In September 2017, the McKnight Foundation, a nationally prominent Minneapolis-based charity, awarded the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) a $1 million grant. MPHA told public housing residents these funds would be used to preserve and repair their homes. Documents newly uncovered by the Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition (DG&PHC), however, reveal this was more of MPHA’s typical double-talk.
In its grant proposal to McKnight, which DG&PHC has acquired through a Minnesota Government Data Practices Act request, MPHA wrote that the grant in fact funds a “development team,” which will “evaluate the market value of each property” and “assess each property’s neighborhood, including market trends and whether it is a neighborhood of opportunity.” MPHA went on to state, “Recommendations for maximizing the value of each property could include development, redevelopment, repair, or disposition (with replacement of units).” The team’s purview includes “moving to close on individual deals.”
“Market value”? “Market trends”? “Maximizing the value”? Closing on “deals”? This language confirms what DG&PHC has been saying all along: MPHA plans on transforming public housing property into commodified, investable real estate, and putting ownership interests up for sale. And MPHA knows private investors will only bite if they see pathways to eventually bringing that real estate up to the market rate. That will mean speculation, high rents, displaced residents, and worsening gentrification of Minneapolis.
Ironically, the funding for MPHA’s privatization team was awarded under the banner of McKnight’s “Homes For All” program, which claims to promote “preservation and permanency of affordable housing.” Yet MPHA’s plans hinge precisely on the removal of the trust status that currently ensures public housing’s permanent affordability. McKnight’s mission statement, however, merely says it “seeks to improve the quality of life for present and future generations. We use all our resources to attend, unite, and empower those we serve.”
It begs the question: who does the McKnight Foundation really serve? We at DG&PHC thus far have given McKnight the benefit of the doubt regarding the intentions behind its MPHA award, even as McKnight has consistently avoided giving us a straight answer. But the newly released data, which includes lengthy communications between MPHA and McKnight, dispels any ambiguity: McKnight bankrolls and fully supports MPHA’s privatization plans. As we continue to expose these plans in the coming weeks, we will be calling on allies and community organizations to hold the McKnight Foundation accountable.