Obsidian Communications Technical Support Center

Housing Affordability

Introduction

Resources to ensure that residents of all ages, incomes and family types can access safe, affordable housing.

Overview

This section includes organizations that educate the community about affordable housing needs and solutions and organizations working with public housing residents.

Page Index

Key Issues

Common Problems and Solutions

Successful Strategies

Annotated Web Resources

Topic Library

Sub-Topics and Vendors

Key Issues Related to this Topic

Healthy communities have a full range of life-cycle housing options available. Given the wide range of service, trades and professional jobs needed to make a city work, healthy neighborhoods need low, middle and higher priced housing available. Also, given the changing circumstances for people as they get started in the work force, become established and then retire, healthy neighborhoods need a good mix of multi-family rental, duplex, single family and senior housing available.

Neighborhood groups can shape the supply and quality of affordable housing in their area. Neighborhood volunteers know from personal experience the need for providing access to affordable housing for families and seniors. Community development corporations can work with your neighborhood to plan, finance and develop attractive, well-managed single family and multi family affordable housing units in your neighborhood. Neighborhoods can also influence how much money state, city and county governments and the Met Council devote to maintaining and developing new affordable housing.

Residents of Public Housing are a valuable neighborhood asset. A significant portion of the residents of many neighborhoods live in public housing and can become involved with neighborhood revitalization efforts. All public housing buildings have active resident boards, who can spread the word about neighborhood activities. Groups such as Senior Resources, the Ramsey Action Program, Volunteers of America, the Minneapolis High Rise Representative Council, and the Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Housing Authorities can help your neighborhood link up with your area’s public housing residents.

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Common Problems and Solutions

The lack of affordable housing has become a crisis in many neighborhoods. Rising property values and rents in many St. Paul and Minneapolis neighborhoods are making it difficult for many families to find affordable housing. Families that spend too much of their monthly income on housing often must forego making other needed investments in health, nutrition and education. Families that experience housing instability and homelessness find it challenging to keep their kids in school consistently, leading to student underachievement.

City of St. Paul Housing Policy- A minimum of twenty percent of new units should be affordable to households with incomes below 50 percent of the regional median, with at least half of those affordable to households with incomes below 30 percent of the median. Developments in neighborhoods with little affordable housing and strong housing markets should be encouraged to provide a minimum of 20 percent of their units to lower income households while those in weaker markets should be asked to provide a smaller share. (The Saint Paul Comprehensive Plan, Housing Plan, 1999, Policy 6.4)

 City of Minneapolis Housing Policy This policy is available at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us.

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Successful Strategies

Circle Dialogues can help build understanding of housing issues. Because housing impacts so many other aspects of resident's lives, broadening the dialogue around housing can be useful to creating more enduring solutions to the problem of housing affordability. For example, The City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis School District's Housing, Education, Race and Equity Project facilitated dozens of neighborhood discussions that explored both the availability of quality education and a full range of housing choices.

Mixed use, mixed income development Mixing uses and income levels means that a broad range of needs can be addressed within a single development. For an example, visit the Central Community Housing Trust's web site to see the description of the East Village Development.

Supportive housing can be attractive and provide well managed housing for special needs families and individuals.

Involve public housing residents with neighborhood revitalization efforts. Residents of Public Housing are a valuable neighborhood asset. A significant portion of the residents of many neighborhoods live in public housing. All public housing buildings have active resident boards, who can spread the word about neighborhood activities. Groups listed in this section can help your neighborhood link up with your area’s public housing residents

Land trusts subtract the cost of land from housing costs.

Adding Density - higher density housing fits well into neighborhoods when it is well designed and when issues of green space, parking and management are addressed well. This added density can reduce the cost of the housing that is built, and also provides a larger base to support local businesses.

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Supportive Housing Resources
Corporation for Supportive Housing 06/15/04
Works with local organizations and policy makers to create appropriate housing solutions for that community's most vulnerable people. While each of CSH's local programs provides loans, grants, and technical assistance to their nonprofit partners, and works with government to better utilize resources, each develops its own strategy tailored to meeting the challenges of housing and helping that community's most marginalized populations.

Family Housing Fund
Family Housing Fund 06/15/04
Web Site has extensive links to many housing resources and background information on the problem of and solutions for affordable housing.

Housing Minnesota
Housing Minnesota 06/15/04
A growing collaboration of organizations working to create more affordable housing in Minnesota. The campaign was designed both to raise awareness of who needs affordable housing and to promote involvement in affordable housing efforts.

Affordable rental housing information
HousingLink 06/15/04
This site provides general information about affordable rental housing and resources for those in need of affordable housing

Faith based affordable housing organizing.
Metro Interfaith Coalition on Affordable Housing (MICAH) 06/15/04
Education and advocacy on affordable housing issues within faith communities and housing organizations metro-wide.Fact sheets available on Web site or through office.

Minneapolis CDCs doing affordable housing development
Minneapolis Consortium of Community Developers 06/16/04
Contact information for Minneapolis community development corporations that develop and/or maintain affordable housing

Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless
Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless 06/15/04
Fax: 612/870-9085 The only statewide homelessness prevention program to leverage local efforts to provide housing and services needed to end homelessness. The coalition informs the public about homelessness, its causes and ways each person can take responsibility for ending homelessness.

National homelessness resource
National Coalition for the Homeless 06/15/04
Includes both national and local links

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