News

More and more Twin Cities suburbs are creating programs to help people of color buy homes

Solomon Gustavo · MinnPost · 14 Jan 2022

Woodbury, St. Louis Park and Edina have launched programs, and Minnetonka is considering one.

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Cities Need More Robust Data and Analysis to Better Address the Eviction Crisis

Andre Claudio · Route Fifty · 6 December 2021

A new report says that localities should build partnerships with courts and organizations to capture more types of data to spot and stop evictions.

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County advancing plans to grow single room occupancy housing

Julia Welle Ayres · Hennepin County · 7 December 2021

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners recently adopted the Single Room Occupancy Taskforce Report, which lays the groundwork for an aggressive strategy to provide affordable housing for people in the lowest income categories.

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When you look at these neighborhoods, what do you see?

MaryJo Webster and Michael Corey · StarTribune · 7 August 2021

The opposition to multifamily housing — and to the people who need to live there — stems in part from decades of local government land-use rules that prioritize single-family housing. Today, however, these rules are increasingly viewed as a major reason that Black and Latino families are essentially shut out of the vast majority of the Twin Cities.

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Rent escrow requirement prevents tenants from challenging poor living conditions, lawyers say

Randy Furst · StarTribune · 26 November 2021

The practice of making tenants post back rent with the court to challenge an eviction on habitability issues is “draconian” and unconstitutional, according to an article in Bench & Bar Magazine, the publication of the Minnesota State Bar Association.

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Accessory Dwelling Units could make a big difference for veteran homelessness in the Twin Cities — if we just allow them to

Bill Lindeke · MinnPost · 18 November 2021

YardHomes, a new public benefit corporation, hopes to boost production of ADUs, and for the time being are specifically building them to house homeless veterans.

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Officials say a shortage of housing, not jobs, is crimping economic development in Greater Minnesota

Walker Orenstein · MinnPost · 23 November 2021

To help its housing crunch, Roseau has had to take unusual measures, morphing essentially into a housing developer and bypassing the private sector. Now, the city is building a $6.8 million apartment complex that is almost entirely funded by the public.

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As Minnesota confronts need for affordable housing, it should also celebrate success stories

Keith Luebke · MinnPost · 18 November 2021

With more than 5,700 housing units in Minneapolis, St. Paul and the suburbs, Aeon provides a wide range of housing opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and those with low incomes — the people who struggle most in a dysfunctional housing market.

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Cities with empty offices see new room to expand housing

Janaki Chadha · Politico · 11 November 2021

After Covid, New York and other cities are weighing whether to convert empty office buildings into affordable housing.

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Twin Cities ‘housing unaffordability’ leaves few options for lowest income families

Jim Buchta · StarTribune · 23 October 2021

Over the past decade the seven-county metro needed 44,570 affordable houses and apartments, but only a little more than a third of them got built.

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