Edina Neighbors for Affordable Housing

Steve Elkins – StarTribune – 14 February 2020 By the Metropolitan Council’s estimates, the average of 9,500 housing units we’ve been building per year over the past decade is 30% less than the 14,000 units per year we need to keep up with demand. The affordable housing picture is worse; we’re building just one-fifth of…

Jim Buchta – StarTribune – 15 February 2020 Average monthly cost in the metro rose 6%, driven by demand in the suburbs. Read more

Walker Orenstein – MinnPost – 5 February 2020 A January hearing in Rochester previewed debate in the upcoming legislative session that begins on Feb. 11 over how far and how fast the state should restrict fossil fuels to reduce the effects of climate change. Read more

Martin Moylan – MPR News – 5 February 2020 The Minneapolis Area Realtors group said the median selling price for area homes rose nearly 6 percent last year to $280,000. That benchmark has now increased by more than 5 percent every year since 2012. Prices are well above those reached in the housing bubble more than…

Bill Lucia – Route Fifty – 4 February 2020 Rent is increasingly posing an outsized financial burden for households earning between $30,000 and $75,000 a year, according to new research from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Read more

Rachel Siegel – Washington Post – 24 January 2020 A child’s neighborhood can predict how they’ll do in life, new research finds. A Brandeis University study finds stark divides along racial and ethnic lines, as well as glaring “opportunity gaps” — even in adjoining neighborhoods. A link to the full report is available here. Read…

Richard Rothstein – The New York Times – 20 January 2020 Persistent housing segregation lies at the root of many of our society’s problems. Trump wants to make it worse. Read more

Jonathan Rothwell – Brookings – 19 April 2012 As the nation grapples with the growing gap between rich and poor and an economy increasingly reliant on formal education, public policies should address housing market regulations that prohibit all but the very affluent from enrolling their children in high-scoring public schools in order to promote individual…

Maya Miller – ProPublica – 9 January 2020 A guide to the Section 8 program. Learn how to apply, how to qualify for a voucher, and what it’s like to live in Section 8 housing. Read more

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas – The Connecticut Mirror – 22 May 2019 In southwest Connecticut, the gap between rich and poor is wider than anywhere else in the country. Invisible walls created by local zoning boards and the state government block affordable housing and, by extension, the people who need it. Read more  

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas – The Connecticut Mirror – 9 January 2020 Section 8 vouchers should give low-income people the opportunity to live outside poor communities. But discriminatory landlords, exclusionary zoning and the federal government’s hands-off approach leave recipients with few places to call home. Read more

Diana Elliott – Urban.org – 21 January 2017 Beyond watching their bottom line, cities have a moral imperative to care about residents’ financial health. Can a city be great if only some residents are thriving? Can a city be successful if many residents are close to financial ruin because of a spell of unemployment or…