Just over a month ago, the 2018 Omnibus Spending Bill passed both the House and Senate, averting a government shutdown and funding the government through September 30th. To the surprise of many, this spending bill included major increases in funding for public housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development saw a 10% funding increase, including $4.55 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund (an increase of $150 million), and $2.75 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund, an increase of over 40%.

This news follows a long PR campaign by Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) arguing that declining federal funding gave the agency no choice but to privatize public housing in order to “preserve” it. While internally using the motto “sell, sell, sell”, MPHA justified plans to move residents out by saying they will never get enough money from U.S. Congress to maintain public housing. In a recent proposal submitted to the Governor’s Task Force on Affordable Housing, MPHA Executive Director Greg Russ and General Council Lisa Griebel make ominous threats about the future of affordable housing saying “the need for additional units is compromised by the threatened loss of existing housing for extremely low-income households. This loss is driven by the steady downward trajectory of annual federal appropriations. This downward trajectory is expected to continue.”

MPHA pushed this argument without saying anything about their own surplus of over $23 million. This money is parked in a bank account while MPHA neglects repairs in many public housing buildings – putting families, elders, and children’s health at risk, especially during the winter. But public officials have been reluctant to hold MPHA accountable. Many powerful “progressive” elected officials and city departments have been silently supporting MPHA’s narrative to sell public housing to private developers, who would profit from public buildings while low-income POC people are displaced.

In summary, MPHA put out a huge PR campaign citywide:

• To change the mindset of middle class white residents, pushing them to accept that public housing was no longer a sustainable or a worthwhile public good.
• This argument rested on the claim that because funding had been decreasing in recent years, it would never return to previous levels.
• Privatization is described as the only way to “preserve” the housing stock.
• While pushing this narrative, MPHA has neglected to disclose that they currently sit on over $23 million in unrestricted reserves.

The 2018 Ominibus bill proves that MPHA’s central claim that federal support for the nation’s vital public housing resources will inevitably continue to dwindle is false. Instead, it shows that huge wins are possible. This bill means that MPHA will receive more federal funding than it has in recent decades. What will their excuse be now that they have enough money?

The truth is, dismantling public housing is racial. The fact that a majority of public housing residents are Black, Black Muslims, Refugees, and Immigrants of Color says a lot about MPHA’s intent to dismantle communities of color in Minneapolis.

Whether or not public housing is adequately funded is a question of political will. We will continue to build a movement to protect and build more public housing that is truly public.