Dear Allies:
In case MPHA Commissioners that are appointed by the Mayor and Minneapolis City Council or your Council Member try to lie to you, here is the actual contract https://tinyurl.com/Sale-of-Elliot-Twins-to-RBC between MPHA and the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) turning over 99.9% of Elliot Twins Public Housing Buildings to RBC with a 99-year lease. When it is time to vote, don’t forget all of the Minneapolis DFL elected officials pushed RAD privatization and the rest were complicit. RAD and Section 18 are promoted heavily by Trump and Carson. Because we are POC, poor Black, and Black immigrants public housing residents, the Minneapolis elected official including POC electeds from Congress to MN State Senate and House don’t hear or see us. We are invisible to them. #VoteThemOut.
Its is Official: MPHA and The City of Minneapolis Privatized and sold Elliot Twins Public Housing Apartments to the Royal Bank of Canada
MPHA and Mayor Frey announced they have officially privatized and sold Elliot Twins Public Housing to the Royal Bank of Canada through Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD): mphaonline.org/mpha-and-partners-begin-unprecedented-modernization-of-the-elliot-twins/. Elliot Twins are two apartment buildings for seniors and low-income single residents, located in the Elliot Park neighborhood of Minneapolis in Ward 6. The majority of the residents are Black (Black American and East African) seniors on a fixed income. The RAD privatization program promoted by Donald Trump and Ben Carson is what MPHA and the City of Minneapolis used to convert Elliot Twins from public ownership to private ownership and into the hands of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). MPHA and the City of Minneapolis leased the public land Elliot Twins are built on for 99 years to RBC. As a result, Elliot Twins is no longer public housing nor a public good. According to RBC’s contract with MPHA, page 1 says RBC will own 99.99% of Elliot Twins; https://tinyurl.com/Sale-of-Elliot-Twins-to-RBC. The remainder will be owned by an unaccountable private non-profit that MPHA created. The $25 million MPHA and Mayor Frey are bragging about are private dollars and low-income housing tax credits that benefit inventors, not the residents. MPHA claims the units will be subsidized through Section 8 vouchers, but Section 8 housing is unstable and very vulnerable to budget cuts. Majority of the current residents are on social security fixed income of $750 a month, $9000 a year, and they pay 30% of their actual income which is $225 to $245 per month for rent for one-bedrooms and studios at Elliot Twins. This is rent control. However,page 14 of MPHA and RBC’s contract reveals rents will increase and will not be based on the public housing rate of 30% of actual incomes; https://tinyurl.com/Pg14-Rent-Increase-ElliotTwins. Page 14 says under RAD and Section 8 guidelines, rents for studios known as 0 bedrooms will be $816, and rent for one-bedrooms will be $998.
There is nothing affordable about this. The current vulnerable residents will be displaced and evicted slowly if they can’t make up this rent gap of $591 to $773 per month. Residents with higher incomes will replace the current residents. Even though MPHA has a waitlist of over 40k people to move into public housing, they currently have at least 22 empty units at Elliot Twins. We don’t know what happened to the residents who used to live in these units. Have they been quietly displaced or evicted? MPHA will not say.
Since 2017, Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition (DG&PHC) has been ringing the alarm bell about RAD. Ever since then, MPHA intimidated residents from speaking out, misled, and marginalized them. Mayor Frey, Abdi Warsame, and the rest of the current City Council Members manipulated the facts, failing to explain what RAD is and what it does. Instead of learning about RAD, City Council Members with their “great wisdom” began demonizing the residents and organizers. Regardless, Elliot Twins residents continued to organize to fight back and stop RAD, and they filed a complaint at City Hall and HUD about how unethical, illegitimate, and egregious MPHA’s tactics were, and of course this complaint was ignored; https://tinyurl.com/Elliot-Twins-Ltr-to-MPHA-HUD. MPHA even called the police on residents and organizers at a protest against RAD. MPHA and Minneapolis City Hall did everything possible under this illegitimate process to sell Elliot Twins to RBC under the false pretext that they cannot afford to maintain the buildings as public housing even though MPHA receives a 45% budget increase for repairs yearly from HUD and sits on $23 million in surplus.
By privatizing Elliot Twins, the real affordable, rent-controlled public and stable housing in the city is being destroyed intentionally to allow the risks of private banks to profit from poverty. This is an unacceptable decision made even worse because it is happening in the midst of COVID 19 Pandemic. Our elders’ lives are already at risk, and now their homes are too. The entire Minneapolis City Council, Mayor Frey, Abdi Warsame and the rest of DFL elected who are silent are also responsible for supporting this attack on public housing. This case is emblematic of the City’s lack of respect for POC communities and makes it very clear that gentrification and privatization, not affordability, is their real goal.
Source:
mphaonline.org/mpha-and-partners-begin-unprecedented-modernization-of-the-elliot-twins/
MPHA’s manipulation of the media
https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/minnesota-housing-retraction-mpha.php?fbclid=IwAR07AIL
https://tinyurl.com/Sale-of-Elliot-Twins-to-RBC.
https://tinyurl.com/Elliot-Twins-Ltr-to-MPHA-HUD
Minneapolis 2040 Plan Does Not Serve Black and Brown Communities
Here is our response to this article:
The same Minneapolis City Council that voted to award the violent, racist MPD with more funding each year is being hailed as a champion of progressive values for its supposed efforts to end racial disparities in housing through its 2040 Plan. The City Council has gone to great lengths to promote this plan – they even hired a PR firm to buy themselves some good press. But, the 2040 Plan is just neoliberal, free-market deregulation dressed up in progressive language. Our campaign, Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition (DG&PHC), as well as other anti-gentrification activists around the country, have spent years explaining how increasing the supply of housing alone doesn’t make housing more affordable, and actually leads to real estate speculation that prices us out low-income communities of color. Yet, the supposedly progressive Minneapolis City Council, their nonprofit allies, and the white-dominated press ignored POC opposition to the plan, even as we protested about how up-zoning would put development pressure on our neighborhoods that are already suffering from gentrification.
This City Council does not care about making Minneapolis affordable for POC residents. If it did, it would not have passed the 2040 Plan, and it would also not be engaged in privatizing Minneapolis public housing. Since 2015, DG&PHC led by Black, Black Immigrant Muslim women who are public housing residents have been fighting to keep public housing public and to expose MPHA’s (Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s) xenophobia, racism, and misogyny. The City Council has not only refused to stand with residents of public housing, but they have also gone out of their way to support MPHA’s privatization plans that put at risk over 12,000 poor, low-income majority Black, Black Muslim immigrant residents with children, seniors/ elders, people with disabilities and Hmong residents. Mayor Frey and the current City Council passed a resolution approving MPHA’s privatization plans through Section 18 and RAD which has been highly endorsed by Trump and Secretary Carson. To mislead the public, once again the City of Minneapolis used “progressive language” to hide their neoliberal, pro-Trump agenda allowing MPHA to sell over 720 single-family scattered sites public housing homes for $1 – yes, literally $1 a piece – to a shady nonprofit MPHA created who will then hand majority ownership over to private investors. This is in line with the 2040 plan which by way does not mention keep public housing public or building more public housing to address the houselessness crisis. DG&PHC and allies sent 100’s of comments to the city to add that language to the 2040 plan, as usual, we were ignored by Mayor Frey and City Council. If the City wants to brag about how it’s working to make housing more” affordable and equitable”, they need to explain why they support dismantling public housing which is rent-controlled by law at 30% of residents’ income. Public housing is the only type of housing POC low- income residents can afford to rent in Minneapolis. The city refuses to talk about public housing, and they want to talk about “ “affordable housing” which is not really affordable for our communities. This fact sheet explains the difference between public housing and affordable housing:
The so-called affordable housing schemes promoted by the City and white-led nonprofits as an alternative to public housing are worthless. “Affordable housing” relies on racially-discriminatory measures of area median income that result in housing that is out of reach for most POC in this city. So the City of Minneapolis is destroying Black and Brown communities with one hand and patting themselves on the back with the other. And white-led nonprofits, banks, developers and investors are benefiting from this crisis. Enough is enough. How can the City pretend there is not enough money to keep public housing public and build more when they found more than enough money to prop up the white supremacist police force that murdered George Floyd? We demand a city government that works for the people, not landlords, and developers. We demand that the City of Minneapolis to #KeepPublicHousingPublic, #Build more public housing, #StopSection18, and #StopRAD.
Sources:
Story on PR firm they City hired to promote the 2040 Plan:
A story explaining a study on how up zoning led to higher real estate prices in Chicago: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-31/zoning-reform-isn-t-a-silver-bullet-for-u-s-housing
Ubuntu article about BIPOC opposition to the 2040 Plan: https://www.weareubuntu.com/race-politcs/2019/4/16/the-san-francisco-fication-of-minneapolis
Calling for New Leadership at Minneapolis City Council
To all of our allies and community organizers:
In the aftermath of the brutal police killing of George Floyd and the subsequent terror imposed on our grieving communities by the MPD, Minneapolis City Council members are attempting to portray themselves as innocent and helpless all-over social media. They are promising to pass a useless resolution and make statements that are nothing but a PR stunt, https://tinyurl.com/Mpls-City-Council-Statement. They are trying to tell the world that they support communities of color in Minneapolis. They don’t and never did.
The POC Councilmembers we elected to bring about systemic change continue to fail us. Mayor Frey and all 13 Council members voted to increase the police budget and allow white supremacist Bob Kroll to do what he wants as head of the police union. These Councilmembers never prioritized Minneapolis residents of color, our businesses, our housing, our rights, or our safety. In their latest statement, all 13 City council members failed again to call for the arrests of the other 3 officers and say that the killer Derek Chauvin should receive 1st-degree murder for killing Georg Floyd. The City of Minneapolis’s Department of Human Rights that is discussed in this letter has never been successful in police cases let alone discrimination cases. They are all complicit and guilty.
Our City Council has aggressively courted developers and investors to build luxury apartments we cannot afford, encouraged the gentrification of Black and Brown neighborhoods, and authorized the privatization of our public housing – actions which all benefit wealthy white people at the expense of BIPOC communities. Ward 6, which is home to most of our city’s public housing, does not even have a Councilmember to represent them at this time because Abdi Warsame left his position earlier this year to become head of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, after years of pushing MIPHA’s privatization agenda at City Hall. Ward 6 is made up of the majority of people of color and has been hit hard by COVID19, and no one is advocating for Ward 6 now.
Hold them accountable because they are also responsible for this crisis and tragedy. They need to go. They have been attacking BIPOC communities since they came into office: gentrifying BIPOC neighborhoods, privatizing public housing, failing to support minority businesses, and funding a police department that terrorizes our communities and kills us. As a campaign led by Black East African Women, Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition has first-hand experience for the last five years of this council’s racist attacks, anti-Black rhetoric, xenophobia, islamophobia, and misogyny. This is a corrupt and incompetent City Council and Mayor, and they need to resign. We need new leadership that cares about the Black, Brown, and low-income communities of Minneapolis.
Minneapolis Public Housing Scattered Site Resident Wins Her Case against MPHA and The City of Minneapolis.
A mother that lives in Minneapolis Public Housing in single-family homes, scattered sites wins her case against MPHA and the City of Minneapolis. This case was about public housing units being subject to state and local codes. This case states that public housing tenants have the right to Minneapolis City housing codes and inspections. The denial of inspections denies the civil rights of public housing residents in Minneapolis. This impacts all public housing residents of Minneapolis. To learn more about this case see this link and attached press release.
Open Letter to MPHA and Elected Officials
MPHA requires Elliot Twins to Move and Sign new RAD Lease During #COVID19
Minneapolis Public Housing Authority is risking the health and safety of Elliot Twins residents by requiring them to sign new leases and move in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the letter sent by MPHA, residents must sign the new lease and move by May 29th, as COVID-19 cases are anticipated to reach their peak in Minnesota. The timeline for leasing and moving and possible displacement proposed by MPHA for Elliot Twins residents is dangerous and possibly deadly given the current environment. Some of the deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks have been in facilities with elderly residents living in close quarters, including 47 dead and 130 infected at St Therese in New Hope and nearly 70 dead at a Veteran’s Home in Massachusetts, where staff spread the disease from one resident to the next. Asking a large number of residents to meet with the property manager and other MPHA staff greatly increases the potential to spread Coronavirus through the Elliot Twin towers. Asking them to move during this crisis is stressful and will further compromise their ability to fight illness. Residents should not be asked to sacrifice their health in the name of MPHA’s agenda to privatize Elliot Twins and push their RAD plans according to their preferred timeline.
Additionally, the lease and recent letters to Elliot Twins are in English and Somali with no other translations available. Elliot Twins also has residents who speak Spanish, Arabic, Oromo, Amharic, and disabled residents, who may need assistance understanding what they are signing. Residents are being told they can meet with their Property Manager and the Property Manager will verbally explain the lease to residents and the options they have to move in and out of Elliot Twins. Residents should have the ability to seek independent interpretation services and legal counsel to properly understand the implications of signing the new lease and being displaced out of Elliot Twins. Not only does this process lend itself to coercion (residents signing in the presence of management without knowing where they will move), but it is incredibly unsafe given the circumstances of COVID-19. Elliot Twins is already at high risk for a COVID-19 outbreak given the density of the high rise and the population of elders and individuals with underlying health conditions who reside there.
The new lease MPHA wants residents to sign is 42 pages and filled with complicated terms, fees, charges, and addendums that are not translated in any language nor explained. In addition, MPHA stated verbally residents will be paying 30% of their income for their rent. This policy is not referenced in this lease nor is this in writing anywhere in this lease. Only the bottom of pages 2 and 3 of the lease are rental payments mentioned, and there is nothing that states current and future residents will pay 30% of their income for rent. Elliot Twins are public housing buildings where the current residents make between 0 to 20% AMI and the majority of the residents are on a fixed income, such as social security. They receive $750 a month, $9000 a year, and pay on average $225 a month of rent which is 30% of their income. There is no clear language protecting current residents in the new lease.
We are asking MPHA, Governor Walz, Mayor Frey, Minneapolis City Council, State Senators & Representatives, and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to stop the new lease signing and moving for RAD Conversation at Elliot Twins to prevent COVID-19 outbreak. The infection rate is not going down in Minneapolis. Elliot Twins residents face the greatest risk of infections and fatalities because they are mostly elders/seniors with underlying health conditions and people with disabilities.
References:
https://tinyurl.com/New-Lease-Signing-Elliot-Twins;
https://tinyurl.com/90days-to-move-March-30-2020
https://tinyurl.com/Notice-to-move-March-30-2020
https://time.com/5829083/coronavirus-holyoke-veterans-home/
https://tinyurl.com/New-RAD-Lease-Elliot-Twins
Sincerely,
#COVID19 Update: MPHA requires Section 8 Voucher holders to report income loss online & in English only!
MPHA please answer the following questions:
- MPHA, why are you not answering phone calls from Section 8 Voucher holders when they want to report loss of income due to COVID19?
- Why is it that you do not have phone numbers on your website for residents to report their loss of income? https://mphaonline.org/section-8/online-income-family-change-submission/
- Why are you requiring residents to submit all of their income changes in only English and online?
- https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/128cbb353ca3431aaebac2eda35e764e
- You are well aware that the majority of public housing residents and Section 8 Voucher holders do not have access to home computers, many are disabled, and almost half of the population does not speak English as their first language.
- Why do you refuse to cancel rents and fully fund Section 8 vouchers knowing private landlords continue to increase rents?
- Why do you continue to violate the civil rights of public housing and Section 8 residents?
- Why are Section 8 voucher holders calling DG&PHC to figure out what to do and how to contact you because they cannot afford to pay their rents?
Minneapolis Council Member Lisa Goodman Sends Another Racist Email about Sec. 8 Voucher holders
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.
CALL TO ACTION: Keep Public Housing Public & Hold MPHA Accountable During COVID 19
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.
- https://nncmpls.org/ wrote a letter to MPHA Commissioners asking to pause Section 18 and hold community meetings after the pandemic https://tinyurl.com/NNC-Letter-to-MPHA-3-20-20). There was no response.
- On March 18, MPHA https://tinyurl.com/MPHA-closed-after-3-18-2020 to city-wide public housing residents, announcing MPHA offices will be closing due to COVID-19 Pandemic.
- 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-Overview states on 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-Contradictions that 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 pushes RAD at Elliot Twins despite COVID19 and MN’s State of 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.
https://tinyurl.com/New-Lease-Signing-Elliot-Twins
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.
