In this letter, MPHA pushes residents to sign a new lease, where CHR (Community Housing Resources) will be their new landlord and not MPHA. This will complete the conversion process of over 746 homes from the public to private ownership through Section 18 Disposition & Demolition. CHR is the MPHA created nonprofit that will have .001% ownership of the properties once residents have signed the leases. Even though MPHA says it owns CHR, once the Section 18 conversion is complete CHR will be an independent non-profit private corporation that will bring private investors and lenders to own the properties with millions of affordable housing funds from the State and City. Once this takes place, the properties will no longer be under the protection of the Declaration to Trust (DOT) and will no longer be public. Rents will increase, and residents will face displacement.

1. In the letter, MPHA says, “You will not move and your benefits will not change” but MPHA does not guarantee that CHR will keep rents at 30% of residents’ income as it is now. This means the homes will be “affordable housing” and not public housing. As a result, rents will increase which will displace majority low-income Black and Black Muslim scattered-site families.
2. In the letter, scattered-site residents are told to come to the MPHA office on Tuesday, February 25th, Thursday, February 27th, and Friday, February 28th 2020 to sign the new lease that will make CHR the new owner of their homes.
3. Scattered-site residents received this letter/notice on Friday, February 21, 2020, and the letters were mailed Thursday, February 20, 2020, giving residents less than a week’s notice.
4. MPHA did not provide copies of the new lease beforehand, and it was not mailed to residents before they were told to sign.
5. Scattered-site residents were not given a 30-day notice to review the new lease which is a violation of state and city laws.
6. Somali scattered-site residents were called after the letter was mailed by MPHA staff and were told if they don’t sign the lease, “they will face evictions.”
7. Scattered-site residents were not given time to access legal support or advocates to help them understand the new contract they are forced to sign.
8. MPHA wants scattered-site residents to sign the new lease even if residents have language barriers, can’t read or write English or have an accessibility issue.
9. MPHA failed to provide this letter in all of the language residents speak at Minneapolis Public Housing such as Oromo, Hmong, Spanish, Laotian, etc. This is a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
10. MPHA will use its own bilingual staff to interpret the letter.
11. MPHA has a long history of using their bilingual staff to misinform residents. As a result, residents will not have access to an independent and neutral professional interpreting service, which is in violation of their civil rights. In the letter, MPHA says it is “simple and easy to sign” which is not true.
    

Since all resident protections have been gutted from Section 18 Demolition & Disposition by Carson and Trump’s HUD; the City of Minneapolis, Mayor Frey and City Council refuse to pause Section 18; the MOU and resolution the City of Minneapolis passed allows MPHA to completely privatize public housing; MPHA began showing aggressive violations of residents’ rights; who will protect the rights of scattered-site residents? Who is accountable for MPHA’s violations? This is the first of many violations to come by MPHA’s privatization plans of public housing and public land as the City of Minneapolis and elected officials watch without any action.

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 without public input or a city council vote.

What is the difference between Public Housing and Affordable Housing? Many allies have been asking us this question. Here is a fact sheet with cited sources that explain the difference. Please share!

When the government funds private affordable housing, it is giving money to private entities who are, in many cases, responsible for rents being so unaffordable, to begin including the houselessness and the current housing crisis. These private entities are given public money to provide housing that is not affordable to those who need it most, which will eventually be converted to market-rate housing, and that is not accountable to the public. This is NOT a good use of public funds; it is a giveaway to the private sector. Public housing is the only way out of our current crisis. City of Minneapolis their private investors with MPHA want you to think “affordable is public”. It is not. We call on elected officials to fully fund and expand public housing now! Now City of Minneapolis and MPHA are using Section 18 and RAD to privatize public housing.
#KeepPublicHousingPublic #StopSection18 #StopRAD

Dear Allies: Here is a statement and video shared by our coalition members Northside Neighborhoods Council regarding February 5th, 2020 City of Minneapolis Housing Policy & Development Committee’s meeting about the public housing. Please read NNC’s statement below, view the video, start at 11:30, and see how awful city council members talk about us, public housing residents. #StopSection18
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“It is disturbing the way this meeting played out. Community members and Public Housing residents are talked about with disdain when what they are fighting for is to keep public housing public. There are real discrepancies and flawed statements coming from MPHA.

We have included the video here, start at the 11:30 mark: https://youtu.be/1G4moPB-zP0

Also, if you are curious about why we are asking to #StopSection18 the reasons are laid out in our letter to our Senators created with Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition. You can read that here: https://tinyurl.com/Sec-18-Response-to-DFL-Sen

Note that a motion brought by CM Gordon recommended a postponement to Section 18 ownership transfer and failed 5 to 1. https://tinyurl.com/Motion-to-Pause-Sec-18-Cam-G

The other was a staff direction related to recommendations about future funding for Public Housing. This would be a key first step to getting some city dedicated tax levy money to support (and influence terms of its use) for public housing which failed 3 to 3. https://tinyurl.com/MPHA-Public-Invest-by-Gordon

Tracey Scott also misled the Council to believe that State Senators retract their statement, of which they did not. You can read their original letter here: https://tinyurl.com/s4uffyh

And their latest statement here: https://tinyurl.com/MN-Senators-2nd-Letter-to-HUD

There is a lot of false claims going around. We encourage everyone to please read, learn, and educate yourself about the impact of privatizing these properties and what it will mean for public housing residents..”

Wedge LIVE is a Minneapolis media outlet popular among white urbanists and YIMBY’s that regularly silences & smears POC anti-gentrification activists and organizers. Their article: https://wedgelive.com/whats-the-truth-about-public-housing-in-minneapolis/ is 100% about us without mentioning our campaign and the citywide movement that is organizing to #KeepPublicHousingPublic and #StopSection18

Read and download our response below.

Today we are organizing a phone zap for Representative Ilhan Omar! We are asking that all of our followers and allies call her office and ask her to write a public letter to HUD to stop section 18! All the directions are in the photo below. Once you have called Rep. Omar’s Contacts, please post using the #StopSection18 tag. This application has gone on too long and too far. Let’s stop it together.  Please contact 10 of your friends, family, or coworkers to make the call and ask them to contact 10 people they know to make the call.  

What is section 18?:

Section 18 is a privatization program offered by HUD to public housing authorities. Minneapolis Public Housing Authority is using it to privatize 717 single-family homes, by removing the housing from the public trust and transferring it to a private entity. Once this occurs, the subsidy will change from public housing to section 8. Subjecting our public housing to the whims of the market could lead to devastating results for residents. It will risk long term affordability and rents may increase to 80% of AMI for new residents. 

What does this mean for Minneapolis?:

Minneapolis is currently in the midst of a major housing crisis, the city needs MORE public housing, not less. These homes will be sold for a dollar each to a non-profit, which will allow private market speculators to gain equity ownership in our public housing. This move will result in the gutting of resident protections and could result in tenant re-screening and potential rent increases for residents. These homes are spread out in different neighborhoods across the city, with a majority in North Minneapolis. Once these homes are privatized, the gentrification already taking place in Minneapolis could intensify, and the city will be forever changed.

How to Stop It:

We are asking for everyone to call Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s office today Tuesday, February 11th and ask she writes a public letter to HUD stoping Section 18. Below is a sample script, and the number of her staffers. Once you have called, post on social media using the #StopSection18 tag.
#StopSection18 Sample Script:Hello, My name is [Blank] and I live in your congressional district. I am calling to ask that Ilhan Omar writes a public letter to HUD to stop the Section 18 Disposition of 717 single-family homes by Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. This conversion will privatize necessary public housing in our city, which could result in rent increases and the displacement of the most vulnerable families in our city. Rep. Omar needs to stop section 18 now. If she supports public housing, she needs to support it in her city. Stop Section 18 now!

Numbers to Call:

Ilhan Omar’s DC Office: (202)-225-4755

Ilhan Omar’s Minneapolis Office: (612)-333-1272

Connor Mcnutt, Chief of Staff: (507)-412-9461

Kendall Killian, District Director MPLS:  (651)-270-3832

Once you’re done, post to social media using the#StopSection18 tag.Thank you for supporting public housing! 

Council Member Abdi Warsame will be leaving his elected position as a council member for Ward 6 to head the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority; http://strib.mn/36BCS12. Jacob Frey and Abdi Warsame’s leadership pushed for MPHA’s privatization and displacement plans. Warsame authored the privatization resolution; https://tinyurl.com/Warsame-s-Resolution, and MOU https://www.dgphc.org/…/minneapolis-city-council-passes-me…/. In 2019, when seniors and vulnerable residents from his ward at Elliot Twins asked to meet with him several times to stop RAD privatization plans that will displace residents, he ignored them. After MPHA could not silence the voices of residents from Elliot Twins, MPHA sent Abdi Warsame. He met the residents in late April of 2019 and promised that he will support them and stop RAD. This was the last time Elliot Twins residents saw their council member. Abdi Warsame has a long record of misleading and oppressing the voices of low-income residents in his ward, especially within the East African community. Currently, no one supports him as a leader in his Ward or outside of his Ward. Abdi Warsame is not qualified to lead MPHA because he is not about the people. He and his best friend Mayor Jacob Frey have been very divisive and toxic in the East African communities of Minneapolis. They both have made extensive efforts to undermine the public housing leaders of DG&PHC which are many Black women from the Somali community. Abdi Warsame does not have any experience in housing policy at the federal, state or local level, but he will receive almost double his current salary of 170k per year. Jacob Frey appointed Abdi Warsame without any transparent process or public notice. This is the type of cronyism that is stifling Minneapolis

In their board report, https://tinyurl.com/Appt-of-ED-MPHA-Board-Report, MPHA claims they sent out surveys to 500 surveys to public housing and 5000 surveys Section 8 residents about the kind of leader they want. They claim that 101 surveys were completed. In addition, they said the surveys were available online. This process is questionable:
1. We don’t know anyone is scattered sites, in Glendale or high-rises’ that received surveys?
2. We asked around and we have not heard of any onsite MPHA staff aware of surveys. But MPHA claims all of their staff filled out surveys. How and why was Warsame chose even though he is not qualified?
3. Residents were not notified by staff or via mail that surveys were available online.
4. MPHA knows the majority of residents do not have computers so they are not able to fill out the surveys.
On Wednesday, January 29th at 1:30 pm @ 1001 Washington Avenue North, 55401, MPHA will hold a public board meeting where Abdi Warsame’s name will be the only candidate presented, and the board is expected to approve. If Abdi Warsame could not successfully lead Ward 6, how is he going to lead MPHA that is facing local and national controversies as they push to privatize public housing through Section 18 and RAD which will displace thousands Black, Black Muslims, seniors and people with disabilities?

https://www.dgphc.org/…/12/10/the-new-faces-of-displacement/

Please read this letter from DFL SD 63 elected officials who have heard the voices of public housing residents and their constituents that are demanding to halt Section 18 Demolition & Disposition privatization plans by MPHA and the City  of Minneapolis:

January 15, 2020 U.S. Housing and Urban Development Agency 451 7th Street S.W. Washington, DC 20410 

The members of the Minneapolis State Senate Delegation urge the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to pause the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s (MPHA) Section 18 Demolition & Disposition process, until MPHA is able to demonstrate that the agency has a short and long term protection plan for the thousands of residents that currently live in these buildings. 

On August 16th, 2019, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s (MPHA) Section 18 Demolition & Disposition application to remove 640 ‘scattered site’ buildings from Federal-protected public trust (Section 9 Housing) and move them into Section 8, which has fewer long term protections for the properties. This disposition will affect 5000 public housing residents, the majority of which are low-income African-American and East African families with children. 

Questions have been raised about the Section 18 submission approval process. There was no scattered-site resident council to monitor the application process. The Resident Advisory Board (RAB) approved the application, but no scattered-site residents sit on the RAB. Were scattered-site residents given the opportunity to review and discuss the application and participate in the process? If not, the plan may not have full community input and support. 

HUD Secretary Carson’s administration’s recent changes significantly weakened Section 18 regulations meant to protect residents. MPHA Commissioners Tessa Wetjen called for pausing the Section 18 application process because there is a great deal of confusion regarding MPHA’s Section 18 Application. What was the process to engage with all MPHA tenants during the application process? What steps are being taken to address and clarify the confusion around the application process? 

We have been told the number of properties that MPHA is seeking to privatize via Section 18 is 25 times larger than the cumulative amount of disposed properties from the years 2001- 2018. This disposition will affect more than 98% of existing housing and land on which scattered-site housing is located. MPHA provided HUD a timetable of the number of days from when residents will be displaced, which is 180 days from approval. As a result, MPHA has the authority to displace all affected residents by February 16, 2020. We are concerned about this 

short timeframe and would like to know if residents have been properly notified. The impact of this change could have devastating consequences to many families. 

We ask HUD and MPHA to halt MPHA’s Section 18 Demolition & Disposition process until these concerns are further reviewed and resolved. We look forward to hearing from you to learn more about your plan to address these issues. 

Sincerely, 

Sen. Patricia Torres Ray Sen. Kari Dziedzic Sen. Jeff Hayden 

Sen. Scott Dibble Sen. Bobby Joe Champion 

cc: Representative Ilhan Omar, U.S. Congress 

Mayor Jacob Frey, City of Minneapolis 

Minneapolis City Council Members Colleen O’Kane, HUD Congressional Liaison Region V Jane Hornstien, HUD Director of the Special Application Center Lucia Clausen, HUD MPLS Director of Public Housing Kelley Lyons, HUD Regional Public Housing Director Tracey Scott, MPHA Interim Executive Director Sharmarke Issa, MPHA Chair Mikkel Beckmen, MPHA Commissioner Andrea Brennan, MPHA Commissioner Cara Letofsky, MPHA Commissioner James Rosenbaum, MPHA Commissioner Tessa Wetjen, MPHA Commissioner Faith Xiong, MPHA Commissioner Tamir Mohamud, MPHA Resident Commissioner Abdullahi Isse, MPHA Resident Commissioner 

The Money Power Land Solidarity podcast featured one of our organizers Kaaha Kaahiye in their newest episode! In it she talks about our work and the status of public housing in Minneapolis. Take a listen!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fight-for-public-housing-w-kaaha-kaahiye-defend-glendale/id1477529471?i=1000462008768

Check out this wonderful article that describes the issues of funding Public Housing, and its future. Thanks, @alexisgoldstein for great reporting!
#KeepPublicHousingPublic

Prior to the December 13 meeting of the MPHA board, DG&PHC submitted comments to Mayor Frey and Minneapolis City Council about our deep concerns about the re-appointment of Cara Letofsky and the new appointment of Andrea Brennan as Commissioners of MPHA.  Despite lack of transparency and objection from public housing residents,  Mayor Frey and City Council ignored our concerns and voted to appoint Letofsky and Brennan as MPHA Commissions. 

See the full comments below and an email from Cara where she admits to her plans to tear down Glendale Townhomes.