This is part 3 of a series on the interaction between the rental housing market and rents. Read part 1, “How I Set Apartment Rents,” and part 2, “Housing Markets? Humbug!“I’ve dedicated the last 15 years of my life working on affordable housing policy. Mostly, I’ve worked where some sort of subsidy helps make it (more) affordable.In this post, informed by what I’ve learned about the scope of our problem and the inadequacy of existing subsidy programs, I’ll share actions and policies that I think could ameliorate our affordable housing problems.It’s common knowledge we have an affordable housing problem. It might be surprising to learn just how bad the problem is. Continue Reading
It depends on who you are. Fair housing laws were created in 1968 to make sure landlords treated all potential tenants the same with screening procedures, tenant selection and application fee Continue Reading
Despite Minnesota’s improving economy, many are still struggling. There are 14,000 homeless people in Minnesota, including 4000 children. Many homeless people were doing okay, until losing their job, developing health problems, facing domestic violence, or battling mental illness or addiction.
Homelessness is the highest ever in Minnesota. The triennial Wilder report on Homelessness in Minnesota recently released data showing more than 10,000 homeless persons statewide. Continue Reading
For years, the future of Minneapolis’s riverfront along St. Anthony Main has been rich in promise but lacking in follow-through. New proposals for the area poured in after a plan to reinvigorate the area collapsed in the 2008 recession. To help educate them on options for their neighborhood’s future, residents of the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood and the greater University District sought the help of Ignacio San Martín.
More than 100 renters at Country Village Apartments in Burnsville face an uncertain future as the Burnvsille City Council opted Tuesday night to give the owners one last chance to bring the complex up to code or have their license revoked. Continue Reading
At the Frogtown Neighborhood Forum Tuesday night, about twenty residents gathered to discuss the development of an owner occupied Habitat for Humanity House in the neighborhood as well as the Great
It’s nearly impossible to travel through Minneapolis and not witness the remains of the foreclosure crisis. Entire streets are left empty and dark. Historic homes have been turned into picked-apart skeletons. And as one foreclosure unfolds, its seeds take root in neighboring homes and streets, causing home prices to plummet and the mortgage mess to accelerate. The problem is especially visible on the city’s North side, where more than 800 homes are on the city’s vacant properties list. Continue Reading
ByMinnesota Tenants Union Human Rights Campaign () |
Just One Example of the Fight for Recognition that Housing is a Human Right, More Important than Property Interest
The Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases.In coalition with tenant advocacy groups nationwide, the Minnesota Tenants Union has submitted a grass-roots Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) Letter to the Cook County judge presiding over a lawsuit brought by a California mortgage company to force Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart to evict tenants from foreclosed property. The Amicus Curiae Letter (see below) is co-sponsored by 8 tenant advocacy groups in New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis and calls on the judge to dismiss the mortgage company’s suit asserting that the company’s actions violated the human right to housing and the company’s failure to serve notice of its suit and underlying foreclosure action on the real parties in interest, the affected tenants. Sheriff Dart gained national attention earlier this month by publicly declaring a moratorium on evicting tenants from foreclosed properties in Cook County (Chicago area). His action brought a supportive response from tenant groups and others applauding his stand. Continue Reading
