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.

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.

http://www.mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/Appellate/Court%20of%20Appeals/Standard%20opinions/OPa191558-051120.pdf

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://www.startribune.com/deadly-toll-grows-at-minnesota-s-new-hope-nursing-home-with-47-dead-and-130-sickened-by-coronavirus/570080252/

https://time.com/5829083/coronavirus-holyoke-veterans-home/

https://tinyurl.com/New-RAD-Lease-Elliot-Twins

Sincerely,

MPHA please answer the following questions: 

1. MPHA, why are you not answering phone calls from Section 8 Voucher holders when they want to report loss of income due to COVID19? 
2. 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/
3. 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.  

4. Why do you refuse to cancel rents and fully fund Section 8 vouchers knowing private landlords continue to increase rents?
5. Why do you continue to violate the civil rights of public housing and Section 8 residents? 
6. 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?

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.

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 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. 

In 2019, MPHA laid out a series of financial documents that tell the real story of what will happen to the Elliot Twins after RAD privatization (which they call “conversion”). Here is an excerpt from one of their documents (https://tinyurl.com/Elliot-RADConversion-Overview, page 2): 

Key Facts:

●  The Elliot Twins apartments, located in Minneapolis Ward 6, have been public housing on public land, protected by a Declaration of Trust (DOT), since they were built in 1969

●     RAD conversion will eliminate the DOT and privatize the buildings

●     There are currently 174 units (87 per building): 50% studios and 50% one-bedrooms

●     Current residents are 100% low-income and poor, with the majority being elders/seniors, and disabled residents from East African and African American communities

●     The majority of current residents are on a fixed monthly income of $750 from Social Security, which is $9k per year and is below 10% of the current Twin Cities Area Median Income (AMI). They pay 30% of that income ($225 a month) for rent

●     10 additional units will be added after RAD conversion, and out of the resulting 184 units only 19 units (~10%) will be for residents that make 30% AMI ($30k year) or below

●     155 units (~84%) will be for middle-class residents that make 60% AMI ($60k per year)

●     10 units (~5%) will be for wealthier residents that make 61%-80% AMI  ($61K-$80k per year)

What Does This Mean?

The new residents that will move into the privatized Elliot Twins will not be public housing residents. These shocking figures show that over 90% of current residents will be displaced once the Elliot Twins are privatized. They do not make enough money to come back. The private subsidiary, Elliot Twins LP, that will take over the property will not be publicly accountable and can screen and discriminate against applicants for the remaining 10% of units available to people making less than 30% AMI.

Who is Responsible?

MPHA and the City of Minneapolis have worked hard for three years to silence and demonize the voices of public housing residents at Elliot Twins and leaders of DG&PHC who were organizing together to stop this privatization and displacement. Mayor Jacob Frey, Abdi Warsame (former CM of Ward 6 and now Director of MPHA), Andrea Jenkins (Ward 8), and the City’s Housing Policy & Development Committee – Cam Gordon (Ward 2), Jeremiah Ellison (Ward 5), Lisa Bender (Ward 10), Lisa Goodman (Ward 7), Kevin Reich (Ward 1) and Jeremy Schroeder (Ward 12) – ALL passed a resolution and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to privatize Minneapolis public housing starting with Elliot Twins, and they ALL promised that no one would be displaced. Now their promises turned out to be false. They are responsible for over 90% of the current elders and disabled residents of Elliot Twins public housing being displaced from their homes and community as we are facing COVID19 Pandemic. What is their answer to this? 

Sources:

https://tinyurl.com/Elliot-RADConversion-Overview

https://shelterforce.org/2019/03/21/fearing-privatization-public-housing-activists-push-back-against-rad-plans/

https://metrocouncil.org/Communities/Services/Livable-Communities-Grants/2017-Ownership-and-Rent-Affordability-Limits.aspx

What is RAD & Does it Make Sense for Elliot Twins Public Housing

MPHA’s RAD Eviction Plan for Elliot Twins Leaked

“Sell, sell, sell!” says Peter Hendee Brown, MPHA Consultant: MPHA Moves Quickly to Dismantle Public Housing and Displace Vulnerable Residents, Starting with Elliot Twins in Ward 6

We are demanding that MPHA & the City of Minneapolis halt all evictions for Public Housing residents, Section 8 & PBRA Voucher holders. We also ask that MPHA creates a protocol for households who have lost income due to Covid-19, & house all the houseless members of our community NOW. Public Housing Authorities all over the country have announced moratoriums on evictions, and while HUD should be announcing details for a national moratorium soon, it is still unclear whether or not that will protect Section 8 residents and PBRA Voucher Holders. MPHA is the largest public housing authority in the state, & it is also one of the largest evicters in the city. Despite the pandemic, MPHA employees have continued to harass public housing residents for new lease signages. They will not protect the residents on their own. That is why the City of Minneapolis needs to protect all residents of income-based housing immediately. Among us are some of the most vulnerable to Covid-19; poor and disabled residents who cannot afford an eviction. MPHA must halt all evictions NOW.

Finally, the City of Minneapolis must house all the houseless members of our community immediately. Aside from the many vacant homes and apartments operated by MPHA, our city is full of vacant homes, apartments, & condos- many of which were developed using gov. subsidies. Give them up! There are vacant units right now that were developed using the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). There are people right now that are at risk of contracting a dangerous virus due to experiencing houselessness. Give them up. House the houseless in your city Jacob Frey! A public health crisis like the one we are currently experiencing is not only fixed through individual efforts. It requires collectivism & care for all in our community. Those of us who have homes cannot just stay inside, we have to make sure everyone has a home to go inside to. Call your city councilor, Mayor Jacob Frey, MPHA, and demand a stop to evictions, an immediate and urgent protocol to aid families who’ve lost employment and income, and housing for the houseless. We need these securities, and we need them today.

http://m.startribune.com/minneapolis-agency-director-scott-will-lead-chicago-s-housing-authority/568563742/;  In 2017, Interim Director Tracey Scott was hired by Greg Russ as Deputy Director for MPHA, where her mission became the ending public housing in Minneapolis. She moved from Atlanta after the Hope VI program she helped to implement left Atlanta with empty lots, a housing crisis, mass houselessness, and 50,000 public housing residents displaced from their homes and communities; https://www.dgphc.org/2019/11/04/who-is-tracey-scott-the-new-interim-director-of-mpha/. Just like Greg Russ moved from MPHA to NYCHA to end public housing in New York City, Tracey Scott is now being rewarded the Executive Director position at the Chicago Public Housing Authority with a salary of over $300k. 

In Minneapolis, Tracey Scott led a culture of:  

• Misinformation, lies, a general lack of transparency, and accountability regarding the Section 18 Demolition & Disposition which will privatize over 740 single- family homes known as scattered-sites.
• Along with Mayor Frey and Council President Lisa Bender, and Greg Russ and Tracey Scott pushed for Section 18 to be implemented in Minneapolis for the first time in this city’s history after President Trump and HUD Secretary Ben Carson gutted all resident protections allowing public housing agencies to end  public housing voluntarily; https://www.dgphc.org/2019/07/10/section-18-demolition-disposition-a-fact-sheet/.
• Intimidation: Under her leadership, public housing residents were intimidated with evictions and consequences if they don’t sign the Section 18 lease addendums. There was general confusion among residents, especially residents that don’t speak English that occurred under Tracey; https://www.dgphc.org/2020/03/01/mpha-forces-residents-to-sign-a-new-lease-for-section-18-disposition-demolition/.
• Under her leadership, MPHA staff targeted and harassed public housing leaders who organized to keep public housing public and protect their homes and community. 
• Neglect: During her tenure, five people died in a fire at Cedars Public Housing. The victims were elderly and disabled residents and were not moved to temporary safe housing until the fumes and toxins cleared. Residents are still suffering from health issues from the fire. 
• Bullying: Victims of the fire were bullied about talking to the media or activists about their state of affairs; https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/30/minneapolis-cedar-high-public-housing-fire .
• Lack of leadership and accountability: Tracey Scott knew that the Cedar along with the rest of the buildings needed sprinklers- it was stated in the MPHA annual report, but this was intentionally ignored even though MPHA received a 45% increase in their repair and maintenance budget from HUD; https://www.dgphc.org/2018/10/12/mpha-can-afford-to-keep-public-housing-public/.
• Under the leadership of Greg Russ and Tracy Scott, along with Mayor Frey and Council President Lisa Bender, MPHA stated that they didn’t have funds even though the 2019 Omnibus Bill increased funding for public housing.