We launched a letter campaign to elected officials demanding MPHA cancel rents, fully fund Section 8 vouchers & deep clean properties, etc. Here is Minneapolis Council Member Lisa Goodman’s deeply racist response to our demands.
First of all, what she said is totally untrue. 1. Most Section 8 residents DO WORK & don’t rely on public assistance. This is some racist, anti-Black Reaganite rhetoric. 2. Households may have up to 3 jobs. Yet that isn’t enough to pay the exorbitant expenses of Section 8. 3. The idea that rent is automatically reduced for Section 8 residents who have lost income is not only laughable but demonstrates how little CM Goodman understands about it.
This is the epitome of Racist Neoliberalism. Is this what CM Goodman thinks of her residents? These are the elected officials of our city that work to displace poor Black & Brown folk. The same people who ignore our calls to action yet campaign about the need for ” affordable housing.”
Let’s be clear, this is a common and deliberate racist policy platform in Minneapolis.
A screenshot of the demands from the letter campaign that was emailed out to elected officials Council Member Lisa Goodman’s response
We have a letter campaign to our elected officials asking them to Stop Section 18 & RAD, demand MPHA cancels rent during #COVID19 & provide vacant units to houseless people, fully funds Section 8 vouchers and deep cleans all the units including scattered-sites single-family homes, while providing protective gear for maintenance staff. Please share & sign, together we can protect public housing: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/keep-public-housing-public-hold-mpha-accountable-during-covid-19?source=direct_link&
From: Keep Public Housing Public Minneapolis Coalition
Recipients: Governor Tim Walz, Lt. Governor Flanagan, Mayor Jacob Frey, Minneapolis City Council, Minnesota House & Senate Legislators, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and US Rep. Ilhan Omar
We’re in the midst of a public health crisis, and vulnerable elders, people with disabilities, and families are at increased risk. Our elected officials must hold the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) accountable during the COVID-19 by demanding they:
Cancel rents for all public housing residents
Stop Section 18 Demolition & Disposition at single-family homes ( scattered sites) and Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversions at Elliot Twins until there are public, transparent community meetings with public housing residents, the MPHA Board, elected officials, residents of Minneapolis, housing advocates and the Keep Public Housing Public Minneapolis Coalition where MPHA can answer questions about the MPHA’s messages, policies, and contradictions at Elliot Twins and the scattered-sites
Fully fund all Section 8 vouchers
Open vacant units to those experiencing homelessness
Deep clean all public housing properties and scattered sites to reduce risk to residents and give proper Personal Protective Equipment to maintenance staff
Background: Low income and poor people, elders and seniors, people with disabilities, public housing residents (including Sections 8 and Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) vouchers holders) are most vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic health crisis.
Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) has failed to cancel rents especially for public housing residents who are unemployed or lost income while other public housing authorities created a protocol to stop payments for their residents. It is not enough for MPHA to just lower rents– we need a full cancellation.
MPHA failed to hold community meetings that were well attended before the pandemic to explain the Section 18 Demolition & Disposition privatization program that is risking the homes of over 740 low income/poor families that live in single-family public homes (AKA scattered-sites) throughout Minneapolis.
MPHA failed to explain the new leases or addendums to approve Section 18. On 2/27/2020 and 2/29/2020 scattered-site residents held tenant meetings and wrote to MPHA and elected officials, stating that they continue to face intimidation and threats if they don’t sign new leases and addendums that they don’t understand.
On March 19, MPHA https://tinyurl.com/RAD-at-ElliotTwins-June1-2020 to Elliot Twins residents, stating that privatization and conversion of Elliot Twins through RAD/low-income housing tax credit will start June 1, 2020, and a company called Elliots LP will take over the buildings. In the letter, MPHA stated no one will have to move unless they chose to.
The 174 units at Elliot Twins are 100% public housing on public land (aka Section 9 Housing) and under the Declaration of Trust (DOT). The majority of residents are elders/seniors on Social Security with a fixed-income of $750 a month and pay 30% of their income ($225 per month) for rent. Elliot Twins residents are below 10% of Area Median Income (AMI). According to MPHA’s RAD financial document for Elliot Twins https://tinyurl.com/Elliot-RADConversion-Overviewstateson pg.2, MPHA is using Area Median Income (AMI), and only 10% of the residents (19 units) that make 30% of AMI or below may be able to move back. 5% of units (10 units) will be for those earning (61% to 80% AMI) and 84% of units (155 units) will be 60% AMI. This means over 90% of the current Elliot Twins seniors and disabled residents could be displaced. When MPHA was called out, MPHA sends these tweets https://tinyurl.com/MPHA-s-Contradictionsthat says they are not using AMI. MPHA continues to send contradicting messages. MPHA again fails to be transparent and notify Elliot Twins residents of this important information. This is especially concerning in the midst a global pandemic and public health emergency.
MPHA is pushing RAD at Elliot Twins despite COVID19 and Minnesota’s State of Emergency.
We are in the middle of the COVID19 Pandemic. MPHA announced that its headquarters will be closed and only on-call maintenance and essential services will be opened. Council Member Cam Gordon has told a concerned constituent that MPHA has paused all RAD and Section 18 activities until the end of Minnesota’s State of Emergency for COVID 19 is over. See Cam Gordon’s quote responding to our letter campaign and call to action.
However, in a letter that Elliot Twins residents received last week from MPHA, it is clear that MPHA is still following through with the RAD Conversion at Elliot Twins during COVID 19 despite the closure of their offices due to COVID19.
In this letter, MPHA says to Elliot Twins residents that:
Public housing leases for Elliot Twins will be terminated
Residents will be required to sign new leases by May 29, 2020
Residents have until May 18, 2020, to submit comments about the signing of this new lease changes online by email at ElliotsRAD@mplspha.org.
MPHA knows Elliot Twins are majority elders/seniors and people with disabilities that don’t have access to computers nor speak read or write English.
In a previous announcement, MPHA said they will only be open for essential services, and residents can’t go to their office in downtown to ask questions to leaders. Residents also do not have access to phone numbers of the MPHA Board or the Executive Leaders to ask questions.
Since MPHA is very responsive on Twitter and FB. We need MPHA to answers these questions publicly as soon as possible.
1. Is the RAD Conversion at Elliot Twins an essential service?
2. Why is MPHA pushing a RAD Conversion at Elliot Twins during COVID 19 while there is no public accountability or transparency? 3. Why is MPHA asking Elliot Twins residents to provide comments online and by email only knowing many residents do not have access to computers, and they can’t gather in meetings to express how they feel about this process?4. Why is that MPHA is not mailing the new RAD Conversion Leases to Elliot Twins residents before they require residents to submit comments via email and online-only? Why is that Elliot Twins residents have yet to receive a copy of the new RAD Conversion leases MPHA is requiring to be signed by every resident by May 29, 2020?
We would like our elected officials who believe in good governance and public accountability including those who responded to Keep Public Housing Public Minneapolis Coalition letter campaign to also ask the above questions and more to MPHA and respond back.
In 2019, MPHA laid out a series of financial documents that tell the real story of what will happen to the Elliot Twins after RAD privatization (which they call “conversion”). Here is an excerpt from one of their documents (https://tinyurl.com/Elliot-RADConversion-Overview, page 2):
Key Facts:
● The Elliot Twins apartments, located in Minneapolis Ward 6, have been public housing on public land, protected by a Declaration of Trust (DOT), since they were built in 1969
● RAD conversion will eliminate the DOT and privatize the buildings
● There are currently 174 units (87 per building): 50% studios and 50% one-bedrooms
● Current residents are 100% low-income and poor, with the majority being elders/seniors, and disabled residents from East African and African American communities
● The majority of current residents are on a fixed monthly income of $750 from Social Security, which is $9k per year and is below 10% of the current Twin Cities Area Median Income (AMI). They pay 30% of that income ($225 a month) for rent
● 10 additional units will be added after RAD conversion, and out of the resulting 184 units only 19 units (~10%) will be for residents that make 30% AMI ($30k year) or below
● 155 units (~84%) will be for middle-class residents that make 60% AMI ($60k per year)
● 10 units (~5%) will be for wealthier residents that make 61%-80% AMI ($61K-$80k per year)
What Does This Mean?
The new residents that will move into the privatized Elliot Twins will not be public housing residents. These shocking figures show that over 90% of current residents will be displaced once the Elliot Twins are privatized. They do not make enough money to come back. The private subsidiary, Elliot Twins LP, that will take over the property will not be publicly accountable and can screen and discriminate against applicants for the remaining 10% of units available to people making less than 30% AMI.
Who is Responsible?
MPHA and the City of Minneapolis have worked hard for three years to silence and demonize the voices of public housing residents at Elliot Twins and leaders of DG&PHC who were organizing together to stop this privatization and displacement. Mayor Jacob Frey, Abdi Warsame (former CM of Ward 6 and now Director of MPHA), Andrea Jenkins (Ward 8), and the City’s Housing Policy & Development Committee – Cam Gordon (Ward 2), Jeremiah Ellison (Ward 5), Lisa Bender (Ward 10), Lisa Goodman (Ward 7), Kevin Reich (Ward 1) and Jeremy Schroeder (Ward 12) – ALL passed a resolution and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to privatize Minneapolis public housing starting with Elliot Twins, and they ALL promised that no one would be displaced. Now their promises turned out to be false. They are responsible for over 90% of the current elders and disabled residents of Elliot Twins public housing being displaced from their homes and community as we are facing COVID19 Pandemic. What is their answer to this?
We
are demanding that MPHA & the City of Minneapolis halt all
evictions for Public Housing residents, Section 8 & PBRA Voucher
holders. We also ask that MPHA creates a protocol for households who
have lost income due to Covid-19, & house all the houseless members
of our community NOW. Public Housing Authorities all over the country
have announced moratoriums on evictions, and while HUD should be
announcing details for a national moratorium soon, it is still unclear
whether or not that
will protect Section 8 residents and PBRA Voucher Holders. MPHA is the
largest public housing authority in the state, & it is also one of
the largest evicters in the city. Despite the pandemic, MPHA employees
have continued to harass public housing residents for new lease
signages. They will not protect the residents on their own. That is why
the City of Minneapolis needs to protect all residents of income-based
housing immediately. Among us are some of the most vulnerable to
Covid-19; poor and disabled residents who cannot afford an eviction.
MPHA must halt all evictions NOW.
Finally,
the City of Minneapolis must house all the houseless members of our
community immediately. Aside from the many vacant homes and apartments
operated by MPHA, our city is full of vacant homes, apartments, &
condos- many of which were developed using gov. subsidies. Give them up!
There are vacant units right now that were developed using the Low
Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). There are people right now that are
at risk of contracting a dangerous virus due to experiencing
houselessness. Give them up. House the houseless in your city Jacob Frey!
A public health crisis like the one we are currently experiencing is
not only fixed through individual efforts. It requires collectivism
& care for all in our community. Those of us who have homes cannot
just stay inside, we have to make sure everyone has a home to go inside
to. Call your city councilor, Mayor Jacob Frey,
MPHA, and demand a stop to evictions, an immediate and urgent protocol
to aid families who’ve lost employment and income, and housing for the
houseless. We need these securities, and we need them today.
http://m.startribune.com/minneapolis-agency-director-scott-will-lead-chicago-s-housing-authority/568563742/; In 2017, Interim Director Tracey Scott was hired by Greg Russ as Deputy Director for MPHA, where her mission became the ending public housing in Minneapolis. She moved from Atlanta after the Hope VI program she helped to implement left Atlanta with empty lots, a housing crisis, mass houselessness, and 50,000 public housing residents displaced from their homes and communities; https://www.dgphc.org/2019/11/04/who-is-tracey-scott-the-new-interim-director-of-mpha/. Just like Greg Russ moved from MPHA to NYCHA to end public housing in New York City, Tracey Scott is now being rewarded the Executive Director position at the Chicago Public Housing Authority with a salary of over $300k.
In Minneapolis, Tracey Scott led a culture of:
Misinformation, lies, a general lack of transparency, and accountability regarding the Section 18 Demolition & Disposition which will privatize over 740 single- family homes known as scattered-sites.
Along with Mayor Frey and Council President Lisa Bender, and Greg Russ and Tracey Scott pushed for Section 18 to be implemented in Minneapolis for the first time in this city’s history after President Trump and HUD Secretary Ben Carson gutted all resident protections allowing public housing agencies to end public housing voluntarily; https://www.dgphc.org/2019/07/10/section-18-demolition-disposition-a-fact-sheet/.
Under her leadership, MPHA staff targeted and harassed public housing leaders who organized to keep public housing public and protect their homes and community.
Neglect: During her tenure, five people died in a fire at Cedars Public Housing. The victims were elderly and disabled residents and were not moved to temporary safe housing until the fumes and toxins cleared. Residents are still suffering from health issues from the fire.
Lack of leadership and accountability: Tracey Scott knew that the Cedar along with the rest of the buildings needed sprinklers- it was stated in the MPHA annual report, but this was intentionally ignored even though MPHA received a 45% increase in their repair and maintenance budget from HUD; https://www.dgphc.org/2018/10/12/mpha-can-afford-to-keep-public-housing-public/.
In this letter, MPHA pushes residents to sign a new lease, where CHR (Community Housing Resources) will be their new landlord and not MPHA. This will complete the conversion process of over 746 homes from the public to private ownership through Section 18 Disposition & Demolition. CHR is the MPHA created nonprofit that will have .001% ownership of the properties once residents have signed the leases. Even though MPHA says it owns CHR, once the Section 18 conversion is complete CHR will be an independent non-profit private corporation that will bring private investors and lenders to own the properties with millions of affordable housing funds from the State and City. Once this takes place, the properties will no longer be under the protection of the Declaration to Trust (DOT) and will no longer be public. Rents will increase, and residents will face displacement.
In the letter, MPHA says, “You will not move and your benefits will not change” but MPHA does not guarantee that CHR will keep rents at 30% of residents’ income as it is now. This means the homes will be “affordable housing” and not public housing. As a result, rents will increase which will displace majority low-income Black and Black Muslim scattered-site families.
In the letter, scattered-site residents are told to come to the MPHA office on Tuesday, February 25th, Thursday, February 27th, and Friday, February 28th 2020 to sign the new lease that will make CHR the new owner of their homes.
Scattered-site residents received this letter/notice on Friday, February 21, 2020, and the letters were mailed Thursday, February 20, 2020, giving residents less than a week’s notice.
MPHA did not provide copies of the new lease beforehand, and it was not mailed to residents before they were told to sign.
Scattered-site residents were not given a 30-day notice to review the new lease which is a violation of state and city laws.
Somali scattered-site residents were called after the letter was mailed by MPHA staff and were told if they don’t sign the lease, “they will face evictions.”
Scattered-site residents were not given time to access legal support or advocates to help them understand the new contract they are forced to sign.
MPHA wants scattered-site residents to sign the new lease even if residents have language barriers, can’t read or write English or have an accessibility issue.
MPHA failed to provide this letter in all of the language residents speak at Minneapolis Public Housing such as Oromo, Hmong, Spanish, Laotian, etc. This is a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
MPHA will use its own bilingual staff to interpret the letter.
MPHA has a long history of using their bilingual staff to misinform residents. As a result, residents will not have access to an independent and neutral professional interpreting service, which is in violation of their civil rights. In the letter, MPHA says it is “simple and easy to sign” which is not true.
Since all resident protections have been gutted from Section 18 Demolition & Disposition by Carson and Trump’s HUD; the City of Minneapolis, Mayor Frey and City Council refuse to pause Section 18; the MOU and resolution the City of Minneapolis passed allows MPHA to completely privatize public housing; MPHA began showing aggressive violations of residents’ rights; who will protect the rights of scattered-site residents? Who is accountable for MPHA’s violations? This is the first of many violations to come by MPHA’s privatization plans of public housing and public land as the City of Minneapolis and elected officials watch without any action.
What is the difference between Public Housing and Affordable Housing? Many allies have been asking us this question. Here is a fact sheet with cited sources that explain the difference. Please share!
When the government funds private affordable housing, it is giving money to private entities who are, in many cases, responsible for rents being so unaffordable, to begin including the houselessness and the current housing crisis. These private entities are given public money to provide housing that is not affordable to those who need it most, which will eventually be converted to market-rate housing, and that is not accountable to the public. This is NOT a good use of public funds; it is a giveaway to the private sector. Public housing is the only way out of our current crisis. City of Minneapolis their private investors with MPHA want you to think “affordable is public”. It is not. We call on elected officials to fully fund and expand public housing now! Now City of Minneapolis and MPHA are using Section 18 and RAD to privatize public housing. #KeepPublicHousingPublic#StopSection18#StopRAD
Dear Allies: Here is a statement and video shared by our coalition members Northside Neighborhoods Council regarding February 5th, 2020 City of Minneapolis Housing Policy & Development Committee’s meeting about the public housing. Please read NNC’s statement below, view the video, start at 11:30, and see how awful city council members talk about us, public housing residents. #StopSection18 ———
“It is disturbing the way this meeting played out. Community members and Public Housing residents are talked about with disdain when what they are fighting for is to keep public housing public. There are real discrepancies and flawed statements coming from MPHA.
Also, if you are curious about why we are asking to #StopSection18 the reasons are laid out in our letter to our Senators created with Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition. You can read that here: https://tinyurl.com/Sec-18-Response-to-DFL-Sen
The other was a staff direction related to recommendations about future funding for Public Housing. This would be a key first step to getting some city dedicated tax levy money to support (and influence terms of its use) for public housing which failed 3 to 3. https://tinyurl.com/MPHA-Public-Invest-by-Gordon
Tracey Scott also misled the Council to believe that State Senators retract their statement, of which they did not. You can read their original letter here: https://tinyurl.com/s4uffyh
There is a lot of false claims going around. We encourage everyone to please read, learn, and educate yourself about the impact of privatizing these properties and what it will mean for public housing residents..”
Wedge LIVE is a Minneapolis media outlet popular among white urbanists and YIMBY’s that regularly silences & smears POC anti-gentrification activists and organizers. Their article: https://wedgelive.com/whats-the-truth-about-public-housing-in-minneapolis/ is 100% about us without mentioning our campaign and the citywide movement that is organizing to #KeepPublicHousingPublic and #StopSection18
