[Mpls] Taking credit where credit may or may not be due.

[Steve Brandt]

Margaret Hastings posted: What I am going to try to do is keep track of claims R.T. may make during his campaign taking credit for affordable housing creation, improved services to people living homeless.

Brandt:  I used to try to do the same thing, back in the days before I was paid not to write about Minneapolis neighborhoods.  Here's my final effort from 2003:

Paper: STAR TRIBUNE (Mpls.-St. Paul) Newspaper of the Twin Cities
Headline: Affordable housing gains prove elusive // But Rybak, allies taking important steps
Date: 04/22/03
Section: NEWS
Page: 01B
Edition: METRO
Byline: Steve Brandt; Staff Writer
Graphic: PHOTO
Length: 41.2
Subject: comparison;statistics;minneapolis;housing;poverty
Slug: HOUS22


   When Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak won office in November 2001, 
calling affordable housing his top priority and pledging to 
mobilize volunteers, a 15-church coalition was raring to go with 
hammers and dollars alike.
   But a year later that group, known as Congregations Building 
Community, has completed just one Habitat for Humanity house in 
north Minneapolis, rather than the dozens it expected to build.   "It's just been one bureaucratic incident after another," said 
Marion Etzwiler, the group's cochairwoman. "We thought we would be 
building a year ago."
   The holdup illustrates a brutal truth for mayors and volunteers 
alike about creating affordable housing: It takes years to produce 
apartments and houses.   The last year of Rybak's term will be a far better indicator of 
whether his commitment to affordable housing is producing results 
than his first was.
 Still, Rybak and his City Council allies have 
taken some important steps during his first 15 months in office.
   - The city created an affordable-housing trust fund, even though 
a mechanism for permanent financing remains under discussion.
   - The council changed zoning law to allow developers extra 
housing units on a site if they include units affordable to people 
with lower incomes.
    - And Rybak enthusiastically endorsed a pilot effort to get 
selected neighborhoods discussing sites and types of affordable 
housing before specific proposals spark controversy, something that 
could increase such housing in middle-class neighborhoods along the 
edges of the city.
   Still, some lobbyists for affordable housing issues are 
disappointed. They say privately that although they are convinced 
that Rybak's heart is in increasing affordable housing production, 
they are disappointed that the city's financial commitment hasn't 
grown faster.
   Minneapolis awarded $10.8 million in grants and loans to housing 
proposals that include lower-income units. That is up from $8.2 
million in 2001, in Sharon Sayles Belton's last year as mayor. But 
the increase occurred largely because $4 million in neighborhood 
revitalization money the city planned to award in 2001 got pushed 
back to 2002, while the city sorted through the effects of new 
state tax laws.
   Yet $10.8 million doesn't represent the great leap forward that 
housing advocates sought. Some say they recognize that city 
finances were tight already and have been further strained by 
pending state budget cuts. They recognize that Rybak is determined 
to complete his reorganization of the city's development and 
planning arms before substantially increasing spending.
   Still, housing advocates say the only way to increase production 
is to increase spending. City development officials forecast that 
between $12.1 million and $16.1 million could be awarded to 
affordable housing this year, depending on neighborhood funds. 
  The debate over increasing housing spending comes as some voice 
increasing skepticism of the city's role in expanding affordable 
housing. Some landlords cite rising vacancy rates and suggest the 
city ease off production. Research by the Federal Reserve Bank of 
Minneapolis suggests that giving people vouchers or tax credits to 
help them pay for housing is more efficient than building more 
subsidized units. Others urge the city to target money to help 
residents achieve home ownership.
   But the housing advocates and Rybak say that the highest vacancy 
rates typically are for higher-rent, smaller-size apartments, 
rather than the lower-rent or larger units created through city 
assistance. City development officials argue that subsidizing 
incomes is just as costly as subsidizing housing construction when 
viewed over time. And opponents of city assistance to home 
ownership say that low interest rates and abundant private 
financing already aid would-be buyers.
   Rybak says he faces different issues from many big-city mayors 
who struggle to lure suburbanites to buy into their sagging housing 
markets. In Minneapolis, he said, there is a good news-bad news 
scenario. Home prices have risen in all city real estate districts 
for several consecutive years, so Rybak said his aim is to maintain 
affordability in the face of demand from suburbanites and others 
who want to live close to the region's core. He said he wants to 
emphasize increasing home ownership among minorities and creating 
affordable units for older people ready to downsize from 
single-family houses.
   But there can be years between funding proposals and renting 
units. For example, 2002 city housing production largely reflects 
financing available during Sayles Belton's term. A Star Tribune 
analysis of Minneapolis Community Development Agency-assisted 
projects found that 31 percent more agency-financed units were 
completed in 2002 than 2001, both those aimed at very low-income 
people and those affordable for people of moderate and higher incomes.   Production rose 23 percent in terms of units completed and 
affordable for families earning half or less of the area's median 
family income of $75,300. For instance, the number of units 
completed and affordable to families earning less than 30 percent 
median household income nearly tripled. That income group has been 
a key target for advocates.   The agency's production included both construction of new units 
and rehab of existing subsidized units to keep them in service. But 
a noticeably larger share of the agency's 2002 completed units 
resulted from rehabs rather than new construction, compared with 2001.
   Rybak said preserving units is important. "The best affordable 
housing we have is already built and we shouldn't lose it," he said.
   More important, in terms of judging Rybak's housing performance, 
there was a sharp increase during 2002 in units in the pipeline - 
those that the city has awarded money but which haven't broken 
ground. That is especially true for the lowest-rent units.
   .    Heritage Park
   One place where significant numbers of new subsidized and 
market-rate units will be created is Heritage Park, the former 
north Minneapolis public housing site straddling Olson Highway. 
That is where Congregations Building Community pledged $3 million 
and their labor to help Habitat for Humanity build 55 homes that 
could be bought by people making less than 60 percent of the 
regional median - or less than about $45,000.   The group has raised more than $1 million, including more than 
$50,000 that members of St. Mark's Cathedral Church contributed 
from state tax rebate checks. The St. Mark's money swelled to 
$120,000 with matching money. But site work and selecting a 
developer have taken longer than expected, and the first 
foundations likely won't be poured until fall at the earliest. With 
hammers idle, Congregations Building Community temporarily 
suspended fundraising.
   "We don't think we could convince our congregations we have a 
need until we're building houses," said Sally Cuningham, St. Mark's 
representative to the group.
   .   Steve Brandt is at 612-673-4438 or sbrandt at startribune.com.
   .   KEY FACTS   The Minneapolis City Council set affordable housing goals in 
1999. It told the Minneapolis Community Development Agency to 
evaluate annually its progress toward those goals for units the 
city helps to finance. The agency is scheduled to report today to 
the council that in 2002 it achieved eight of the 11 affordable 
goals set by the council. That's an improvement from achieving only 
six of the goals in 2000 and 2001. Here is a summary of progress on 
three key goals:   .    Produce 2,110 housing units during 2000-2002 affordable to those 
earning less than half the region's median family income of 
$75,300:    2000: 505   2001: 504   2002: 612   2000-2002 total: 1,621 (77 percent of goal)   2003-2005 goal: 2,100   .    Produce at least half of the affordable units above to be 
affordable to those earning less than 30 percent of the region's 
median family income:   2000: 59 percent   2001: 30 percent   2002: 72 percent   .    Produce at least half of the affordable units in areas of the 
city without concentrations of racial minorities or poverty:   2000: 47.5 percent   2001: 35.7 percent   2002: 43 percent   .    Among goals the agency also met were that the city produce more 
low-income units than it demolishes, that it spend at least $10 
million to subsidize production of affordable housing, and that it 
emphasize unit rehab in poor neighborhoods and emphasize 
constructing new units in better-off neighborhoods.   .   - Source: Minneapolis Community Development Agency reports
   .   WHAT'S NEXT   Here are a couple of upcoming events relating to city of 
Minneapolis production of affordable housing units:   Today: Minneapolis Community Development Agency will present its 
affordable housing performance report for 2002 to the City 
Council's Community Development Committee. The item is scheduled 
for 1:30 p.m. in Room 317 of City Hall, 350 S. 5th St.
   April 29: Mayor R.T. Rybak's State of the City speech is 
scheduled to include the debut of a Web-based virtual thermometer 
to measure housing production. The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. in 
the auditorium of Thrivent Financial (formerly Lutheran 
Brotherhood), 625 4th Av. S.   Access to live Webcasts of both events is scheduled to be 
available through this site: 
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/cable/schedules/ 












Steve Brandt
Staff writer
Star Tribune
Phone: 612-673-4438
Fax:  612-673-4359
425 Portland Av.
Minneapolis, MN 55488