Tell Our Elected Official to Stop MPHA and City’s Plans to Privatize Elliot Twins and Displacing Residents Using Trump’s RAD Program

Last week, some residents at Elliot Twins public housing apartments received a timeline from the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA), which shows how MPHA is rushing to push residents out of the buildings in order to privatize them via the RAD program. (View this timeline on the following page.) Starting in January 2020, residents will be given just 90-day notice which they will have to move out be displaced from their homes. Displacement will begin in March 2020. MPHA plans to displace residents out of Elliot Twins before they have even completed pre-construction planning or obtained the necessary permits and financing to complete their RAD conversion. MPHA also stated that they would not be honoring an earlier promise that residents would be able to move back into their homes following construction. MPHA is rushing to empty the buildings then later work on competing for tax credits and put together their financial plans so the buildings could stay empty for months or years while there is a 7year wait list.  As long as the residents are displaced and the buildings are empty, MPHA is in great shape for conversion because there is no monitoring or enforcement.

MPHA’s behavior is typical of RAD conversions around the country. RAD is a federal program, administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), that hands public housing buildings over to private owners. It began as a small pilot program aimed at housing agencies that couldn’t maintain their dilapidated properties, but in reality, it’s been used as a way to benefit private developers and accelerate gentrification by forcing low-income tenants out of their homes.

Trump’s HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, has greatly expanded the RAD program while at the same time cutting the staff who oversee it. This means housing authorities who are privatizing their properties are basically unaccountable, and residents have no recourse for complaints.  As a result, public housing residents around the country have been displaced despite RAD’s supposed “tenant protections.” Residents have also been denied vouchers, been subjected to deplorable “temporary” housing during RAD conversions, and have been forced to sign documents waiving their right to return to their homes.  While Trump and Carson are pushing RAD plans, Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, City Council President Lisa Bender, Council Member Cam Gordon who chairs the Housing Policy & Development Committee are also endorsing the Trump and Carson agenda. On December of 2018, this progressive democratic controlled City Hall passed a resolution authored by Council Member Abdi Warsame and Andrea Jenkins that approved RAD conversations throughout Minneapolis. Then, Mayor Frey and Council Member Lisa Bender sent a letter to Ben Carson’s HUD asking to approve Section 18 Disposition & Demolition which will dismantle and privatize over 730 single family homes that are public housing.  DG&PHC also did a previous call to action to stop Section 18 Disposition & Demolition. MPHA and City Hall all taking advantage of how Trump & Carson are destroying HUD when they can easily keep public housing public.    

There is no justification for the City of Minneapolis and MPHA to use RAD which is a dangerous program. MPHA’s properties are in excellent shape – HUD rates Elliot Twins’ physical condition as 95/100 with great community rooms that have cable and wifi. MPHA’s financial situation is also strong. It’s capital funding from HUD has increased in recent years, and it has $23 million in savings that it could spend on building maintenance or new public housing. There are also public sources of money from the city and the state that MPHA could lobby for if it cared about keeping public housing public. Mayor Frey, City Council of Minneapolis and MPHA have demonstrated that they are not interested in providing homes for Minneapolis’ poorest and most vulnerable residents. Though MPHA claims that Elliot Twins will remain affordable after RAD conversion, executive Director Greg Russ has publicly stated his desire to target people who make 50%, 60%, 80%, and even 120% of the area median income (AMI) to live in the newly privatized buildings. 120% of AMI is an income of over $113,000/year for a family of four. That’s much higher than the average household income in Minneapolis public housing of $14,841/year.  Public housing residents make less than 30% of AMI. RAD jeopardizes residents’ ability to stay in or return to the homes they’ve lived in for years and decades.

Our elected officials have the power to stop Mayor Frey’s administration and MPHA from dismantling public housing.  They need to listen to the public and to public housing residents, who are mostly Black, Black Muslims (East African), refugees, seniors, and people with disabilities, who have said no to RAD and who don’t want to be displaced from their homes and communities. Contact the officials below and tell them to KEEP PUBLIC HOUSING PUBLIC!

Timeline

Sample Script

Dear ___,

My name is ___ and I am a resident of ___. I am contacting you because I am seriously concerned about the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s plan to privatize Elliot Twins apartments and displace residents using the RAD program. RAD is a troubled program that is not being properly managed or overseen by Ben Carson’s HUD. It threatens the safety and security of vulnerable residents of Elliot Twins residents who are Majority Black, Black Muslims immigrants (East African), refugees, seniors and people with disabilities. There is no justification for Mayor Frey’s administration and MPHA to pursue RAD privatization given that Elliot Twins are in excellent shape and MPHA can afford to maintain them with public funding. The only benefit will be to private developers at the expense of low-income people and families. Please listen to your constituency and say no to RAD at Elliot Twins.

Sincerely,

____

Contact Info for Elected Officials