CALL TO ACTION! May 22nd, 2019

Stop Section 18 and RAD

  • Contact Minneapolis City Hall, State Reps, Congress, Governor Tim Walz, and HUD to Stop MPHA’s and The City’s Section 18 and RAD application that will end public housing!
  • Attend MPHA’s Board Meeting on May 22, 2019, at 1:30 pm at 1001 N Washington Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55401. Demand MPHA accept public comments even though MPHA has denied public comments from public housing residents, a public hearing and refuses to hear from residents who will be displaced and evicted. 
  • Attend a rally outside MPHA’s Headquarters at 1:00 pm on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. MPHA’s Board is refusing to take comments from residents at their monthly, public meeting.  Public housing leaders are holding a rally to make sure our voices are heard despite MPHA’s attempts to silence us. MPHA’s headquarters are located at 1001 N Washington Ave, Minneapolis MN, 55401. Please join us and demand that MPHA and the City of Minneapolis #KeepPublicHousingPublic!

Minneapolis Public Housing Authority with the approval of Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis City Council: https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/RCA/8573/MOU_City_MPHA.pdf are planning to privatize its entire public housing stock through Section 18 and its sister program Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) at Elliot Twins which are voluntary programs by HUD.  MPHA and the City of Minneapolis are taking advantage of recent changes approved by Trump and Ben Carson that gutted tenant protections and made it easier to privatize and profit from public housing land. This is a first in the history of the creation of public housing in Minneapolis that began to provide housing for World War II Veterans after the war. Public housing residents along with the people of Minneapolis, neighborhood and community-based organizations have deep concerns about MPHA and the City’s  decision to  push Trump and Carson’s housing agenda that will privatize over 730 single family homes through Section 18  which will  displace over 5000 Black and Brown people majority children;https://www.dgphc.org/2019/02/22/mayor-jacob-frey-and-council-member-lisa-bender-approve-demolition-of-730-homes/, and the Rental Assistance Demonstration at  Elliot Twins that will displace seniors, people with disabilities and majority African American and East Africans, residents. After Elliot Twins, MPHA plans to apply yearly for RAD for each of the 42 public housing highrises throughout the city.

Section 18 Disposition & Demolition application, MPHA, and City of Minneapolis failed to:

  • Notify and inform over 730 households throughout the city and hold citywide community meetings about this plan: https://tinyurl.com/Section-18-Fact-Sheet-2-25-19
  • Notify the public and public housing residents the private developers plan to own 99.99%  and a non-profit corporation created by MPHA  plans to own .001%  of the housing stock. They will buy the homes from MPHA for $1 per home while the residents receive $94 per household for moving costs as they are displaced. See MPHA’s Section 18 Application where they allocate merely $70,656 for over 730 households’ relocation costs; https://tinyurl.com/MPHA-Section18-Application.    
  • Hold citywide council meetings for public housing residents to vote at scattered sites.
  • Provide an opportunity for public housing residents at scattered sites to comment and speak at the MPHA Board
  • Hold public hearings, public comment and city council vote at city hall.

Rental Assistance Demonstration ( RAD) at Elliot Twins, MPHA and City of Minneapolis failed to:

  • Listen to seniors and residents at Elliot Twins with disabilities who voted, protested and wrote petitions saying no to the  RAD application at Elliot Twins: http://tinyurl.com/Elliot-Twins-Resident-Letter
  • Tell the truth about the RAD’s eviction plan which will convert Elliot Twins from a public good into the hands of private developers;https://tinyurl.com/ElliotTwins-RAD-Eviction-Plan
  •  Stop an eviction plan that leads directly to homelessness and: 
    • Includes an “option” for residents to temporarily relocate to a “hotel unit” within Elliot Twins during construction which is not possible because MPHA does not have enough empty units to move over 200 people.
    • Includes an “option” for residents to “Temporarily relocate to a friend or family’s home during construction.” This is homelessness.
    • States that residents “may: “permanently or temporarily relocate to Elliot Twins, another highrise, section 8 project-based unit,  or receive section 8 vouchers to find other housing. These eviction options all include the caveat that MPHA will fulfill them to the “maximum extent possible”. This means that MPHA cannot guarantee to the house for every resident during construction. Given the current housing crisis in Minneapolis and the fact that the waitlist for Section 8 and public housing is seven years long, this means that these residents will be evicted and will become homeless.
    •  Nowhere in their plan does MPHA mention that residents have guaranteed rights to return to Elliot Twins which is what they have been preaching for the last year and a half to sell RAD plans to the public and politicians.
  • MPHA says they will “seek to accommodate residents with these options to the maximum extent feasible,” meaning there is no guarantee that this option is even possible and residents will face homelessness
    •  
  •   Residents can expect to face multiple evictions from Section 8 housing and They will not be able to move back.
  • MPHA admits that some residents will be forced to move over 50 miles away from Elliot Twins, which is not what they claimed previously when they said residents could stay in their building or neighborhood. Having to move 50 miles away is displacement and gentrification and is unacceptable.
  • MPHA fails to mention that private Section 8 landlords can raise rents and utilities, while HUD’s subsidy is capped at a certain level. This places residents at risk of eviction. (page 18
  • MPHA fails to mention that private Section 8 landlords can raise rents and utilities, while HUD’s subsidy is capped at a certain level. This places residents at risk of eviction. (page 18).

According to HUD, public housing in Minneapolis is a top performer, and the properties receive up to 98% for their HUD inspection scores.  MPHA continues to repeat the lie that they have a funding crisis when they do not. Their federal funding has increased in recent years, and they have $23 million in savings that they are not spending. Governor Walz’s 2019 Budget recommendation includes a provision of $30 million to address the purported public housing backlog as well as over $100 million for other “Affordable Housing” needs (https://tinyurl.com/30million-publichousing).

MPHA could lobby for these funds to be allocated to their capital needs and push for more from the State as well as the City. They have chosen not to because they aren’t actually interested in maintaining their properties, they are only interested in privatizing public housing.

The Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey who are all from Democratic and Green Party are actively helping dismantle public housing in Minneapolis and furthering Trump’s agenda.   It is hard to believe that our progressive elected officials are pushing the Trump agenda right here at home.

To Keep Public Housing Public and support residents, please do the following: 

  • Please call HUD and our elected officials and ask them to stop MPHA’s Section 18 and RAD applications. Contact information can be found below. Call now and tell these officials to KEEP PUBLIC HOUSING PUBLIC!
  • Attend MPHA’s Board Meeting on May 22, 2019, at 1:30 pm at 1001 N Washington Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55401. Demand for public comments even though MPHA has denied public comments and a public hearing and refuses to hear from residents who will be displaced and evicted. 
  • Attend a rally outside MPHA’s Headquarters at 1:00 pm on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. MPHA’s Board is refusing to take comments from residents at their monthly, public meeting.  Public housing leaders are holding a rally to make sure our voices are heard despite MPHA’s attempts to silence us. MPHA’s headquarters are located at 1001 N Washington Ave, Minneapolis MN, 55401. Please join us and demand that MPHA and the City of Minneapolis #KeepPublicHousingPublic!

#KeepPublicHousingPublic #BuildMorePublicHousing #SayNoToSection18 #NotoRAD  #DefendElliotTwins #StopFrey #StopRuss #SayNoToGentrification #StopPrivatization  #DGPHC #PHIMBY #AbolishFaircloth

Congress    
Maxine Waters LA: (323) 757-8900
DC: (202) 225-2201 		 
Ilhan Omar MN: (612) 333-1272 DC: (202) 225-4755  
HUD Officials    
Jane Hornstein (312) 913-8766 Jane.B.Hornstein@hud.gov
Claude Dickson (202) 402-8372 Claude.C.Dickson@hud.gov
Chrisropher Golden (202) 402-2413 Christopher.M.Golden@hud.gov
State    
Governer Tim Walz (651) 201-3400  
Attorney General Keith Ellison (651) 296-3353 attorney.general@ag.state.mn.us
State Rep Hodan Hassan (651) 296-0294 rep.hodan.hassan@house.mn
State Rep Mohamed Noor (651) 296-4257 rep.mohamud.noor@house.mn
State Rep Raymond Dehn 651 296-8659 rep.raymond.dehn@house.mn
City    
Mayor Jacob Frey (612) 673-2100 jacob.frey@minneapolismn.gov
CM Lisa Bender (612) 673-2210 lisa.bender@minneapolismn.gov
CM Abdi Warsame (612) 673-2206 abdi.warsame@minneapolismn.gov
CM Cam Gordon (612) 673-2202 cam.gordon@minneapolismn.gov
CM Jeremiah Ellison (612) 673-2205 jeremiah.ellison@minneapolismn.gov

See link for more Minneapolis City Council Members: https://www.dgphc.org/hold-them-accountable/

For a PDF Copy of this Call to Action click here: https://www.dgphc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Call-to-Action-May-22nd-2019.pdf