Who’s responsible for housing in your city?
The recently renovated classic 1960s Texa-Tonka Shopping Center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota
Affordable housing can be a complex topic. Developers, nonprofits, and lawmakers all play critical roles in its establishment and maintenance. Yet for those who want to learn more about affordable housing, it can feel like trying to put together the most complex jigsaw puzzle you’ve ever encountered. However, one important piece of that puzzle is open to everyone’s scrutiny and influence: your city’s housing authority.
Unlike Parks and Rec, a city’s housing authority, or HA, is usually not well known. Yet HAs are powerful bodies that ensure affordable housing is robust and growing in a community. In many cities, such as St. Louis Park and Minneapolis, the HA is a body separate from the city council. In other towns, such as Edina and Golden Valley, HA commissioners are also city council members.
Here in my town of St. Louis Park, the HA oversees a whopping 28 affordable housing programs and initiatives. Here are just a few that may be new to you:
▪The Affordable Housing Land Trust, a multi-jurisdictionally funded program, is administered byHomes Within Reach. A homeowner using this program owns their home while Homes Within Reach owns the land on which the house sits. Imagine how much more affordable a home is to a low-income family with a $30,000 to $100,000 discount!
▪Kids in the Parkrental assistance helps families with children in the St. Louis Park school district remain in their current homes if they suddenly encounter a rent increase that may otherwise threaten to displace them.
▪The Down Payment Assistance Programprovides down-payment assistance to qualifying first-time homebuyers.
As a former St. Louis Park city council member, I know these programs can make all the difference in families’ lives. Now, as a member of the Housing Authority Board, I hope to maintain and build on the momentum already created by the board and staff.
If you happen to live in St. Louis Park, I’d love to get your impressions of our affordable housing programs and hear any ideas you may have to improve them. Please reach me at thom.thommiller@gmail.com or call 612-991-1599.