I. Opposition to Section 9 Public Housing Preservation and Expansion

1. Shared Position
   • Both Mayor Jacob Frey and State Senator Omar Fateh oppose preserving and expanding Section 9 public housing.
2. Frey’s Role
   • Lobbied HUD to approve the privatization and demolition of Section 9 housing through Section 18 and RAD programs, a historic public land grab for developers. 
   • These programs allow the transfer of properties from Section 9 to Section 8, enabling private developers to take over and profit from “deeply affordable housing” funds from city, state, and federal levels as well as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC).
   • Example: Royal Bank of Canada received a 99-year ownership deal through public financing and a LIHTC for Elliot Twins.
3. Fateh’s Role
   • Lobbied at the state level to support legislation to fund Section 18, a privatization scheme converting the entire stock over 800 single family Section 9 public housing homes.
   • This funded Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA)’s effort to create four LLCs/nonprofits to facilitate private developer takeovers, similar to the Royal Bank of Canada example. 
   • As a result, Elliot Twins residents no longer pay 30% of their income for rent; instead, rent is based on Area Median Income (AMI), a market-rate model which changed the population of the buildings because it is unaffordable for Section 9 public housing residents.
4. No Advocacy to Save or Expand Section 9
   • Fateh has never proposed a bill to stop the demolition of Section 9 or build additional Section 9 public housing units and has refused to take action upon resident request leading to the homelessness crisis. 

II. Opposition to Glendale Townhomes Historic Designation

1. Fateh’s Position
   • Fateh has refused to support Historic Designation.
   • His top aide, Chris Meyer, has circulated racist posts regarding Glendale in support of Wedge Live. These posts accused public housing residents of perpetuating Prospect Park’s 1909 Race War and of redlining and racial housing discrimination for wanting their history preserved.
   • How can Black/Brown low-income tenants have the power to redline?
   • When Glendale residents and youth asked for vocal support with the historic designation vote, Fateh refused, stating: “I don’t think you have the votes.”
2. Frey’s Position
   • He has blocked the Glendale Historic Designation vote since 2016 and led the charge to end Section 9 public housing so developers and nonprofit housing corporations can make 100’s of millions on his deeply affordable housing platform. 

III. Social Media and In-Person Attacks Against DG&PHC

1. Frey’s Actions
   • Since 2019, he has sent political allies (including Abdi Warsame and others) to attack and spread misinformation about Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition (DG&PHC), especially targeting Black women tenant leaders.
   • Sent Abdi Warsame to bully Somali women tenant organizers from DG&PHC.
   • Encouraged white YIMBY groups and individuals to attack DG&PHC, particularly its Black women leaders, publicly.
   • Continues to use social media and proxies to undermine DG&PHC’s credibility.
   • They coordinate hit pieces with the Star Tribune; https://www.dgphc.org/2025/05/18/star-tribune-continues-to-attack-lie-about-glendale-families-defend-glendale-2/

1. Fateh’s Actions
   • His top aide, Chris Meyer, supports Wedge Live and similar accounts that have attacked DG&PHC online. Wedge Live is an avid supporter of Fateh and has demeaned and undermined DG&PHC while refusing to engage directly with Glendale resident organizers.
   • Fateh surveilled DG&PHC organizing at Elliot Twins during his campaign for his State Senate seat, while ignoring tenant organizers and their requests. He watched residents protest and be harassed by MPHA staff and police. He never intervened and smirked as he saw it. 
   • Fateh uses social media proxies and YIMBY allies to discredit DG&PHC’s work. Just to clarify, Section 9 public housing tenant advocates are called PHIMBYs. 

Note: This racist press release, released by Frey appointee Abdi Warsame and MPHA, was promoted and supported by Chris Meyer, Omar Fateh’s top policy aide. This deeply racist post is still up months later, showing a lack of remorse and respect for Black housing organizers. https://t.co/zMMK1mU6GW
(https://x.com/WedgeLIVE/status/1914427792919298436?t=zOykS49hQ5RJYbdG-xaZ4w&s=03)

IV. Summary

• Both Frey and Fateh share a pro-privatization housing agenda ending Section 9 public housing.
•  “Affordable & deeply affordable housing is ending Section 9 public housing and giving 100’s of millions to developers. 
• Both have opposed Glendale’s historic designation.
• Both have targeted DG&PHC leaders and community members through online and in-person campaigns.

www.dgphc.org/2019/09/25/historic-public-land-grab-mpha-mayor-frey-and-council-president-lisa-bender-move-forward-to-sell-717-scattered-sites-of-public-housing-and-104-67-acres-of-public-land-through-section-18-demolition/

Fateh & MPHA to fund the privatization of 800 Section 9 single-family homes.

10.28.2025

This multi-million-dollar Lake of the Isles mansion belongs to Tom Hoch, former Chair of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA). In the 1990s, Hoch was Deputy Director of MPHA and oversaw the demolition of the Sumner-Glenwood Neighborhood in North Minneapolis —once the largest Section 9 public housing community in Minneapolis and the childhood home of Prince.

After leaving MPHA, Hoch privatized the public theaters in downtown Minneapolis as their CEO. He later ran for mayor in 2018. In 2022, Mayor Jacob Frey appointed him as MPHA Chair after Frey’s previous appointee was indicted for fraud. Frey also hired Greg Russ to demolish and privatize all of Section 9 single-family homes, public housing known as scattered sites for low-income large families, in 2019. 

From December 2024 to July 2025, Hoch directed MPHA Executive Director Abdi Warsame to hold monthly meetings inside Glendale Townhomes, falsely claiming that Glendale is not historic to scare and warn families they will be displaced because MPHA plans to demolish Glendale Townhomes. #StopDisplacement #PeopleOverProfit #StopDisplacement #DefendSec9PublicHousing #GlendaleIsHistoric

https://mspmag.com/home-and-design/a-lake-of-the-isles-home-in-full-bloom

https://mphaonline.org/news/new-board-chair-tom-hoch/https://www.dgphc.org/2022/07/14/who-is-tom-hoch/

https://www.startribune.com/glendale-townhomes-historic-designation/601345725?s=03

Dear Susan Du, 

On behalf of Defend Glendale and long-time families of Glendale Townhomes, we find your article to be an elaborate lie, an attack on low-income and working-class families that made Glendale historic, and the ones who are living there now that continue to make Glendale historic. We urge you to research and be a credible reporter instead of marketing for MPHA and Mayor Frey. This is the 4th or 5th time Star Tribune lied about us and ignored us when we submitted op-eds to tell our side of the story. However, when a white ally submitted the same Op Ed, Star Tribune accepted it. Your reporting continues to amplify the misrepresentation and silencing of low-income communities of color in Minneapolis, and it has not failed you yet. The article is full of lies from beginning to end.  We demand a public apology and the following corrections to the strategically false statements in your article. 

1. The petition you are referring to doesn’t say anything about displacement.Blank Petition Glendale to HPC and Minneapolis City Council April 2025.pdf
2.  Although the issue before the HPC is historic designation, MPHA’s repeated redevelopment proposals have confused the issue and raised serious concerns among residents. For the first time in a decade, MPHA is showing up regularly, now discussing relocation and demolition, while insisting they have no concrete plans. This contradiction has left residents in a state of uncertainty and fear of displacement.  MPHA initially claimed there were no plans, but soon presented four redevelopment options, including multi-story buildings. They called these proposals “preliminary,” yet have since confirmed RAD as their official direction—a program that would require demolition and has not been clearly explained to residents. At the end of these meetings, MPHA dismissively claims Glendale is not historic, despite expert opinions to the contrary.  MPHA has also falsely suggested that historic designation would block repairs. In fact, according to the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office, local designation does not prevent changes—it only requires that exterior modifications follow preservation guidelines and receive HPC approval.
3. You reported that DGPHC refused to provide a comment on Historic Designation. How is that true, when DGPHC invited multiple Star Tribune reporters to the May 11th press conference, and sent the press release to the Star Tribune tip line on May 10th. Instead of attending and speaking to the resident organizer, you used an old quote about the RAD fight at Elliot Twins, which has nothing to do with the historic designation of Glendale Townhomes.

4. Another false claim is that homes cannot be repaired if they are historically designated. This is simply false, and even the HPC has clarified this point. According to the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office’s website, “Local designation of a historic building or district will not prohibit you from making changes to your property. However, any exterior changes you make must meet local preservation guidelines based on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and must be approved by your HPC.”
5. Despite having access to numerous vacant lots, both MPHA and the City are not using this land to build more Section 9 public housing. Instead, residents face displacement in Glendale because that is what MPHA has been talking about in Glendale meetings since December 2024. Why isn’t this available land being used to expand Section public housing instead of demolishing and ending it? And why are many of the privatized scattered-site homes—especially those serving large families—being demolished?  The facts are all public records at MPHA.  Do FOI? You chose not to look at facts but to repeat MPHA’s lies.  
6. MPHA is receiving more funding from the City and State than ever before, yet continues to demolish Section 9 public housing. The new small fourplex apartments being built cannot accommodate large families, and they are not true public housing. These units are privately owned by LLCs and based on Area Median Income (AMI), which reflects market-rate rents, often geared toward households earning around $100,000. As a result, large families and those with very low incomes are excluded and unable to return. Why not investigate what happened to the displaced families from the original Section 9 single-family homes? Do your research.
7. On July 6, 2016, as a City Pages reporter, you interviewed Glendale families and published a well-received, balanced piece titled “The Fight Over the Housing Project That Sits on Gold”. At the time, you told both sides of the story fairly and factually. Now, as a reporter for the Star Tribune, you’ve misrepresented Defend Glendale and the Glendale Townhomes, despite knowing the facts, especially that our campaign is not run by white people.
8. The worst lie by you and MPHA is “Staff have fielded numerous complaints about canvassers knocking on tenants’ doors and telling them they would lose their homes if they didn’t support historic designation.”  

At the public hearing, Youth on April 8th at HPC, the youth directly addressed and refuted accusations that they were using fear tactics to gain support for historic designation. In contrast, Abdi Warsame has reportedly harassed residents and brought in outside agitators to intimidate and silence community voices. If the Star Tribune had attended our press conference and spoken with residents about how MPHA is scaring them, the coverage could have been more fair and accurate.

We could write pages correcting the misinformation in the article, but we don’t have the time. More importantly, the privatization of the Elliot Twins through RAD—now owned by a private LLC with a 99-year lease to the Bank of Canada—has nothing to do with the historic designation of Glendale Townhomes. Instead of drawing false connections, why not conduct real investigative reporting? Look into how rent calculations changed after the Elliot Twins’ conversion from Section 9 to RAD, and report the actual number of displaced elders with disabilities, on SSI, many of whom were organizing against the privatization.

Star Tribune’s history of silencing and racist tactics on Glendale Townhomes and public housing leaders of Defend Glendale goes back to 2017, since they identified with Greg Russ, the Czar of Privatization and Gentrification. 

•  https://www.dgphc.org/2018/07/20/star-tribune-spin-piece
• 2017 email sent to  “Shame on you, Emma Nelson and the Editors of the Star Tribune, for lying about our rally,, and what our fight is about.”

• 2018https://www.dgphc.org/2018/08/31/a-letter-from-a-concerned-and-mpha-resident-to-the-star-tribune-regarding-greg-russ-blatant-conflict-of-interest/

Star Tribune’s long history of slander, disrespect, racism, and silencing is well documented throughout the City’s low-income Black and Brown communities, who are trying to save their communities like Glendale Townhomes. We demand a public apology and corrections as soon as possible. 

Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition

https://linktr.ee/defendglendale

https://glendaleexhibit.wixsite.com/70th-anniversary

https://www.startribune.com/glendale-townhomes-historic-designation/601345725?s=03

Dear Susan Du, 

On behalf of Defend Glendale and long-time families of Glendale Townhomes, we find your article to be an elaborate lie, an attack on low-income and working-class families that made Glendale historic, and the ones who are living there now that continue to make Glendale historic. We urge you to research and be a credible reporter instead of marketing for MPHA and Mayor Frey. This is the 4th or 5th time Star Tribune lied about us and ignored us when we submitted op-eds to tell our side of the story. However, when a white ally submitted the same Op Ed, Star Tribune accepted it. Your reporting continues to amplify the misrepresentation and silencing of low-income communities of color in Minneapolis, and it has not failed you yet. The article is full of lies from beginning to end.  We demand a public apology and the following corrections to the strategically false statements in your article. 

1. The petition you are referring to doesn’t say anything about displacement.Blank Petition Glendale to HPC and Minneapolis City Council April 2025.pdf
2.  Although the issue before the HPC is historic designation, MPHA’s repeated redevelopment proposals have confused the issue and raised serious concerns among residents. For the first time in a decade, MPHA is showing up regularly, now discussing relocation and demolition, while insisting they have no concrete plans. This contradiction has left residents in a state of uncertainty and fear of displacement.  MPHA initially claimed there were no plans, but soon presented four redevelopment options, including multi-story buildings. They called these proposals “preliminary,” yet have since confirmed RAD as their official direction—a program that would require demolition and has not been clearly explained to residents. At the end of these meetings, MPHA dismissively claims Glendale is not historic, despite expert opinions to the contrary.  MPHA has also falsely suggested that historic designation would block repairs. In fact, according to the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office, local designation does not prevent changes—it only requires that exterior modifications follow preservation guidelines and receive HPC approval.
3. You reported that DGPHC refused to provide a comment on Historic Designation. How is that true, when DGPHC invited multiple Star Tribune reporters to the May 11th press conference, and sent the press release to the Star Tribune tip line on May 10th. Instead of attending and speaking to the resident organizer, you used an old quote about the RAD fight at Elliot Twins, which has nothing to do with the historic designation of Glendale Townhomes.

1. Another false claim is that homes cannot be repaired if they are historically designated. This is simply false, and even the HPC has clarified this point. According to the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office’s website, “Local designation of a historic building or district will not prohibit you from making changes to your property. However, any exterior changes you make must meet local preservation guidelines based on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and must be approved by your HPC.”
2. Despite having access to numerous vacant lots, both MPHA and the City are not using this land to build more Section 9 public housing. Instead, residents face displacement in Glendale because that is what MPHA has been talking about in Glendale meetings since December 2024. Why isn’t this available land being used to expand Section public housing instead of demolishing and ending it? And why are many of the privatized scattered-site homes—especially those serving large families—being demolished?  The facts are all public records at MPHA.  Do FOI? You chose not to look at facts but to repeat MPHA’s lies.  
3. MPHA is receiving more funding from the City and State than ever before, yet continues to demolish Section 9 public housing. The new small fourplex apartments being built cannot accommodate large families, and they are not true public housing. These units are privately owned by LLCs and based on Area Median Income (AMI), which reflects market-rate rents, often geared toward households earning around $100,000. As a result, large families and those with very low incomes are excluded and unable to return. Why not investigate what happened to the displaced families from the original Section 9 single-family homes? Do your research.
4. On July 6, 2016, as a City Pages reporter, you interviewed Glendale families and published a well-received, balanced piece titled “The Fight Over the Housing Project That Sits on Gold”. At the time, you told both sides of the story fairly and factually. Now, as a reporter for the Star Tribune, you’ve misrepresented Defend Glendale and the Glendale Townhomes, despite knowing the facts, especially that our campaign is not run by white people.
5. The worst lie by you and MPHA is “Staff have fielded numerous complaints about canvassers knocking on tenants’ doors and telling them they would lose their homes if they didn’t support historic designation.”  

At the public hearing, Youth on April 8th at HPC, directly addressed and refuted accusations that they were using fear tactics to gain support for historic designation. In contrast, Abdi Warsame has reportedly harassed residents and brought in outside agitators to intimidate and silence community voices. If the Star Tribune had attended our press conference and spoken with residents about how MPHA is scaring them, the coverage could have been more fair and accurate.

We could write pages correcting the misinformation in the article, but we don’t have the time. More importantly, the privatization of the Elliot Twins through RAD—now owned by a private LLC with a 99-year lease to the Bank of Canada—has nothing to do with the historic designation of Glendale Townhomes. Instead of drawing false connections, why not conduct real investigative reporting? Look into how rent calculations changed after the Elliot Twins’ conversion from Section 9 to RAD, and report the actual number of displaced elders with disabilities, on SSI, many of whom were organizing against the privatization.

Star Tribune’s history of silencing and racist tactics on Glendale Townhomes and public housing leaders of Defend Glendale goes back to 2017, since they identified with Greg Russ, the Czar of Privatization and Gentrification. 

•  https://www.dgphc.org/2018/07/20/star-tribune-spin-piece
• 2017 email sent to  “Shame on you, Emma Nelson and the Editors of the Star Tribune, for lying about our rally,, and what our fight is about.”

• 2018 https://www.dgphc.org/2018/08/31/a-letter-from-a-concerned-and-mpha-resident-to-the-star-tribune-regarding-greg-russ-blatant-conflict-of-interest/

Star Tribune’s long history of slander, disrespect, racism, and silencing is well documented throughout the City’s low-income Black and Brown communities, who are trying to save their communities like Glendale Townhomes. We demand a public apology and corrections as soon as possible. 

MPHA commissioners are okay with sending their executive director, Abdi Warsame, to create chaos.

Glendale Townhomes families are closer than ever to getting their housing historically preserved. This would secure Glendale’s place in Prospect Park, ending a decades-long fight against privatization and demolition. On April 22nd, the Minneapolis Historic Preservation Commission approved the designation of Glendale as a historic district. Today, May 6th, the decision will move to the City Council’s BHIZ committee, after which it will go to a full council vote for final approval on  Thursday, May 15th.

In response, MPHA has been engaging in a misinformation campaign, telling residents with large families that MPHA has plans for demolition, which Historic Preservation would thwart. At an April 5th meeting at Glendale, MPHA CEO Abdi Warsame falsely claimed that basic maintenance fixes and repairs can come only if historic preservation is rejected. MPHA Commissioners want to demolish Glendale through RAD, then convert the Section 9 public land to privately owned land through Section 8. Once Glendale is demolished, MPHA Commissioners want private developers to take over the land for $1, then use more public funding to build luxury buildings with smaller units that no one can afford. This is intentional and will block the large families here from returning because they won’t qualify to move back due to their family size. First off, it is categorically false that historic preservation will hinder renovations. Second, this lie ignores the current political climate around federal housing policy, especially with Donald Trump’s recent threats to cut Section 8 vouchers. If MPHA demolishes Glendale and converts the land into Section 8 in the hands of private developers, they will put all of their eggs in Trump’s basket while sacrificing their ability to use stable, reliable state funding sources, such as POHP and Historic Preservation.

Defend Glendale and the Public Housing Coalition have consistently raised concerns about MPHA’s increased use of the federal RAD and Section 18 programs to convert housing from public to private. Residents of MPHA’s scattered sites experience sharp hikes in maintenance fees after privatization, costs that used to be included in rent when the housing was public. In Addition, the Section 9 single-family homes that have been privatized through Section 8 are being demolished, families have been displaced, and the ones that are not the tenants are facing high costs with fees and rents.  MPHA is still evicting tenants who can’t pay these high rents. 

Additionally, when MPHA demolished the Section 9 single-family homes known as scattered sites, many scattered-site families were displaced and pushed out of the city. We don’t know where they are. The new units were smaller, and the large families that used to live in the single-family homes didn’t come back because they didn’t qualify. The new, smaller units are not for large families, and MPHA gave the land to a private LLC.

MPHA has conveniently ignored these details. Instead, they purposely spread misinformation and promise residents “four approaches” for demolition, which amount to a few CGI renderings and photographs of bathrooms with no substantive information. 

One Glendale resident asked these exact questions and was told there was no concrete plan or real details. Put simply, MPHA has no clue what it wants to do with Glendale in the long run, beyond demolition. The MPHA commissioners are okay with sending their executive director, Abdi Warsame, to chaotically spread misinformation and bring the trauma of displacement to Glendale families. In addition, many MPHA commissioners, especially the board chair, Tom Hoch, have deep ties to the Minneapolis Downtown Council. Why are millionaires running public housing?

Every problem with RAD  and Section 18 is multiplied under the current federal political climate. The Trump administration, through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is gutting HUD and slashing spending on housing programs. When Trump froze federal funding in early March, the freeze initially included Section 8 rental assistance, leaving voucher recipients across the country on the hook for the remainder of their rent, which is set by private landlords, which would have led to massive displacement across the nation. MPHA Commissioners want this for Glendale and the smaller number of Section 9 public housing units left throughout the City.  

Recently, plans to cut Section 8 vouchers in Trump’s upcoming proposed budget were leaked, sending housing authorities across the country into a panic and demonstrating that cuts to Section 8 are a long-term goal of Trump and his cronies. Reductions to HUD personnel will further delay the timely administration of the voucher program, leaving tenants with even less support. Currently, 44% of employees in the office overseeing the Section 8 Project-based rental assistance program may be laid off. This coincides with Trump pausing funding for thousands of government programs, including 100 that the HUD administers. All of these DOGE cuts exacerbate existing issues. Because of funding limitations, only 1 in 4 people in need of rental assistance received assistance in 2022.  It is unwise for MPHA to propose demolition in Glendale now, at all times. Why is MPHA putting all its eggs in Trump’s basket? The MPHA Commissioners, most developers, and the downtown business council do not believe we deserve secure and stable Section 9 public housing, which has more protections for tenants than Section 8. 

For as long as Trump is in office, it is wildly dangerous for MPHA Commissioners to rely on federal Section 8 funding for residents, especially when there are state funding sources insulated from Trump’s federal chaos. DGPHC has already discussed MPHA’s avoidable failure to fully draw on Minnesota’s Publicly Owned Housing Program (POHP). POHP is a program established by the state legislature in 2005, dedicated to renovating and preserving  Section 9 publicly owned housing in Minnesota through providing 20-year, zero-interest loans forgivable under the condition that the housing stays public. Despite MPHA receiving 12.3 million in POHP funding in the past, by privatizing and demolishing its Section 9 housing portfolio through Section 18 and RAD, MPHA deliberately limits its ability to use POHP funding in the future.  POHP funding is available only for Section 9 publicly owned housing, and any housing privatized through RAD and Section 18 is explicitly exempt.   This is because RAD and Section 18 convert housing from Section 9 to Section 8, meaning housing is no longer publicly owned but publicly funded for private developers to become millionaires. 

When the City Council approves Glendale’s historic designation, it will also allow MPHA to access the State and City Historic Preservation Grants-in-Aid Program, in addition to PHOP, another stable source of state funding. These grants are explicitly used to renovate, repair, and rehabilitate historically preserved, publicly owned buildings and homes. Despite the existence of this program, MPHA wants residents and community members to believe that historic preservation will make it impossible to maintain the homes and fix and repair them, which is a blatant lie. 

The correct choice is clear: by historically preserving Glendale and keeping it as Section 9 public housing, MPHA will retain and gain access to more funding from the State of Minnesota. Instead, by pushing for demolition and fighting against historic preservation, MPHA Commissioners are leaving the question of long-term funding up to Trump. By continuing their push with Glendale right at the beginning of Trump’s second term, MPHA Commissioners show that they do not care about the well-being of their residents. 

Don’t believe the hype. This article from MN Reformer is a PR piece designed to mislead. The city and MPHA claim they lack funds to repair Section 9 public housing, yet they find public funds to privatize these properties as they claim to make repairs, as seen with the Elliot Twins. Now, the Manor building is the latest Section 9 building set for privatization under the RAD (Rental Assistance Demonstration) program, pushed by the Mayor and city council.

RAD, a federal program lobbied for by the Minneapolis Mayor and City Council, shifts ownership from public to private hands. When the Mayor or city officials use terms like “deeply affordable” housing, they mean privately owned units, not true Section 9 public housing. Over the past two years, city-endorsed policies have led to the privatization, demolition, and displacement of over 736 public housing single-family homes known as scattered sites, using HUD’s Section 18 Demolition & Disposition alongside RAD to facilitate this shift from public to private.

This article misleads by using the term “public housing” in its title but then referring to “affordable” housing—affordable for whom? Section 9 public housing properties are being demolished, rents are rising, and low-income families are displaced, as seen at Elliot Twins. Yet, the Mayor, Rainville, and MN Reformer want you to believe that the Manor building will remain Section 9 public housing, even though it’s being privatized through RAD.

Additionally, they claim that 15 new Section 9 units are being built. In reality, these units are not public housing—they are “affordable” units with market-rate rents, controlled by private entities under the guise of affordability, benefiting developers, banks, and corporate nonprofits, not low-income families.

Ask your council members—especially those endorsed by TC DSA who pledged to halt RAD and Section 18—why they are allowing these programs to privatize, demolish, and displace low-income families, seniors on fixed incomes, and people with disabilities across Minneapolis right now.

On Wednesday, June 4th, 2024, The Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) of the City of Minneapolis unanimously approved the nomination to designate Glendale Townhomes as a historic district. This is the second time the commission has approved this nomination, as the previously approved application from 2020 expired. Both times, the Community Planning & Economic Development ( CPED) and Minneapolis Public Housing Authority ( MPHA) recommended a motion for the HPC to deny the nomination. Here is CPED recommending HPC to vote no under item #7 of the June 4 agenda. It is interesting to compare this to the 3 other private properties on the agenda that CPED recommended yes for historic designation. These are single properties mainly vacant in the  North Loop. At the same time, CPED recommended no for Glendale’s historic designation. Even though Glendale is the only Section 9 public housing with 184 properties- townhouses with a 5 to 7-year waitlist.  

During the June 4th Heritage Preservation Meeting/ Presentation, from 1:17:37 to 1:29, MPHA representative Mr. Brian Schaffer uploaded a PowerPoint by MPHA and CPED that listed reasons why HPC should deny the nomination to designate Glendale Townhomes as a historic district. Please note that if Glendale becomes a historic sight, MPHA will face barriers to demolish it.  MPHA and CPED said: “There are better ways to preserve history than designation.” They give no consideration to the families that Glendale houses. During the preservation meeting (timestamp 1:26:39), MPHA used an image from the Glendale Exhibit’s Oral History Interview (timestamp 20:24), created by Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition (DG&PHC) to show that they want to preserve the history while  MPHA wants to displace its low-income families and children. MPHA demonizes, slanders, attacks, and intimidates the Glendale tenants that founded & run DG&PHC along with mainstream institutions and politicians. Yet they continue to use our work. It is difficult to comprehend why MPHA would use our labor on this exhibit and then manipulate it to justify why they should demolish Glendale Townhomes. Using the labor of the exhibit team, such as current and former Glendale tenants, volunteers, and MN Transform AGAINST, what we are advocating for is not just callous but also condescending, classist, and racist.  

MPHA, STOP using our work. 

If MPHA truly cared about “amplifying and supporting” the story of Glendale, they would have long ago. 

MPHA’s approach of putting the onus of preservation work on residents and organizers through storytelling rather than the historic designation mechanisms put in place by the City shows that the  Minneapolis political leadership does not value Section 9 public housing. This local history work is our way of advocating for the protection and preservation of the Glendale community and all Section 9 public housing communities at risk of being demolished and displaced for profit. 

We will not allow Glendale to be an afterthought written in history books as a displaced community. 

#StopMPHA

Minnesota’s current information page for its POHP funding program

Last year, the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA)  justified its million dollar request to the Minnesota state legislature by pointing out that it can no longer draw on financing from the state’s Publicly Owned Housing Program (POHP) to renovate many properties it maintains. POHP is a dedicated state funding source for public housing authorities to use. MPHA is the state’s largest public housing authority.  

This fact sheet addresses how MPHA went from being the State’s most successful recipient of POHP to unable to take advantage of this funding.  MPHA’s history of transferring public housing into private hands is limiting MPHA’s access to funding sources, risking the long-term sustainability of its model. 

To understand MPHA’s current POHP predicament, it’s necessary to explain POHP’s history and how it operates. In 2005, the Minnesota state legislature created the Publicly Owned Housing Program (POHP) for renovating and preserving public housing units in the state. POHP funding can only be applied to the renovation of low-income public housing – housing that, as per Section 9 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, is operated by a municipal or regional Public Housing Authority (PHA).  This means that POHP funding cannot be used to renovate housing that MPHA privatized and converted to the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. While Section 8 rent is publicly subsidized, it is not publicly owned. It is owned by private landlords and non-profit corporations.

POHP distributes funds via a Request for Proposal (RFP) process, which is highly competitive. Once funding is provided, it can be allotted to a wide range of renovation needs. The funding is provided as a zero interest loan and is typically forgiven after its 20-year term.

POHP offers MPHA zero interest loans specifically for funding public housing renovation. 

MPHA presentation to the MN state legislature stating that it cannot use POHP funding for CHR-held properties

In recent years, MPHA has highlighted the need for significant renovation. Why isn’t the agency drawing on such an obvious and accessible source of funding as much as possible? This contradiction becomes even starker when one realizes just how much MPHA has used POHP money in the past. Over the past decade, MPHA has received about $12.3 million in POHP funding from the state to renovate public housing.  MPHA is so well versed in POHP policies that in 2020, MPHA’s own Community Update confidently stated that 

Since its creation in 2012, MPHA has been the state’s most successful user of POHP grants to address essential capital repairs…. MPHA will continue to apply for this essential program to preserve our highrises, most of which are now more than 50 years old. 

Despite this familiarity with POHP, MPHA has undertaken the privatization of public housing – rendering huge portions of its portfolio ineligible for POHP funding. Specifically, it has used two federal programs – Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and Section 18 Demolition and Disposition –  to convert its high rise and scattered site Section 9 public housing into privately owned “deeply affordable” housing that is subsidized by tax dollars. This resulted in displacement of residents and high rents.  The POHP program overview explicitly states that housing converted through RAD is not eligible.   In other words, by privatizing housing and transferring ownership to its subsidiary nonprofit Community Housing Resources (CHR), MPHA deliberately limited its ability to use POHP funding.  Now, MPHA complains about its inability to access POHP, as if the legal barriers were not a consequence of the agency’s own decisions. 

In addition to sacrificing access to future POHP funding, MPHA’s privatization agenda may result in additional costs associated with previously disbursed POHP money. While MPHA typically refers to POHP funds simply as “loans,” in its March 2022 Board Packet, MPHA stated, “the loans have a term of 20 years and are forgiven and extinguished with no repayment required if the MPHA continues to operate and manage the developments as public housing for public housing residents.”  In other words, these are effectively grants and only become loans if MPHA decides to privatize the properties.  This is meant to provide an incentive to maintain the properties as public housing.  Did MPHA have to repay “loans” which would have been forgiven had they maintained their public housing status? 

Another reason MPHA may be less reliant on POHP going forward is that PHOP requires that each housing community  have a concrete relocation plan, which is something MPHA failed to do for its residents during the RAD conversion of the Elliot Twin High rises. MPHA’s “relocation plan” for Elliot Twins did not provide a timeline for relocation, asked residents to move in with friends and family, and contradicted itself several times about whether residents would even have to leave the building during renovation. All of these actions violate the relocation requirements for projects funded by POHP. 

MPHA’s failure to meet POHP’s relocation requirements may be another reason that MPHA has deliberately limited its access to POHP funds. Was MPHA trying to avoid accountability by making their housing ineligible for POHP?  Perhaps MPHA assumed that the private sector cash that would flow in once units had been converted to private housing would eliminate the need for POHP funds.  Either way,  MPHA’s current complaints about being unable to draw on POHP and their hinted plans to lobby to alter POHP to cover privatized housing suggest that this the gamble did not work out. Instead, by privatizing, MPHA blocked the opportunity to access unlimited state funds.

Meanwhile, they say they are $31 million dollars behind in repairs.  This is the contradiction at the core of MPHA’s current approach to housing policy: they deliberately deny themselves access to public money and then refuse accountability.