Homeowners band together to tackle housing issues
By: Robert Johnson 11/01/2007
It’s difficult to find a block in North Minneapolis without a for-sale sign in the yard or a street without a foreclosed home. In a perfect world, we would love to see young couples buy these homes, start a family and become new participants in our diverse and culturally rich community. But this is neither a perfect world nor perfect times.
The Northside Homeowners’ Association is a grass roots effort, just a month old. The seed has been planted and it’s taking root. Concerned about the spiraling foreclosure rates, crime, declining property values and other issues impacting livability for Northsiders, this group formed to tackle the problems, explore solutions and promote the positive aspects of our community.
North Minneapolis has been getting the short end of a very complex stick. We have the highest concentrations of rental and subsidized housing in the city and research shows the distinct correlation of 60-80 percent between crime and this type of housing.
The Northside Homeowners Association (NHA) would like to see the city work on plans to de-concentrate the amount of public housing in our community. We’d also like to help develop plans to make rental property owners more accountable for maintaining their properties and create better ways to deal with the livability issues created by problem tenants. For years the City of Minneapolis has had an extremely understaffed and overworked licensing department to police our community and problem properties. More could be done to prevent more homes from becoming rentals, and create a policy to better monitor and correct trouble properties.
We are faced with a complex set of issues, with fault going up all the way to the top of the government ladder. Section 8 is a federal program that has been gutted by the Bush Administration and is rife with misuse. Critics cite the need for change in the HUD Section 8 voucher program, which is administered locally through the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. A common issue is that problem property owners tend to address neighbor complaints by merely moving the tenants to another property they own just a few blocks away, bringing an old problem to a new neighborhood.
It may sound like NHA wants to just attack renters, the poor and landlords. Not the case at all. NHA acknowledges the need for programs to aid the poor and we also understand that not all people want to be homeowners. We just want to bring a balance to the owner-occupied vs. rental property ratio in our community. In fact, studies again show that de-concentrating public housing provides a better chance of success in exiting subsidy programs.
We also acknowledge that not all landlords and renters become bad neighbors and that assistance could be offered to inexperienced or problematic property owners and renters in being responsible tenants/owners. We’ve learned that many people are basically unaware of what is considered proper and respectful behavior in their neighborhood. Some have never lived in a house before and many would not even know how to turn off the water if a toilet overflowed.
This is a not a NIMBY (Not In my Backyard) issue, but more of a ‘not so much in my backyard.’ One research study indicates any level of over 20 percent subsidized housing as proportion of the rental property has negative impacts on the health of a community. 2000 Census data shows that in North Minneapolis, that number is 42 percent of the rental property, which is 48 percent of all rental units in our community. No doubt, that figure is much higher today.
The NHA also wants to promote homeownership on the Northside, network homeowners and responsible members of the community, partner with other neighborhood efforts and non-profits, and assist in presenting the positive aspects of North Minneapolis.
The NHA invites all homeowners and community members to be involved in the discussions. Attend one of the upcoming meetings (the next meeting is November 12, 6:30 p.m. at Folwell Park) or go online and give your comments or remarks: northsidehomeowners@gmail.com. Read more at http://northsidehomeowners.blogspot.com. Together we can develop a plan for action and become a voice for change in the place we call home.