Soon after Greg Russ, the Czar of Privatization & Gentrification, took over as the executive director of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, (MPHA) in 2017, he brought Tracey Scott from Atlanta as his deputy director. To our knowledge, that title never existed previously at MPHA. After Russ left, he appointed her as the interim executive director for MPHA. In order to understand how she’s currently leading MPHA, it’s important to know her background.

Tracey Scott’s education training is in business management, not public service. She received a BS from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and an MBA from Emory University. She has worked for large multinational corporations including AT&T and VISA. She has also served as the board president of the Patelco Credit Union since 2000.

She worked in the private sector for about 20 years until she began her position as Director of Voucher Administration/Participant Services at Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) in 2008. After two years, she became the Vice President of Innovation and stayed there until 2017. 

Atlanta was home to the first public housing in the US and by the 1990s had more residents in public housing than any other US city. Starting with the 1996 Olympics, Atlanta began demolishing its 15,000 units, using the racist neoliberal term “concentrated areas of poverty” to justify the gentrification of low-income communities of color. The Housing Authority privatized its stock using the precursor of RAD, HUD’s HOPE VI program and private investment. Later, in 2007, AHA used funds under Section 18 Demolition & Disposition as well.

In this process, the Atlanta Housing Authority displaced roughly 50,000 residents, handing them Section 8 vouchers which became increasingly hard to use in a quickly gentrifying city. The Housing Authority came under fire for displacing communities of color and giving massive opportunities for profit to private developers.

In the end, the Atlanta Housing Authority now pays more to finance the voucher program than it did to keep up its housing as public housing and a public good. And, many of the public housing buildings it said would be revitalized have still yet to be rebuilt or renovated, they are just empty lots.

When Tracey Scott arrived in 2008 her background in financing helped the public housing authority facilitate the transfer of public land and public housing to private investment.  This is the reason why Greg Russ recruited Tracey Scott to privatize Minneapolis Public Housing.  AHA was under investigation in  2013 for exorbitant executive salaries. This is the same culture that is now being perpetuated at MPHA. 

July of 2019 after Greg Russ announced that he was leaving, the board appointed her interim director. She was the only name raised to do so and board members at the time questioned the process that got her the appointment (see an image of an email from the board below). The board approved someone they did not know or even vet.

On September 19^th, 2019, a meeting was held by the Northside Neighborhoods Council, Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition, and Keep Public Housing Public Minneapolis Coalition with Tracey Scott to understand MPHA’s Section 18 Demolition & Disposition application that MPHA, Mayor Frey and Council President Lisa Bender lobbied HUD to approve. The purpose of this application was to dismantle all 749 single-family public housing homes known as scattered sites rented by nearly 5000 low-income people that are majority Black and Black Muslim families with children. During this meeting, Tracey Scott admitted that 717 out of 749 homes have been approved to be privatized. Tracey also admitted that MPHA with the help of the City of Minneapolis will bring in lenders to take over the homes. We also found out from  MPHA’s documents and  HUD’s approval letter that as a result of bringing in these lenders, over 104 acres of public land, 99.9 %  of the homes will be owned by private investors, and 0.01% will be owned by a private non-profit created by  MPHA called CHR ( Community Housing Resources). In addition, MPHA will sell each home for $1 to CHR.  After that, CHR will turn all of the homes and public land to private investors.  When Tracey admitted the fact that lenders will take over our public land and homes, she tried to back-pedal. She could not answer the questions or her answers were in full contradiction on what was outlined in HUD’s approval letter and MPHA-City’s privatization plans. Clearly, Tracey Scott has been groomed for this position and this is not the kind of leadership we want to see in our city.

Back on February 15th of this year, the 2019 Omnibus Spending Bill was signed into law. To the surprise of many, this spending bill sustained the large 2018 increases in funding for public housing and made additional investments. Overall, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) saw a 2% funding increase, including $4.65 billion for the Public Housing Operating Fund (an increase of $103 million), and $2.78 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund, an increase of $25 million.

This news follows a long PR campaign by Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA), Mayor Frey, and Lisa Bender arguing that declining federal funding gave the agency no choice but to privatize public housing in order to “preserve” it. While internally using the motto “sell, sell, sell”, MPHA justified plans to move residents out by saying they will never get enough money from U.S. Congress to maintain public housing. In this proposal submitted to the Governor’s Task Force on Affordable Housing, MPHA’s Former Executive Director Greg Russ and General Council Lisa Griebel make ominous threats about the future of affordable housing saying “the need for additional units is compromised by the threatened loss of existing housing for extremely low-income households. This loss is driven by the steady downward trajectory of annual federal appropriations. This downward trajectory is expected to continue.”

MPHA pushed this argument without saying anything about its own surplus of over $23 million. This money is parked in a bank account while MPHA neglects repairs in many public housing buildings – putting families, elders, and children’s health at risk, especially during the winter. But public officials have been reluctant to hold MPHA accountable. Many powerful “progressive” elected officials and city departments such as Mayor Frey, Council President Lisa Bender and City’s CPED (Department of Community Planning & Economic Development) have been supporting MPHA’s narrative to sell public housing to private developers, who would profit from public buildings while low-income POC people are displaced.

 In summary, MPHA put out a huge PR campaign citywide:

• To change the mindset of middle-class white residents, pushing them to accept that public housing was no longer a sustainable or a worthwhile public good.
• This argument rested on the claim that because funding had been decreasing in recent years, it would never return to previous levels.
• Privatization is described as the only way to “preserve” the housing stock.
• While pushing this narrative, MPHA has neglected to disclose that they currently sit on over $23 million in unrestricted reserves.

The 2019 Omnibus bill proves that MPHA’s central claim that federal support for the nation’s vital public housing resources will inevitably continue to dwindle is false. Instead, it shows that huge wins are possible. This bill means that MPHA will receive more federal funding than it has in recent decades. What will their excuse be now that they have enough money?

The truth is, dismantling public housing is racial. The fact that a majority of public housing residents are Black, Black Muslims, Refugees, and Immigrants of Color says a lot about MPHA’s intent to dismantle communities of color in Minneapolis.

Whether or not public housing is adequately funded is a question of political will. We will continue to build a movement to protect and build more public housing that is truly public.

This analysis will unpack the letter sent from Ben Carson and Trump’s U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) to MPHA approving the sale of more than 640 buildings. These buildings consist of 717 single-family public housing homes, also known as scattered sites, and 104.67 acres of public land. This approval would not be possible without the written approval, support and lobbying to HUD by Mayor Jacob Frey and Council President Lisa Bender. The rest of the City Council Members especially Cam Gordon, Jeremiah Ellison, Abdi Warsame and Andrea Jenkins also passed a resolution embracing the privatization of public housing with the Department of Community Planning & Economic Development. The entire city government supports this plan that will displace thousands of people.

Read the analysis here: Historic Land Grab Of Scattered Site Public Housing

MPHA and City of Minneapolis are Privatizing over 730 Public Housing Single-Family Homes Knowns as Scattered Sites

Updated: July 10th 2019

What is Section 18 Demolition & Disposition?

 **Section 18 is NOT the same as Section 8**

Section 18 of the 1937 United States Housing Act is a policy of the federal Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) which allows public housing authorities (PHA’s) to demolish and redevelop their properties under certain conditions. This is a voluntary program that PHA’s elect to pursue.  The specific terms used for this process are “Demolition and Disposition.” Demolition means the destruction of housing, simple enough…but what does “Disposition” mean? Disposition is the transfer of public housing properties to private developers and authorities. Disposition allows private developers and nonprofit corporation to take ownership of public housing properties, allowing them to be converted into private, market-rate housing.

Section 18 in action means destroying and privatizing public housing and redeveloping the properties into new housing which is unaffordable to working, low income and poor people.  Under Trump and Carson, HUD has significantly expanded Section 18 while simultaneously gutting tenant protections and resident consultation requirements. Trump and Carson have made it easier for PHA’s to obtain permission to dispose of their public housing by reducing the “obsolescence”  requirement. Meaning that a PHA no longer needs to prove a unit is beyond repair in order to dispose of it. 

Prior to 2018, Section 18 was encouraged by HUD primarily in situations where single-family homes were beyond repair and where funding was not available. Trump and Carson are now encouraging PHA’s to use Section 18, often in conjecture with another privatization scheme, Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), to dispose of public housing stock nationwide. This is a privatization scheme, the end goal of which is the end of public housing, the gentrification of neighborhoods, and the displacement of Black and Brown communities.  

MPHA’s Section 18 Privatization Scheme 

DGPHC has leaked documents proving that MPHA is aware of and taking advantage of Trump and Carson’s lax Section 18 enforcements. MPHA will use Section 18 to privatize over 736 units of single-family and duplex homes. These units, known as “scattered sites” are home to over 5,000 low-income people of color, the majority of whom are children.   

 MPHA will sell the 736+ single family homes for one dollar per unit to a new private non-profit that MPHA created called Community Housing Resources (CHR). This private non-profit will then create an LLC that will own .001% of the properties. The private investors that MPHA invites will own 99.99%. We are able to find very little information about this private non-profit, LLC, or private investors.  During the May 16th, 2018 MPHA Board Meeting, Executive Director Greg Russ revealed that MPHA’s Section 18 scheme will result in units being converted to “workforce” housing, see 1:06 in this video.  In the same meeting, Russ defined “workforce” housing as serving those making 80-120% Area Median Income (AMI).  80% AMI for a Minneapolis household income is $71,900 per year. The average income for a public housing family range between $14,201 to $20,656 per year. Following MPHA’s disposition of the scattered sites, current public housing families will be unable to afford the new units and will be displaced. During this same board meeting, Russ admitted that some of the scattered sites will be turned over to developers; see 1:43.  

If MPHA’s Section 18 application is approved by HUD, thousands of low-income public housing families with children in Minneapolis will lose their housing. They will be priced out of their homes and their units will be turned over to developers and private investors. These tenants are disproportionately people of color, with the majority being Black, Hmong, and Black Muslims (East Africans), immigrants, refugees with limited knowledge of English, and a disproportionate number are elderly, children, and disabled.

How MPHA Undermined Public Housing Residents to Push this Application

On February 27th, 2019, Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) Board of Commissioners voted to approve MPHA’s Section 18 application. This decision was made with no input from families that live in these homes and with no public process.

After talking with scattered site residents, it has become clear that residents were not notified or informed about MPHA’s Section 18 application and were not given the opportunity to comment on the application. Additionally, the scattered sites do not have a resident council to represent their interests. MPHA is aware of the lack of a resident council which is a violation and did nothing to ensure that resident voices were heard.  

At this  February board meeting, the only residents MPHA allowed to speak were members of the Resident Advisory Board (RAB). There were only five MPHA residents on the RAB, and not a single one was a scattered site resident. The RAB met only an hour and a half before the public board meeting. They did not understand the application and approved it while MPHA’s Jeff Horwich guided them to approve the application. Following this, the MPHA Board voted to approve the Section 18 Demolition & Disposition application without hearing from a single scattered site resident. When resident leaders from DG&PHC raised objections to this process and attempted to ask questions they were harassed, silenced, and eventually, MPHA called the police on them.

How Mayor Frey & MPLS City Council Undermined Public Housing Residents

Mayor Jacob Frey and Council-Member Lisa Bender wrote a letter to HUD in support of MPHA’s Section 18 application. Without this letter of support, HUD would be extremely unlikely to accept MPHA’s Section 18 Disposition & Demolition. Mayor Jacob Frey and City Council President Lisa  Bender are pushing Trump and Carson’s plans to end public housing in order to gentrify the city and turn our remaining public housing into unaffordable housing developments for the wealthy. Bender and Frey wrote this letter of support without a full council vote and without any community engagement or opportunity for public comment. This is in clear violation of the City Council’s Core Principles of Community Engagement.  When a national reporter asked Frey & Bender about this application several times, they did not respond. The people of Minneapolis have to hold Frey, Bender and the rest of City Council accountable for planning to end public housing, push Trump’s housing agenda, and destroy Black and Brown communities. 

Resources on Section 18 around the country: 

San Francisco, Dallas, Philadelphia, New Orleans,  Oklahoma City 

PDF Copy: https://tinyurl.com/Section18-Factsheet-Updated

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s (MPHA) Executive Director Greg Russ has been appointed the new head of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Greg Russ was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio from a list that was hand selected by Trump appointed HUD Secretary, Ben Carson. Greg Russ will be taking over NYCHA in August. According to the New York Times, his starting salary will be an unprecedented $402,000.

This decision comes as NYCHA is making moves to privatize one-third of NYCHA’s housing stock under the Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD). Russ is an expert at privatizing public housing under RAD. He has traveled the country dismantling public housing under RAD and other, similar, federal programs since 1995.

Russ’s track record of dismantling public housing begins in Detroit in 1995. Russ, as an employee of HUD, intervened in Detroit in order to remove the Housing Agency from HUDs, “Troubled Agency” list. In 1995, Detroit had 9,007 available public housing units. Merely two years later, under the “leadership” of Russ, there were only 4,071 units available in the city; https://archives.hud.gov/offices/oig/reports/files/ig851804.pdf.

After Detroit, Russ became the Chief of Staff at the Chicago Housing Authority in a HUD takeover similar to Detroit and now NYCHA. During his time in Chicago, Russ created and signed the “Plan for Transformation” which displaced 17,000 people. The “Plan for Transformation” featured many of the same “promises” that Russ and MPHA have been making in Minneapolis. Including residents “right to return” following rehabilitation projects. Chicago Public Housing residents did not return, and neither will Minneapolis residents if we do not stop MPHA’s plans; http://interactive.wbez.org/cha/.

After dismantling Chicago’s Public Housing and displacing over 17,000 people, Russ moved onto Cambridge. In Cambridge, Russ privatized every single unit of public housing under the RAD program, ending public housing in Cambridge; https://thecity.nyc/2019/06/meet-nychas-new-boss-gregory-russ.html.

Following the mass privatization of Cambridge’s Public Housing, Russ testified to Congress in May of 2016 in favor of RAD.  Among other things, Russ advocated for an increased cap on the number of units that could be converted under the program, as well as for initiatives that would make it easier for a PHA to privatize its entire public housing stock; https://tinyurl.com/Russ-Testimony-Congress.

In late December of 2016, Russ was hand selected by the City of Minneapolis to end public housing.  DG&PHC released a statement at the time calling Russ the Czar of Privatization and Gentrification; https://www.facebook.com/DefendGlendale/posts/785401878292338?  &

www.startribune.com/new-minneapolis-housing-director-brings-expertise-amid-uncertainty/408172976.

Since his first day at MPHA in February 2017, Russ aggressively pushed to privatize Minneapolis’ entire public housing portfolio under the RAD and Section 18 programs with a very expensive public relations campaign. He hired a new team, used unethical tactics and manipulation to silence and demonize public housing leaders who were fighting to stop his privatization schemes through RAD and Section 18. Russ allowed public housing leaders to be bullied, intimidated, physically attacked, racially profiled and attempted to arrest them in order to silence and to make sure the white local media of Minneapolis who normally silences POC voices push his false narrative and PR campaign. Mayor Jacob Frey and the entire City Council watched Russ’s abusive tactics on residents and supported him. Russ and his network of developers managed to get the entire Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey on board with this privatization scheme to end public housing  displacing over 15,000 Black, Black Muslims, seniors, families with children and people with disabilities and making sure over 40,000 people that are on 7 to 10 year public housing wait list never have access to public housing. The Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Frey’s blind support of Russ and MPHA prove that they are pushing Carson and Trump’s agenda to dismantle and privatize all public housing. Not to mention Greg Russ’s family are one of the largest owners of federally subsidized low-income housing tax credit properties in Minnesota Thies & Talle Inc., with similar investments in other states. Even though DG&PHC called out this blatant conflict of interest and corruption, City Hall was complicit and ignored this ethical violation. To learn more, check out;

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

Now Russ has been hand-picked again, this time by Carson, to lead NYCHA in the largest RAD conversion in the Nation, and Russ is pushing the exact same program here in Minneapolis.  Carson knows Russ has experience ending public housing, especially those that HUD takes over such as Detroit and Chicago. This is why he was chosen.

NYCHA residents do not want Russ to head up NYCHA. They are ready and are mobilizing to stop his privatization plans before he even touches the ground. Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition is the first group to piece together and expose Russ’s national record of privatizing and ending public housing when he came to Minneapolis. Russ may be moving to New York to implement Trump and Carson’s plans, but DG&PHC won’t stop working with our allies in New York City to stop Russ and similar plans around the country and right here at home. 

Here is a report by DG&PHC that outlines how Greg Russ planned to use a national pro-gentrification map called Opportunity Atlas Mapping to end public housing and destroy Black and Brown communities in Minneapolis;https://www.dgphc.org/2019/05/03/greg-russ-of-mpha-is-using-opportunity-atlas-mapping-to-displace-public-housing-residents/

For a PDF Copy of this piece please click here.

#KeepPublicHousingPublic  #BuildMorePublicHousing  #NotoRAD  #DefendElliotTwins  #SayNoToSection18  #StopFrey #StopRuss  #SayNoToGentrification #StopPrivatization  #DGPHC  #PHIMBY #AbolishFaircloth

This article in the Columbia Journal Review is about the obstacles journalists have faced when covering our story, and how MPHA manipulates the media. Please check it out and share!

https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/minnesota-housing-retraction-mpha.php?fbclid=IwAR07AILljTCui7yR3vVWzJbIOmvgz0k_iONTPpZjW7rzFBPZK2jEny92u5U

The fifth congressional district DFL passed our resident-centered resolution that states public housing should be kept public! Our fight is now more widely supported than ever, and we will wait until Ilhan Omar recognizes and supports our 5-year struggle.

FIFTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT DFL (CD5 DFL)·THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2019

Whereas housing is a human right;

Whereas the 5th Congressional District is facing a housing crisis which has in turn caused a homelessness crisis;

Whereas ensuring all CD5 residents have decent and stable housing that is affordable (30% of their income) must be a top priority and concern;

Whereas the first public housing in Minneapolis, Glendale Townhomes, was developed by Mayor Hubert Humphrey to house WWII vets and their families during one of the most severe housing crises we’ve ever faced;

Whereas Hubert Humphrey created MPHA’s predecessor MHRA under the ideal that a publicly owned housing authority was the most permanent solution to housing;

Whereas housing that is often described as “affordable” is not truly affordable for low and very-low-income households, and building more publicly-owned public housing best ensures enough of the appropriate housing is created to begin with;

Whereas 25,000 Minneapolis residents currently live in public housing, with tens of thousands more on the waiting list; all are poor and over 80% are people of color, immigrants, refugees, seniors, and people with disabilities;

Whereas the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority [MPHA] was created by the authority of the Minneapolis City Council, and in significant part relates and has obligations to the City Council and Mayor pursuant to the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances, Chapter 420;

Whereas the MPHA Strategic Vision and Capital Plan for 2018-2020 includes transferring ownership of its publicly-owned properties to a private non-profit corporation pursuant to the HUD-administered Rental Assistance Demonstration program [RAD] and replacing current public housing leases with Section 8 vouchers, a process which was rejected by residents at the Glendale Townhomes in 2015;

Whereas using Section 8 vouchers to relocate seniors on fixed incomes out of public housing and their communities could worsen the chronic homelessness crisis among seniors;

Whereas the residents at the first two properties scheduled through RAD (Elliot Twin Towers and Glendale Townhomes) include a high percentage of East African Somali and Oromo seniors and elders, which could result in disparate impact as defined by the Fair Housing Act;

Whereas the MPHA has responsibility as a public agency to maintain public housing properties as a public good, and is unable to make any promises as to the future of residents at any properties whose ownership and control has been transferred to private entities;

Whereas relocation is displacement, and research from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs has found that as few as 1 in 5 relocated residents return to their homes;

Whereas a February 2018 GAO report requested by Rep. Maxine Waters documents a lack of accountability by HUD for the RAD process, and has been unwilling or unable to take responsible steps to ensure the safety of residents in the nationwide program;

Whereas these potential dangers underlie the importance of the U.S. Representative’s, City Council’s and Mayor’s vigilant involvement as this process plays out in Minneapolis; and

Whereas over 18,000 people have signed a petition to keep public housing in Minneapolis and CD5 public;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the 5th Congressional District of the DFL rejects the notion that preserving or expanding public housing requires privatization by any method;

RESOLVED, That the 5th Congressional District of the DFL distinguishes that “deeply subsidized” or “deeply affordable” housing is not the same thing as public housing or income-based housing at 30% of income for rent;

RESOLVED, That the 5th Congressional District of the DFL believes Section 8 vouchers are not a replacement for public housing, and that Section 18 and RAD are privatization programs that do not “preserve” public housing but, in fact, dismantle it and are thus unacceptable.

RESOLVED, That the 5th Congressional District of the DFL believes any plan for public housing that is not supported and approved by residents is not legitimate, and that any plan requiring residents to be relocated for redevelopment is displacement;

RESOLVED, That the 5th Congressional District of the DFL asks the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor to exercise due diligence in monitoring the citizen involvement and reporting requirements of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority under the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 420;

RESOLVED, That the 5th Congressional District of the DFL urges the 5th Congressional District United States Representative, Minneapolis City Council and Mayor to exercise their authority, good offices, and public voice to oppose all forms of privatization of public housing in Minneapolis, including the sale or transfer to private ownership of public housing buildings; and

RESOLVED, That the 5th Congressional District of the DFL encourages the City of Minneapolis to take a national and international leadership position in guaranteeing housing as a human right, including working with public partners to protect, keep, and expand public housing as a public good.

Shout out to public housing leaders and Keep Public Housing Public Minneapolis Coalition. MPHA refused to let public housing residents comment at their monthly board meeting on Wednesday, May 22, 2019. Public housing residents made sure their voices were head outside of the building at the same time MPHA was voting and planning to displace us. 

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#KeepPublicHousingPublic#BuildMorePublicHousing#SayNoToSection18#NotoRAD#DefendElliotTwins#StopFrey#StopRuss#SayNoToGentrification#StopPrivatization#PHIMBY#AbolishFaircloth

Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition wants to #KeepPublicHousingPublic because these are our homes and communities, and we don’t want them to be dismantled so developers and investors can profit. We want public housing to stay safe, stable, and vibrant for us and for future generations in this city.

That’s why we are proud to be one of the founding members of the Keep Public Housing Public Minneapolis Coalition. Together with Young Muslim Collective, Twin Cities Musicians Against Gentrification, Minneapolis Coalition for Responsible Governance, TC DSA Housing Justice Branch, and Harrison Neighborhood Association, we are calling on City officials to stop MPHA’s privatization of public housing in Minneapolis, which is being pushed by Trump and his HUD Secretary Ben Carson.

Privatization – through Section 18 Demolition and Disposition, RAD, or any other means – is an attack on the low-income, elderly, disabled, and BIPOC residents of public housing, at a time when Minneapolis is facing a severe public housing and affordable housing crisis. Our coalition represents a community of local activists and organizers who are standing together to say #NoToPrivatization, and to #KeepPublicHousingPublic!