In Roseau, in northwestern Minnesota, the problem is so acute that the city has taken drastic measures, building a $6.8 million apartment complex that is funded almost entirely with public money.
If the development can actually get built, it would be a “trailblazer,” said Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development Senior Project Coordinator Emily Stern.
Why some advocates say the idea could play an important role in easing the area’s housing crunch.
A Q&A with Jamal Osman, who won the Aug. 11 special election for the Minneapolis City Council seat representing Ward 6.
It took four months for the state to put a rental assistance program amid the economic fallout of COVID-19 — even after there was a general agreement on the issue among Republicans and DFLers.
And how one proposal — linking the two issues to regulatory reform — may offer a possible preview of a deal to be had when the Legislature convenes for a special session.
Faith Lutheran Church has become the first organization to welcome tiny homes on its property, an option that represents one answer to the state’s ballooning homeless population, supporters say.
To address the region’s homeless problem — and deal with Minnesota’s complex land-use rules — one Twin Cities nonprofit is working to establish a framework for building and running communities of tiny homes that would be located on land owned by churches.
The proposal is modeled on Washington, D.C.’s, Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, or TOPA, which allows tenants match bonafide offers for rental properties when owners put them up for sale.
For years, residents of Brooklyn Park’s Huntington Place have complained of safety issues, unfair treatment and poor living conditions.
The University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, better known as CURA, is not your typical academic operation, content to provide data and agnostic about how the information is used. CURA wants to change things.
The city is looking to establish “straightforward and consistent” rules requiring developers to include affordable units as part of all new housing projects. Not everyone is on board.
How do we come up with a set of fair practices that treat tenants fairly and help landlords accurately determine the risk associated with an applicant for vacant rental housing? By looking at evidence of what is working and what isn’t.
City Council President Lisa Bender and Council Member Jeremiah Ellison are writing new language based on feedback from landlords, renters and colleagues that followed the release of draft ordinances.
“They have emergency situations, or a family member passes away,” said one renter, and soon people in crisis risk eviction and future denials of housing. Proposals are being developed to address these and other tenant issues, drawing pushback from some landlords.
Twin Cities officials are already anticipating the reappearance of homeless encampments this summer.
The state of Minnesota is hardly the only funding source for affordable housing projects — but it is often a key source.
For all the buzz generated by the plan’s call to eliminate single-family zoning, less attention has been paid to the notion of if, or to what extent, the change will alter housing affordability in Minneapolis.
Four years after allowing the structures, Minneapolis has permitted 137 ADUs.
One proposal, which has bipartisan support, would allow those who donate to affordable housing projects to take a dollar-for-dollar credit off of their state income tax bill.
