A few weeks ago, we shared an anonymous letter by a resident of public housing exposing a major conflict of interest for MPHA executive director Greg Russ. You can see the letter here: https://www.dgphc.org/…/a-letter-from-a-concerned-and-mpha…/

The letter outlined how Greg Russ’s family owns as investors and manages Thies & Talle Inc, one of the largest companies specializing in federally subsidized low-income and tax credit properties in Minnesota. Greg Russ’s father in law, Kenneth Talle, is the President and co-founder of this company. Kenneth Talle’s daughter, Laura Russ (Greg Russ’s wife) is the “Vice President of Asset Management.” You can learn more about the senior leadership at Thies & Talle by exploring their website here: http://www.thiestalle.com/about/our-people.html

As a private investor, Thies & Talle own dozens of apartment complexes in the region, including one building in Minneapolis, and at least one Project-Based Section 8 building in Saint Paul. Here is a link to that building, called “Afton View Apartments” http://www.thiestalle.com/properties/afton-view-st-paul.html

The status of this apartment as a Project-Based Section 8 property is confirmed on the 54th page of this 2018 City of Saint Paul document, which lists the Income Restricted Affordable Housing in the city: https://drive.google.com/…/1lU6Lzim2NH-ss5W3BDnGxL89M…/view…

We encourage the public to look at Thies & Talle’s extensive real estate holdings listed on their website here: http://www.thiestalle.com/properties.html

We are sharing this information today because authorities have not followed up to investigate this conflict of interest. As called for in the letter, we ask the State of Minnesota, City of Minneapolis and HUD to investigate this, including ongoing monitoring of Greg Russ’ family’s involvement as well as involvement from the multiple investors in their real estate holdings. The potential for the Russ family to personally benefit from the sale of public housing demands a thorough and transparent investigation into this conflict of interest. Greg Russ should recuse himself from any decisions regarding all privatization of public housing in Minneapolis, including privatization occurring through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program.