Edina Neighbors for Affordable Housing

For the first time, Edina has a tenant protection ordinance, to take effect September 1, 2021. It applies to buildings with affordable rental units and its provisions include written notice of the transfer of ownership, notice of rent increases by a new owner, and, in some cases, relocation assistance.

Each side of the housing debate has a raft of prescriptions, whether mass public housing, upzoning, the unfettered building of market-rate apartments, or the construction of thousands of tiny structures for the unhoused.

For much of the 20th century, it was common practice to insert racial covenants into deeds. The covenants targeted people who were Asian, Latino and Jewish, but especially those who were Black.

In this video, John Oliver outlines the long history of housing discrimination in the U.S., the damage created, and what can be done about it.

At least 73% of residential land in the Twin Cities is governed by local zoning ordinances that only allow single-family detached homes, according to a Star Tribune analysis of 2019 land use regulations from 102 metro communities. Additional regulations — such as the size of the lot or the number of garage stalls — drive up the cost of those homes and are common throughout the metro.

The new ban would temporarily halt evictions in counties with “substantial and high levels” of virus transmission and is expected to cover areas where 90% of the U.S. population lives.

Urban Institute researchers published a report titled “Who Owns the Twin Cities?” in which they investigated who owns homes across the metro area and how property ownership has changed over recent decades. They found there has been a growing number of investor landlords, or landlords who own more than three properties, and an increase in single-family rentals. As a result, poor and BIPOC residents have been displaced.

With home prices already up about 15 percent from last year and rents soaring at nearly triple their normal rate in just the first six months of 2021, there’s growing concern that housing costs could soon begin to nudge inflation higher.

There used to be many rooming house units in Minneapolis and cities across the country until they were deemed undesirable “blight” that were demolished during the latter half of the 20th century. But as homelessness worsened around the nation, the SRO model has resurfaced as a low-barrier way to offer housing.

Despite the overall wealth of the metro area, there’s no starker sign of its segregation of opportunity than the wide gulf between Black and white homeownership rates, the largest in the nation.

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.