The Issues
Federally Subsidized Housing
Project based federal subsidies allow building owners to keep housing affordable. Unfortunately for low-income tenants, these subsidies can be lost for a variety of reasons, including: market rate conversion potential, declining financial benefits for owner, owner circumstances such as age or change in financial position, owner fatigue with government regulation, building deterioration, or contract expiration.
The elimination of project based rental subsidies can have serious consequences, including:
- Further loss of already scarce affordable units
- Setback for economic and racial desegregation efforts
- Loss of support network and community. This is especially a problem for particularly vulnerable tenants such as the elderly, children, and the disabled
- Loss of location choice for the handicapped and people of color
- Transfer of financial obligation from the federal to the local level, which potentially places the greatest burden on the areas with the least resources
Complete List of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Projects in Minnesota
This data was compiled from lists published by HUD, the MHFA, and various PHAs. In some cases the data was contradictory. When this
occurred, we printed the source which appeared to have the most complete information.
Manufactured Home Parks
Manufactured Home Parks are a critical source of affordable housing in Minnesota. An estimated 973 licensed parks in Minnesota house almost 50,000 households. In some communities these parks are the only source of affordable housing. However, with increasing property values and development pressures, parks are at risk of closure or conversion resulting in the displacement of the low income resident households. When parks close, residents are forced to find comparable affordable replacement housing in markets with affordable housing shortages, a situation likely to be exacerbated as housing programs shrink and costs rise. Beyond the financial costs of park closures, there are also social costs that result from breaking up manufactured home park communities. This is especially difficult for the large number of school age children and elderly residents who live in the parks.
Non-Subsidized Rental Housing
Condo Conversions
The conversion of apartments to condominiums results in the direct loss of affordable rental units, while not necessarily leading to affordable homeownership. The City of Minneapolis has experienced an increase in condo conversions over the last several years, and the Housing Preservation Project, along with other nonprofit organizations, have been focusing their efforts on protecting tenants, buyers and the community from the negative consequences of this phenomenon. Some of these consequences include the loss of affordable units, lack of tenant/buyer protections, and the creation of false market values. Currently, the only statutory protections for existing tenants include a 120 day notice to quit and the right to purchase at the owner’s offering price. Additional protections exist in other communities that protect both the tenant and the buyer of the unit.
City Redevelopment Efforts
Many communities in the Twin Cities Metro area are engaging in redevelopment efforts that essentially target low-income residents in unsubsidized but affordable housing. The City of Brooklyn Park formed a citizen task force in 2004 that was charged with crafting a redevelopment plan for an area of the city that included many apartment buildings with affordable units. The task force was not representative of the community. Advocates became aware of the task force and began to challenge its lack of representation and its assumptions about crime, vacancies and condition of the apartments that in the end formed the basis for a plan to demolish 900 units of affordable housing. The city ultimately went to the taxpayers to get funding for the demolition by placing a referendum on the ballot. However, through the work of the advocates and others, along with the fact citizens of the city did not want a tax increase, the referendum was defeated. Advocates did not end the fight there, however. Based on the response to the earlier task force, the city has now reconvened a citizen task force, but this time around it is inviting, tenants, people from the immigrant community, representatives from the nearby business community and affordable housing advocates, which will make this redevelopment process much more inclusive. Other efforts to redevelop at the expense of the scarce affordable housing in the community are underway in Champlin as well, with HPP currently working with an apartment owner whose property is being targeted by the city for redevelopment. The owner does not want to sell but the city has indicated interest in using eminent domain to acquire his property in order to redevelop the area by putting in high end condominiums.
