Edina Neighbors for Affordable Housing

Low-income tenants in south Minneapolis will gain control of five apartment buildings from embattled ex-landlord Stephen Frenz, ending a bitter fight after complaints of substandard conditions and attempted evictions.

It’s a mistake to blame density for the spread of the coronavirus. Cities, large and dense by definition, do not inevitably support explosive viral transmission. But factors that do seem to explain clusters of Covid-19 deaths in the United States are household crowding, poverty, racialized economic segregation and participation in the work force. The patterns of Covid-19 by neighborhood in New York City track historical redlining that some 80 years ago established a legacy of racial residential segregation.

Letting moratoriums expire without putting long-term renter support in place would be devastating. Once moratoriums end, officials say courts will likely be overwhelmed with eviction proceedings.

As COVID-19 continues to take thousands of lives each day in the United States, minorities in particular are being ravaged out of proportion, public health officials say.

The governor said in a news conference call from self-imposed quarantine that landlords and financial institutions cannot start eviction proceedings during the state’s peacetime emergency for the virus. Walz said halting evictions was necessary to slow the spread of the coronavirus and it would be “not only personally cruel, but counterproductive to what we’re trying to do” if people did not have a home to stay in.

Without a place to stay, it’s next to impossible to maintain the “social distance” necessary to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

With coronavirus inflicting pain on both renters and landlords, both sides are seeking government relief.

Nearly half of Minnesota college and university students cannot consistently afford their housing costs, while more than one-third struggle to pay for adequate food, according to a new report.

Average monthly cost in the metro rose 6%, driven by demand in the suburbs.

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 what’s needed.

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 a decade ago.

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.

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.

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.

Persistent housing segregation lies at the root of many of our society’s problems. Trump wants to make it worse.