Monthly Archives: October 2010

The Message: The Affordable Housing Trust Fund is a smart Investment for Minneapolis

Whom to Contact: Call or Email your Minneapolis City Councilperson.

Find your ward: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/about/maps/ward-finder.asp

Talking Points:

• Talk about your faith and why you believe this is important.

• The Affordable Housing Trust Fund creates Jobs. If it was fully funded at $10 million, it would generate over 1,100 jobs.

• Build Affordable rental homes needed by Minneapolis renters. With full funding, 500 units of affordable rental housing will be created or preserved.
• Leverage millions of additional public federal funding and private foundation or investor funding. Investing $10 million in the trust fund will enable developers to leverage almost $60 million in additional funds. By cutting the fund by $1.8 million, our community will lose about $12 million total investment dollars for affordable housing.
• Increase the Minneapolis Tax Base. Affordable housing puts underutilized properties back on the tax rolls and fully funding the trust fund would increase the city’s tax base by nearly $1 million.

Background Information

Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak has proposed funding the Affordable Housing Trust Fund at $8.2 million or $1.8 million below full funding. City council members are now working on changes to the 2011 city budget. They need to hear from you that the Affordable Housing Trust Fund is important and should be fully funded.

42% of Minneapolis renters pay more than 35% of their income on housing. Creekside Commons, a recently opened 30 unit workforce housing development already has 200 families on the waiting list and has fielded more than 200 calls since the wait list was closed.

Minneapolis Public Schools counted 5500 homeless children in the school district last year whose families need affordable housing.