Say you work at a school in Becker County, Minnesota. A single parent, there’s nothing you’d love more than to own a home and provide a stable place for your daughter to grow up. But for years, homeownership has felt out of reach despite working full time.

A new program may help you achieve your goal of homeownership: Home Ownership for Me (HOMe). Administered by Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation, the program provides zero-interest down payment loans to qualifying individuals and families who work in Becker County and want to live there, too. Payments on the loan are deferred until the home is sold or the term of the first mortgage is complete. The program is a “revolving fund” because funds used to repay the loan are returned to the loan pool to help another family secure a home later on.

A team of local leaders advanced the idea for the HOMe program through MHP’s Housing Institute, an 18-month program that provides capacity building to three teams as they pursue a project that positively impacts affordable housing in their respective regions.

Photo: Members of the Detroit Lakes Housing Institute Team at a meeting in 2018

Karen Pifher, West Community Health Program Manager at Essentia Health was one of the Housing Institute team members who worked to develop the program. “I hope that people who are in that low- to mid-income range who have never thought that homeownership is something they can experience are able to realize that dream through this program,” Pifher says.

HOMe provides loans up to $9,000 for households earning up to 80 percent of Area Median Income (AMI). Households earning up to 115 percent of State Median Income can secure a loan up to $5,500. These figures are adjusted to account for household size. For reference, 80 percent AMI for a household of four is $55,600 and 115 percent SMI for the same household size is $96,830.

Working at Essentia Health, Pifher sees the many ways in which a safe, affordable home impacts the community. “One of the things we know is that housing — affordable, stable housing — has a huge impact on health across the lifespan,” Pifher explains.

Part of Pifher’s work is to carry out a regular health assessment for the county. “The previous and current health assessment revealed that affordable housing is a top concern of people here,” Pifher explains. “We know that housing is one of the social determinants of health, so this issue is extremely important to us because healthcare interventions are not successful without safe and stable housing.”

Local employers see the need for affordable housing for staff, and they’re taking action by contributing to the program. Several employers, including Essentia Health, BTD manufacturing, and Arvig have committed funding. Becker County and the cities of Frazee and Detroit Lakes have, as well.

Denise Anderson, Frazee City Administrator (center), meets with a potential funder at a Housing Institute in 2018 with the guidance of former MHP Community Development Manager Luis Pereira (right). 

Carrie Johnston, a member of the Housing Institute team, often hears about employers struggling to fill positions due lack of affordable housing as President of the Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce. “I know businesses who have tried to recruit employees, but struggle because people can’t find an affordable place to live in our community.”

Pifher sees that too at Essentia Health. “Our recruiters identify childcare and housing as two major barriers to filling essential roles such as Certified Nursing Assistants and front desk professionals. It’s hard to hire for these positions because they can’t find an affordable home in our area.”

Detroit Lakes is a growing community, and the lack of affordable housing puts that growth at risk. “We are an economic center for the County,” Johnston explains. “Our school district has grown 10 percent a year for the past couple of years. Our community has convened for a couple of work sessions on workforce issues and community needs. Our shortage of housing affordable to working people with low and moderate incomes continues to rise to the top as a pressing issue.”

Denise Anderson, City Administrator for the nearby community of Frazee, was another member of the Housing Institute team. She says the Housing Institute process helped the group successfully create the HOMe initiative. “The process was so enlightening,” Anderson says. “It brings together people who are dedicated and interested in housing in their area. It opens your eyes to the pressing needs in communities across our state. Once you see that and you start working with other people who are energetic, it’s amazing what you can accomplish.”

The Becker County team plans to continue meeting to implement more solutions for housing in their community.

Learn more about the HOMe program on MMCDC’s website.

Leaders ‘ECHO’ the need for affordable housing

Located between Duluth and the Twin Cities — and within two hours of 80% of Minnesota’s population — it’s no surprise that the East Central region is one of the fastest growing in the state.

But in 2015, a regional housing study made clear what some local leaders and community members already sensed — the region’s lack of affordable housing development loomed as a major threat to the region’s growth.

Photo: Cost of living data from MN DEED and a summary of key takeaways from a Chisago County housing study completed this summer

During Round 4 of MHP’s Housing Institute, housing leaders in the region banded together to address the yawning gap between affordable homes and the people who need them — teachers, bus drivers, cashiers, kids, grandparents and more. They named themselves the East Central Housing Organization (ECHO) and began convening monthly meetings with city, county and housing development staff to strategize around the region’s housing needs and jumpstart development.

“ECHO exists to notify city and county leaders that housing is an issue,” explains Cherre’ Palenius, MHP Community Development Manager and a key adviser to ECHO. “When we first started, nobody was talking about housing. Now, everybody is.”

ECHO includes representatives from Central MN Housing Partnership, Lakes and Pines Community Action Council, Mora HRA, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures, East Central Regional Development Commission, Seven County Senior Federation, and A Place for You. ECHO took a proactive approach to the lack of affordable housing, arming themselves with data to attract developers and secure the public or private funds needed to get projects off the ground.

Photo: This MHP Housing Institute team evolved into the East Central Housing Organization (ECHO), bringing developers and community leaders together to tackle affordable housing needs in Minnesota’s East Central region. From left: Tim Burkhardt (Seven County Senior Federation), Rose Dunn (Mora HRA), Mary Kay Sloan (A Place For You), Cherre Palenius (MHP), Jennifer Russell (East Central Regional Development Commission), Deanna Hemmesch (Central MN Housing Partnership), and Lezlie Sauter (Lakes & Pines).

Their efforts are working. In the past two years alone, the region has seen several major affordable developments receive funding or break ground: Mysa House, a senior complex in Mora; West Birch Estates in Princeton; Lady Luck Estates in Hinckley; White Pine apartments in Cloquet; and several Habitat for Humanity homes.

Chisago County — a growing community tackling growing gaps

Despite these impressive strides forward; however, more investment is needed to move the needle on the region’s growing need for affordable housing.

Located just 45 miles north of the Twin Cities, East Central’s Chisago County has a gap between wages and rent that’s among the worst in the state, according to MHP’s 2018 Out of Reach report. Residents earning the average hourly wage ($8.46) would have to hold down about two-and-a-half full-time jobs to afford market-rate rent for a two-bedroom apartment.

To tackle that problem, Chisago County has been arming itself with data, completing a county-wide housing study this summer. A more than 200-page document, the study drills into local demographics and trends, putting numbers behind the robust need for housing for workers, senior housing, and more.

Community members are well aware that the 200-page study is just the first step.

“They don’t want the study just to sit on a shelf,” said Palenius. “Community leaders want to work with one another to create strategies to tackle pressing needs identified in the study.”

County leaders hired a community planner, Landform, to work with cities to examine current land use and zoning laws. Their goal is to understand how to overcome a city’s unique barriers to development and identify potential sites for affordable housing. At several workshops this summer and fall community leaders convened to provide input, set goals, and strategize.

“We want to create a toolbox for each community,” Palenius said. “If a developer comes to Wyoming, for example, they will already have sites identified and priorities around what they want built.”

Chisago County is doing all it can to pave the way for the development of housing affordable to working families and seniors — and create the community infrastructure it needs to continue to grow. In addition to that critical work; however, as the Minnesota Task Force on Housing recommends, significant, ongoing investment by the state is key to making real progress on this issue impacting Minnesota communities of all sizes.

Check out a one-pager on housing in Chisago County here!

For many Twin Cities immigrants even today, the dream of securing a safe, healthy affordable home is out of reach.

A new study reveals that the three largest immigrant populations in the Twin Cities — the Hmong, Latino, and Somali communities — carry a heavier burden and specific challenges when it comes to securing safe, stable housing in the communities that benefit from their essential contributions.

The Twin Cities immigrant population has grown rapidly in recent decades. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of foreign-born residents living in the region spiked by 74 percent, rising from 206,500 to 359,500. Today, 12 percent of all Twin Cities metropolitan area residents are foreign-born. Immigrants play an increasingly significant role in the Twin Cities community — but too many face significant and systemic barriers to finding and maintaining adequate and affordable housing.

Given the urgent need to identify lasting solutions for the growing immigrant community so that all of our region’s residents can thrive, the Minnesota Housing Partnership, Minnesota Budget Project and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs conducted interviews with more than a dozen leaders from the Hmong, Latino, and Somali communities to explore not only what barriers exist, but also what resources and community engagement strategies are needed to remedy their constituents’ housing challenges.

Key takeaways from the report:

Barriers to safe, healthy, affordable housing

• Barriers to securing quality housing include cost, a lack of credit history, discrimination, displacement, and immigration status.
• Immigrant groups — such as the Hmong, Latino, and Somali communities — bear some of the greatest burden when it comes to affordable housing shortages. Almost 40 percent of immigrant households in the Twin Cities pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
• Immigrants are often forced to occupy substandard housing. Additionally, a shortage of affordable units and units that can accommodate large families regularly leads to overcrowding.

Existing resources within immigrant communities

• Even in the midst of settling in a new country, many immigrant families are able to reestablish themselves because of the strong support from their communities. Often, immigrants rely upon family members and word of mouth and for information and accommodations upon arrival.
• Many immigrant families secure support from community organizations to provide housing supports such as financial assistance with rent, Section 8 applications, moving expenses, and legal services.

Solutions suggested by community leaders

• Establish and enforce a more fair housing market, create and enforce policies that provide for landlord accountability, and reallocate housing funds to invest in historically disinvested neighborhoods.
• Provide more culturally sensitive housing programs and services, encourage housing authorities and building contractors to build more houses and apartments to accommodate larger household sizes, and invest in community organizations that already offer customized housing services to immigrant communities.
• Promote and provide more educational workshops to immigrant families, and develop a reference guide or a directory of affordable housing units that can be easily accessible to immigrant communities.
• Increase the agency of immigrant populations by establishing more grassroots efforts that encourage immigrant families to be involved in the political process where housing decisions are made and by expanding opportunities for immigrants to secure and maintain employment and achieve financial stability.

Strategies for responsive community engagement

• As advocates and agencies seek feedback, they must put the priorities of immigrant communities first rather than “pushing their own agenda.” They must also approach communities with the goal of building power rather than extracting information. Authentic community engagement, leaders emphasized, is predicated on trust — and in many communities trust has not been developed between housing advocates or agencies and immigrant populations.
• Leaders in the Somali, Hmong and Latino communities stressed that verbal communication is critical. Their community engagement typically includes face-to-face dialogue, including networking, door knocking and frequent in-person gatherings at places populations typically congregate, like apartment buildings, religious and cultural institutions.
• Meaningful engagement approaches are grounded in the understanding that community members are experts of their own lived experiences and that there are distinctions not only between immigrant groups but also within broad cultural communities.
• The depth of relationships can change the nature of the work, dramatically shifting the priorities and perspectives on the true problems and possible solutions. Transparency and accountability are crucial.

Download the report here and the infographic here. 

Organizations interviewed

ACER — African Career and Education Resources, Inc

African Immigrants Community Service

CAPI USA

CAPM — Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans

CLUES — Comunidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio

HACER — Hispanic Advocacy and Community

Empowerment through Research

Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia

Neighborhood House

Somali American Parent Association

Tapestry (Bi-lingual Spanish church)

Voices for Racial Justice

There isn’t a single county in the state of Minnesota where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford even a modest one-bedroom apartment. In the Twin Cities, it takes 70 hours per week at minimum wage to afford rent for a single-bedroom home.

When families pay too much for rent, they’re forced to sacrifice to make ends meet — cutting back at the grocery store or delaying a trip to the doctor.

Yet Out of Reach Minnesota 2017 reveals that households in every corner of the state are spending thousands of dollars more than they can afford each year just to pay the rent for a modest apartment.

“This year’s Out of Reach report illustrates the continuing challenge in covering housing costs facing retirees and people with lower paying jobs,” said Chip Halbach, MHP’s Executive Director. “For years now, increases in the cost of housing have outpaced renter income in Minnesota, meaning that even more seniors and families are forced to make difficult decisions between paying rent or purchasing food and medicine.”

Building on an annual report released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition this month, MHP’s new analysis points to an urgent need to increase affordable housing in communities across the state, in urban centers and Greater Minnesota.

Among the key findings of MHP’s 2017 report: 

Minnesota has climbed to #21 on the list of most expensive states in the nation, up from #24 just five years ago, rising above states like Texas and Arizona.

From 2016 to 2017, the state housing wage — what a household must earn to spend less than 30 percent of their income on housing — increased by more than 5 percent.​

To afford a two-bedroom apartment, the median-income renter in Minnesota would need a 13 percent raise.

A full-time minimum wage earner can’t afford even a one-bedroom apartment in any of Minnesota’s 87 counties.

The lowest income households — those earning 30 percent or less of area median income — can afford a modest one-bedroom apartment in only four of Minnesota’s 87 counties. Even efficiencies are not affordable in 35 counties.

New analysis focused on the Minneapolis / St Paul metro are:

How many hours less would a minimum wage earner have to work to afford an apartment in Minneapolis / St. Paul if the minimum wage were $15 instead of $9.50?

How much do you need to earn to afford rent in each zip code of Minneapolis and St. Paul?

How does the income — and the ability to afford rent — of households of color compare to white households in places like Hennepin and Ramsey County?

See the full Out of Reach Minnesota 2017 report here.

See national data, analysis, and maps from NLIHC at http://www.nlihc.org/oor

The national report provided further proof of what we at MHP know so well: rural and tribal communities face particular challenges when it comes to affordable housing.

Last week, the Harvard Joint Center on Housing released its annual “State of the Nation’s Housing” report and, as many in the housing world opined, there was good news and bad news. While the housing market has recovered by some metrics, affordability has plummeted by many other standards with a historic number of cost-burdened renters.

While urban centers often dominate the conversation, the report specifically calls out the challenges of rural and tribal areas. As the Housing Assistance Council, a national nonprofit that helps build homes and communities across rural America, noted: “The report details ongoing challenges facing non-metro and tribal areas, where poverty rates are higher than the national rate. Substandard housing is a particular problem in these areas — housing in non-metro areas is twice as likely to have incomplete plumbing, and housing in tribal areas is five times as likely to have incomplete plumbing. Meanwhile, federal housing assistance targeted at rural and tribal areas is limited and has seen a decrease in funding.”

Since 2009, our Community Development team has been working extensively in rural and tribal communities, not just in Minnesota but across the country. What have they learned? When it comes to closing gaps in housing there are many common challenges.

First and foremost, it’s a matter of capacity. In a small town, with limited staff, people wear multiple hats. The Sheriff may also be the Mayor. The Housing Coordinator might need to fill in as the liquor store manager (true story). Having human resources dedicated to understanding the intricacies of affordable housing development is simply out of reach for many small towns or tribes.

Then, when it comes to funding, rural and tribal communities have it tough. While big cities get dollars directly from the federal government for housing projects, smaller communities have to compete with each other for funds from the state. That means, a senior housing project in one small community could be pitted against a supportive housing project just 20 miles down the rural road. Because staff time is constrained, it’s not uncommon for the towns to be unaware of the others application, rather than collaborating to get the best result for their area residents.

Even when a project gets rolling, changing leadership can trip up the momentum. Whether the appointment of a new tribal council or a long-time city manager retiring, sometimes one person’s priority isn’t on the agenda of an incoming leader.

And there’s a host of issues even once a community breaks ground. Community leaders are often uncertain what role they should play in the complex project — and residents are understandably anxious about an outside company coming into their community. And construction costs? In rural and tribal communities the fluctuations can be off the charts.

That’s why MHP has prioritized working in rural and tribal communities. With offerings like our Housing Institute and Strengthening Rural Communities Program, we bring the knowledge and know-how local leaders need to extend their ability to get housing and community development projects done. We also bring together regional stakeholders, so, instead of competing, communities are collaborating to get the best result for their area residents.

If your rural or tribal community is challenged by the state of housing, consider applying for technical assistance from MHP’s Strengthening Rural Communities Program. The application is short and the deadline is July 15. Learn more here!