October 2018 Affordable Homes Update
Our October Affordable Homes Update includes several links about the Franklin-Hiawatha Encampment in Minneapolis, a new use for the former home of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the rise of “street medicine” and land banks. Let’s begin:
- If you take Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis to get to Lake Street or the airport, you’ve no doubt seen the tents that line the side of the road near Franklin Avenue. Called the Franklin-Hiawatha Encampment, it has grown from a few people to over 300 people without permanent housing. The situation not only brings the affordable housing crisis into sharp relief, but it also highlights the challenges urban Native Americans face. Jim Walsh of MinnPost captures the voices of people in the encampment. Also known as the Wall of Forgotten Natives, leaders in the Twin Cities Native community are working along with the City of Minneapolis to find homes for the residents. Health issues have arisen at the encampment and nurses have stepped up to provide care. If you or your congregation want to help, a website is up that explains the situation and how to volunteer or donate.
- What is the solution to resolving the housing crisis in Minnesota’s largest city? Writing in MinnPost, reporters Greta Kaul and Jessica Lee say that fixing the crisis is not easy at all.
- The Minnesota Daily reports on a new program from the city of Minneapolis that incentivizes landlords to retain Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH).
- Earlier in this report, we talked about nurses offering health care at the Franklin-Hiawatha encampment. In many cities across the US health care professionals are out giving “street medicine” to people experiencing homelessness.
- One way that communities can create more affordable homes is through land banks. These are quasi-governmental authorities that manage surplus land. They have been used especially in Rust Belt cities where deindustrialization has left vacant and foreclosed properties. The Genesee County Land Bank in Flint, Michigan has helped removed urban blight in the former factory town. But land banks can also be a method to provide affordable housing, as NextCity explains in this report on a Land Bank in Oakland, CA. Curbed has a story of another land trust restoring affordable housing in the Florida Keys.
- The Daily Beast shows how American society saw housing as both a civil rights and a feminist issue as far back as the 1970s.
- Finally, we continue to be amazed of the wonders (and sometimes concerns) of 3D printing. The Marines have found a way to use 3D printing to build barracks. This could offer a way that affordable housing could be built quickly and at a good price.
That’s all for the housing update this month. See you in late October with the November Housing Update.
