MPHA, will you hold public meetings to explain 2021 MTW Annual Plan & Section18 lease before another hearing?
Lack of public input
∙ On August 26th, 2020, MPHA had a public hearing regarding 2021 MTW Annual Plan without first holding community meetings to explain the 2021 MTW Annual Plan to public housing residents and to the greater public of Minneapolis. MPHA did not provide an opportunity for public housing residents to ask questions in order to understand this plan.
∙ On August 25, 2020, Prospect Park Association wrote a letter to MPHA asking to engage residents and hold community meetings. MPHA rejected this request. https://www.facebook.com/DefendGlendale/posts/1834452573387258
∙ On September 17, 2020, Keep Public Housing Public Minneapolis Coalition, Minneapolis Sanctuary Movement, Campaign Against Racism-Twin Cities Chapter and Beltrami Neighborhood Council wrote an Op-ed asking for MPHA to hold community meetings to answer questions about the 2021 MTW Plan. MPHA did not respond. https://mndaily.com/262294/opinion/opinion-the-mpha-and-city-of-minneapolis-have-shown-a-lack-of-community-engagement/?fbcli
New Public hearing on November 18, 2020 without public input
∙ An ally noticed on the MPHA website that MPHA is holding another public hearing on the 2021 MTW Annual Plan and Statement of Policies on November 18, 2020; https://mphaonline.org/annual-policy-update.
∙ Public housing residents have not been notified about this hearing. MPHA knows the majority of public housing residents do not have access to computers, the internet, and face language barriers. MPHA sends letters via mail to notify residents. As public housing residents, we have not received any letter from MPHA regarding this hearing nor community meetings to answer questions before the hearing on November 18.
∙ We as public housing residents have to right have public meetings for MPHA to explain their plans. We submitted comments asking a lot of questions about the 2021 MTW Annual Plan, and MPHA is not responding.
∙ How are we able to provide comments if we don’t understand what we are commenting on, and MPHA is refusing to hold community meetings to explain.
The new Section 18 lease MPHA refuses to explain
∙ Scattered sites residents are confused about the Section 18 Demolition & Disposition – Section 8 Project-Based Lease.
∙ MPHA Property managers have been harassing and intimidating residents to sign the new lease without explaining what is in this lease to English and non-English speakers; https://www.facebook.com/DefendGlendale/posts/1866933266805855.
∙ MPHA is now sending out threatening letters of lease violation to scattered-site residents;
https://tinyurl.com/MPHA-threats-to-Scatteredsites.
∙ Scattered-site residents continue to ask for public meetings for MPHA to explain the lease before they sign; https://www.facebook.com/DefendGlendale/posts/1872602349572280.
∙ Yet again, MPHA is not responding and refusing to hold community meetings. MPHA property managers are not able to answer residents’ questions, but they expect residents to sign the lease.
∙ Even though this is a violation of residents’ rights, MPHA continues on this path with no accountability from the City of Minneapolis or the State of Minnesota.
∙ If the public housing residents were white and wealthy, the City of Minneapolis and the State of Minnesota would respond immediately.
MPHA, will you hold public community meetings to explain 2021 MTW Annual Plan and Section 18 Demolition & Disposition – Section 8 Project-Based Lease before another hearing?
defendglendale @ gmail. com | www.dgphc.org | facebook @ defendglendale | twitter @ defendglendale
P.O. Box 14616, Minneapolis, MN 55414
612 -389-8527
October 26, 2020