Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/housing/page/3/)
I have to face facts: I have a desk job. I love writing and telling people’s stories, but sometimes I wish I were a photographer instead because you tell stories, just with pictures instead of words – and you definitely get to move around more. Sometimes you have to crouch, climb on something or cross the room to get the best angle. Continue Reading
The American gentrification story will sound familiar to many: A historic neighborhood, home to traditionally transit-oriented apartments and modest single family homes, slowly becomes destitute and outdated as the automobile era drives population away from city centers. The neighborhood becomes derelict and neglected, but eventually, the bohemian counterculture — the artists, performers, musicians, and designers of a creative class — occupies and slowly kindles mainstream interest back into the area. Aside from retired, amenity-seeking empty nesters moving back into urban areas, most of these newcomers are young adults. There is a trend in these urban population shifts that is not often discussed — the study of college-aged students and their corresponding living patterns. Unlike other burgeoning urban neighborhoods, students occupy and dwell in a unique, confined location in close proximity to their college campus. Continue Reading
The conversation about racial injustice is heated these days and it’s tragic that it has taken the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner, among others, to bring this conversation to the national level it deserves. Continue Reading
Local activists obtained a rare victory Wednesday evening after the Minneapolis City Council voted to reverse their decision to cut $225,000 from a racial equity program and a clean energy initiative — a cut deemed #Lattelevy.But the contentious and oftentimes emotional city council meeting highlighted a fundamental and ongoing fray between city leadership and local activists, both of whom displayed intense frustration throughout the five-hour meeting.On Dec. 10, Minneapolis City Council members voted to restore funding to the One Minneapolis Fund and the Clean Energy Partnership as well as to decrease the proposed property tax levy to 2.1 percent. In turn, they voted to cut $174,000 allocated to two new communication positions for the city.Hundreds of activists, including some of whom coordinated the headline-making I-35W rally that reduced a portion of the Minneapolis interstate to a standstill earlier this month, flooded Wednesday’s meeting to call fault to pending budget cuts targeting the One Minneapolis Fund and the Clean Energy Partnership.The cuts, which were drafted during a December 1, 2014 city council meeting, would have increased the Minneapolis property tax levy to 2.2 percent, slightly less than the 2.4 percent increase proposed by Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges in her 2015 budget.That difference of about $620,000 would have — on average — decreased property taxes by about $2.50 per resident according to activists. That said, property taxes can shift in either direction depending on changes in the value of a property or neighborhood.Activists deemed that $2.50 fiscal gain “latte levy,” or the cost of a single latte, which they say some homeowners could give up in order to keep affordable housing, clean energy and racial equity programs for all. Some activists even brought paper coffee cups as props during their testimony.“There are many ways to balance a budget but saving $2.50 for homeowners in some of the wealthiest areas of the city will be in lieu of developing leadership in your community,” said one of the over 60 community members who testified during Wednesday’s meeting.“This is not a lot of money,” said Zoe Holloman during the public comment portion. Continue Reading
The University of Minnesota is making progress on a gender-based housing initiative it announced about a year ago.
After a full day of studying or working, Adrian Martinez leaves school at about 5 p.m. each night to secure a space at a local homeless shelter.
With the Twin Cities metropolitan area rental market the tightest it’s been in years, some people who are undocumented are falling prey to extortion by unscrupulous landlords, who seek to take monetary advantage of a potential tenant’s illegal status.
Around this time a year comes a piece of mail that can make even the strong wince.
It’s property tax time.
And one word that should be more than a buzzword.
Does the above photo make your head hurt? Good, we both feel the same way. But for me, the words of the day are “functionally obsolete” and “demands of the current housing market.” If you hear the words of the day, scream real loud. Continue Reading
University of Minnesota student renters have long complained of poor living conditions and uncooperative landlords.
At University Student Legal Service, housing issues account for 30 to 40 percent of the total case load, said staff attorney Bill Dane.