rocketed to new highs and many homes are selling for more than their appraised value.

Previously affordable homes have been bought up by private equity. Nationwide, millions of families rent from real estate investment trusts or private equity firms. Critics accuse the institutional investors-turned-landlords of trying to maximize profits through relentless rent hikes while neglecting the costly upkeep of old homes.

Of Minnesota households behind on rent, 60 percent are people of color, 43 percent report being unemployed, 75 percent earn less than $50,000 a year and 71 percent report having lost income during the pandemic.

The fundamental reason for the increasing cost of housing (relative to other goods) is that the construction sector employs an outdated and inefficient technology.

Economically discriminatory zoning policies — which say that you are not welcome in a community unless you can afford a single-family home, sometimes on a large plot of land — are not part of a distant, disgraceful past. In most American cities, zoning laws prohibit the construction of relatively affordable homes — duplexes, triplexes, quads and larger multifamily units — on three-quarters of residential land.

With moderately priced houses on the verge of extinction, Edina’s housing authority earlier this year sent thousands of unsolicited offers to owners of the most affordable houses in the city encouraging them to sell to a local nonprofit that then resells houses to working-class families for significantly less than they might otherwise pay.

A lawsuit by a watchdog group claims that its undercover investigation found widespread bias against tenants receiving federal housing assistance.

Black Americans are often unable to build wealth from homeownership in the same way their white peers are, in large part because home prices are generally set by the people who make up the majority of buyers: white Americans.

Digital mortgage platforms have the potential to reduce discrimination. But automated systems provide rich opportunities to perpetuate bias, too.

Several banks have announced initiatives totaling billions of dollars that are aimed at addressing racial inequalities, but observers say the programs need to be carefully tailored.

Minnesotans have done a great job of studying reporting, and making goals to address racial disparities but have not moved on the racial disparities that exist in homeownership.

An accessory dwelling unit (ADU) allowed parents to retire in their adult child’s backyard.

Edina is partnering with Homes Within Reach to preserve affordable homes in the city.

The Homes Within Reach program is intended to save affordable single-family homes in Edina, rather than seeing them torn down and replaced by luxury homes.