One year ago yesterday was the fire at Cedar’s Public Housing in Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood. It was a fire that killed five residents, most of whom were Somali seniors. This fire was entirely preventable and occurred only because MPHA leadership- made up of mostly white and upper-middle-class people, did not feel the need for decades to install water sprinklers in the public housing high-rises throughout the city. Highrises that house primarily Black American and Black Immigrant elders, and people with disabilities. The staff responsible for this fire are still working at MPHA making decisions on how to privatize public housing high-rises. MPHA has yet to confirm water sprinklers have been installed in the 42 high rises. Instead, in their letter to the community, MPHA thanks Mayor Jacob Frey Abdi Warsame Kari Dziedzic Ilhan Omar, U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Mohamud Noor, Mohamud Noor for House 60B and Amy Klobuchar for being “engaged with the essential conversation about the city’s public housing”. MPHA is giving shout out to all of these DFL elected officials for helping them push the privatization of Minneapolis public housing instead of these elected officials making sure that MPHA is accountable for the deaths of the five Somali and disabled seniors. Has anything changed in Minneapolis? No. If these residents were white and wealthy, this would not happen. We pay our respect for the innocent elders that died in this fire. May the five people who died that day be forever present in our minds, hearts, and memories, may we never stop fighting on their behalves, and may they rest in peace.
Links:
One year ago yesterday was the fire at Cedar's Public Housing in Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood. It was a fire that killed five residents, most of whom were Somali seniors. This fire was entirely preventable and occurred only https://t.co/WpkbN0Jkso
— Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition (@DefendGlendale) November 28, 2020
MPHA plans to privatize 23 out of 42 public housing highrise buildings through RAD without community input. MPHA refuses to hold public meetings where public housing residents and neighborhoods can attend for MPHA to explain the further destruction of public housing. Call your local council member and MPHA, ask why and demand they hold public meetings. Here is a map of the buildings by location, ward, and neighborhood. If you live in these neighborhoods join us to #KeepPublicHousingPublic #StopRAD #StopSection18
The below letter went out to all the scattered-site residents. MPHA Commissioners such as Tessa Wetjen said to allies who asked her to stop Section 18 conversion that nothing is going to change to the 717 public housing single-family homes that have been privatized through Section18 and turned in to Section 8 project-based. All of the Commissioners and staff of MPHA continued to verbally state to public housing residents that MPHA as a public agency will have full control of ownership and management. But now this letter sent by MPHA says otherwise. This letter threatens scattered-site residents of eviction after December 31,2020, if rents are not paid in full, MPHA has no control over the properties, and they are not owners. MPHA says in this letter that if residents are displaced and evicted, they need to take it up with a new owner, and they sent with the letter a list of sources to get financial help that doesn’t work.
MPHA makes it clear in this letter that the new owner with the support of MPHA is still going to evict scattered-site residents after December 31, 2020, and residents will lose their Section 8 vouchers. MPHA is doing this in a middle of a COVID19 pandemic where many residents have lost income and have increasing utilities due to kids staying home for distance learning, while MPHA blocks residents from getting help from the Community Action Partnership of Hennepin County to pay their heating and electric bills. As MPHA puts on a lobbying and pr campaign as the good guys, they continue to threaten residents with evictions and finally admit that there is a new owner of 717 single-family homes that have been privatized through Section 18. It is clear that MPHA wants to empty the homes so they can build with their developers and the city the luxury buildings under the guidance of the 2040 plan. For anyone who was doubting MPHA and the City’s plans, this is what Section 18 conversion and displacement looks like.
To MPHA Executive Director, Deputy Director, and Commissioners:
1. Who is the new owner?
2. Explain why you won’t answer questions about this in public meetings or in writing? What are you hiding?
3. Where is the translation for other languages for this letter?
4. How long do you think lying to the public will work?
To the elected officials on this email:
Who is responsible for MPHA?
Who will hold MPHA accountable?
In addition, during the virtual public hearing on November 18, Executive Director Abdi Warsame, Deputy Director Jennifer Keogh, Jeff Horwich, Commissioners Cara Letofsky, James Rosenbaum, Mikkel Beckmen, Tessa Wetjen, and Chair Sharmarke Issa looked like they did not want public housing residents to be there or to speak of the oppression, discrimination, and intimidation from MPHA. Residents and allies were not allowed to ask questions. The Commissioners looked like they were way too fragile to hear the truth and the damage MPHA causes on innocent vulnerable residents.
@MPLSPubHousing MPHA sends another letter to Scattered Sites residents threatening eviction! These are 717 public housing single-family homes that MPHA and the City of Mpls privatized thru Section 18. MPHA told residents in this letter to go to the new owner if they don't want
— Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition (@DefendGlendale) November 20, 2020
Since August of 2020, public housing residents, allies, and neighborhood organizations have been asking MPHA to hold virtual community meetings to explain their 2021 MTW Plans which outline a massive RAD privatization & conversion of 23 public housing high-rises out of MPHA’s total 42 high-rises. MPHA rejected this request. We asked MPHA to hold community meetings to explain Section 18 Demolition & Disposition lease which has a number of red flags. MPHA refused to hold community meetings to explain this lease and forced scattered-sites public housing residents to sign the lease through intimidation tactics, language, and accessibility barriers.
MPHA announced they will have another virtual public hearing on Wednesday, November 18, @ 1:30 pm, without community meetings, to approve their new statement of policies that is 149 pages and a new statement of corporate policies that are 65 pages long that residents do not have access to.
How can a public agency such as MPHA have a public hearing without having public community meetings to explain what the hearings are about? MPHA does not care about community engagement or the voices of public housing residents. MPHA is rushing to approve their privatization plans without being transparent.
Why is MPHA refusing to allow Minneapolis Public Housing Residents to have equal access to information and plans that impact their housing? As public housing residents, why are we being ignored and silenced? If we were white and wealthy homeowners would the City of Minneapolis, all of our elected officials, and MPHA treat us this way? No!
Please attend the below virtual public hearing and let MPHA know public housing residents deserve equal treatment and access to information. MPHA must be transparent and hold virtual community meetings to explain the 2021 MTW Annual Plan, Section 18 lease, and their new Statement of Policies.
Please notice above there are no additional language interpretation lines available and on the Somali line, residents who speak Somali can only listen but not allowed to comment.
Call to Action: Please attend MPHA’s virtual public hearing Wed. Nov 18 @ 1:30 pm & let them know we need community meetings before another hearing! Zoom: https://t.co/tpjrruY9ml ID 94001034493 Phone(301)715-8592 ID 94001034493# https://t.co/5I40dl2pQV See below for details. pic.twitter.com/1hJ7wdS4K2
— Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition (@DefendGlendale) November 13, 2020
Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) sent another letter to public housing residents about a virtual public hearing on November 18 at 1:30 pm about their new Statement of Policies that is 149 pages long and a new Statement of Corporate Policies is 65 pages long for Section 8 residents. MPHA still refuses to hold public meetings, even a virtual one to explain to public housing residents about these statements of policies, 2021 MTW Annual Plan or Section 18 Demolition & Disposition Lease they are forcing residents to sign.
When we received this letter, MPHA did not send the documents along with the letter and the majority of residents received this notice by the 5th of November. MPHA knows residents cannot access nor understand these documents due to language barriers, lack of access to computers, lack of internet, and disabilities. We also do not think Section 8 residents have any way to access these documents. We need MPHA to hold community meetings to explain these documents so we can submit comments. When MPHA wants to hold community meetings during the pandemic, they do. But, MPHA still refuses to hold community meetings for us to explain these documents and answer our questions.
Here are the links to their documents and announcement from their website:
Please notice that MPHA removed from their website the public hearing for the 2021 MTW Annual Plan after we demanded that they hold community meetings to explain the plan and instead they posted a hearing on the Statement of Policies on the same date November 18, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/2021MTW-Public-Hearing-Notice.
MPHA, are you going to hold community meetings to explain the Statement of Policies, 2021 MTW Annual Plan and Section 18 Lease to answer many of our questions so we can submit comments verbally or are you going to continue to undermine our rights as public housing residents?
Again, if we were white homeowners, MPHA would not be allowed to behave this way by Mayor Frey, Minneapolis City Council, Governor Walz, Senator Tina Smith, Congress Ilhan Omar, AG Keith Ellison, Minneapolis County Commissioners, and the entire DFL House and State Representative of Minneapolis.
@MPLSPubHousing Refuses to Hold Community Meetings to Explain Their Latest Policies & Plans! MPHA, are you going to hold community meetings to explain the Statement of Policies, 2021 MTW Annual Plan, and Section 18 Lease? If we were white homeowners, MPHA would not be allowed
— Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition (@DefendGlendale) November 6, 2020
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.
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.
∙ 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?
MPHA recently announced their privatization of over 700 scattered sites (single-family and duplex) public housing homes in Minneapolis using HUD’s Section 18 Demolition and Disposition program. This is an unprecedented attack on our city’s public housing in the middle of a pandemic and an affordable housing crisis.
Section 18 converts public housing to private, Section 8 voucher housing. MPHA claims that nothing will change for residents: that they will stay in their homes and pay the same amount. But the new lease they are forcing residents to sign suggests otherwise.
Let’s walk through the major red flags one by one. Read the full lease here:
Nowhere does the new lease state that residents will continue to pay 30% of their income toward rent. Instead, it claims that rent can be adjusted based on MPHA’s MTW agreement (MTW is a status that exempts MPHA from some HUD rules). What’s to stop the new owner of the properties, Community Housing Resources (CHR), from raising rents? Nothing!
🚩#2 – RANDOM RECERTIFICATIONS
The lease states that MPHA can reexamine tenants’ incomes and family size at any time, even if they have just recently been certified. This is invasive and disrespectful to residents, who are already certified annually and are required to report changes as they occur. This is harassment and an excuse for MPHA to increase rent or evict tenants.
🚩#3 – SLUMLORD FEES
MPHA says privatizing over 700 public housing units via Section 18 will bring in more money for repairs. But the new lease forces RESIDENTS to pay for repairs on top of their rent, up to $5000!
The lease contains three whole pages of maintenance and repair fees that residents will be responsible for. All CHR has to do is claim it was the residents’ fault. THIS IS NOT NORMAL! Tenants should not have to pay for upkeep – that’s what they pay their landlord for and that is what the rent is for and all the millions MPHA is getting for Section 18 and 42% increase of repair budget MPHA received from HUD yearly since 2017.
This is meant to price residents out! Displace and evict!
It also raises the question: if the extra money that’s supposedly being brought in by privatizing the homes isn’t going toward repairs, where is it going? Who is pocketing the money?
Those are the biggest red flags we noticed in the new lease. But we have other questions:
❓ Why weren’t residents given the option to purchase their homes? MPHA sold the homes to CHR for $1 each. Why weren’t residents given that option?
❓Why is MPHA forcing residents to sign the new lease when it hasn’t even been translated into languages all residents speak? Why does MPHA refuse to answer questions and provide clarification about specific parts of the lease and hold community meetings to explain the lease.
❓What will happen to residents who refuse to sign? Will they be given a voucher and kicked out of their home? It’s practically impossible to find housing that accepts Section 8 vouchers anywhere in the city.
❓Why is MPHA privatizing over 700 homes, opening them up to investors who could take over and displace residents, instead of asking the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and the State of Minnesota for additional funding to keep public housing public? If money is an issue! But the more we dig this the more we find out funds is not a problem because MPHA is sitting over 23 million in surplus plus the millions they will receive from HUD for Section 18 and the 42% increase in their repair budget they receive yearly.
❓Where are elected officials at the local, county, state, and federal levels as MPHA sells off Minneapolis’ most vital housing resource and public assets? They are all complicit in this disaster, which will disproportionately impact Black, Black Muslim, and Hmong families.
Our governments have enough money to keep public housing public. Elected officials need to step up and advocate for their constituents who are low-income public housing residents. We need to build more public housing, not destroy it!
In the meantime, MPHA needs to provide residents with a new lease that guarantees that rent (including all fees and utilities) will be NO GREATER THAN 30% OF RESIDENTS’ INCOMES and that residents WILL NOT BE DISPLACED! And they are not responsible for the extra charges MPHA is putting on residents that residents can not afford because they are too poor to pay.
MPHA claims on their public website that residents will continue to pay 30% of their income on rent after Section 18 privatization. So why isn’t that guaranteed in the lease? Why are they saying one thing in public & another thing to residents in private?
We demand answers from all of the elected officials in this email that have allowed this crisis to take place and the rest who have been complicit!
Dear Allies: On Wednesday, August 26, after a disastrous public hearing by MPHA on their 2021 MTW Annual Plan, DG&PHC sent MPHA an email asking them to let us know if they will extend the public comment period and hold community meetings to explain this plan to public housing residents and to the concerned public to ask questions about the large scale RAD privatization plans they are proposing in this plan. We asked them to please reply back by Thursday, August27. As usual, MPHA decided to ignore public housing residents and chose not to reply back to our email.Prior to the public hearing, similar to our request Prospect Park Association ( PPA) sent MPHA this letter, https://tinyurl.com/PPA-Ltr-to-MPHA-MTW-2021, requesting to hold community meetings, translate the document in relevant languages, and extend the comment period. On August 27, MPHA decided to reply back to PPA rejecting the request: Link –> https://tinyurl.com/MPHA-rejects-comment-extension. Minneapolis residents are witnessing MPHA a public agency funded by HUD, State of Minnesota, and the City of Minneapolis that has gone rogue, and doing their best to silence public housing residents. The City of Minneapolis has oversight and legal charter of accountability over MPHA that is not being implemented. The City of Minneapolis is witnessing a Mayor, City Council, State, and Congress elected officials that deliberately chose not to hold MPHA accountable.
Dear Allies: — Here is a letter from Prospect Park Neighborhood Association (PPA) sent to MPHA and our elected officials regarding MPHA’s 2021 MTW Annual Plan. PPA is asking MPHA to extend the comment period of the 2021 MTW Annual Plan, hold public meetings so residents and the public can ask questions, and translate this report so public housing residents can understand what is in this report. This request is in line with the City’s Core Principles of Community Engagement and public transparency. The question is: will MPHA and the City of Minneapolis stay true to the City’s guidelines of community engagement?
