Summer Newsletter, August 2018 News for Housing & Redevelopment Officials 555 N. Wabasha St, Suite 245, St. Paul, MN 55102

Diane Larson Minnesota NAHRO President & Executive Director, Itasca County HRA

We heard and we’re listening! During the board’s strategic planning event, we completed a thorough review of the member survey conducted in late 2017. We are focusing on providing strong timely educational opportunities for our members with an added emphasis on small agency support and resources.

As I write this report, we are gearing up for our annual conference held September 12th – 14th at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. Our Professional Development Committee has done a tremendous job organizing relevant and timely sessions. Two national trainings are being offered, which include a two-day “Hearing Officer Workshop”, and a two-day “UPCS Training to Improve Your REAC Score”. Sessions will include a “HUD Financial Bootcamp for Non-Finance Staff”, “HUD Demolition/Disposition for Small Agencies”, and our ever popular “Ask the Attorney” among many other great sessions from which to choose.

Later this fall, MN NAHRO will offer a two-day “Finance for HRA’s,” geared towards small housing authorities (October 4th and 5th in Willmar). Our annual Redevelopment Symposium will follow in early November addressing redevelopment issues, including case studies and lessons learned from staff who have

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PRESIDENT’S CORNER Minnesota Housing Task Force Releases Report & Recommendations

The State’s Task Force on Housing recently released its final report entitled More Places to Call Home: Investing in Minnesota’s Future. The report outlines how public, private, nonprofit, and neighborhood efforts can help ensure that good quality homes and strong communities remain the cornerstones of a prosperous Minnesota. In total, the report includes 30 recommendations, organized across six goals that hope to transform Minnesota’s housing landscape. These 30 action steps aim at improving access to quality, affordable housing and build a more vibrant, inclusive economic future for all Minnesotans. The report is the result of an eight month process lead by a nonpartisan group of housing advocates and experts from across the state charged with identifying action steps to help alleviate Minnesota’s housing challenges and connect more families with great places to live.

Affordable Housing Is An Economic Driver

More than half-a-million Minnesotans struggle to afford quality housing. The strength of our communities and the success of Minnesota’s depends on creating solutions to the many housing challenges facing Minnesota families. The actions recommended offer an opportunity to connect all Minnesotans to safe, quality, affordable homes we need for a better Minnesota.

A reliable supply of affordable housing is an important competitive advantage for Minnesota and ensures that growing businesses have access to the workers they need. In today’s market, however, increasing housing costs have priced too many families out of housing near quality employment and educational opportunities. In fact, more than 554,000 Minnesota households now spend at least 30 percent of their incomes on rent or mortgage payments. This is a 58 percent increase since 2000. One out of every four families in Minnesota pay more than they can afford for housing, and more than 9,300 Minnesotans faced homelessness in 2015, including almost 3,500 children.

“With appropriate public and private investment in housing, Minnesota can maintain the competitive advantage we’ve had in the past because people can afford to live and work here,” said Minnesota Housing Commissioner, Mary Tingerthal. “Minnesota will thrive with a strong foundation of homes that are attainable for all households,” saidChief Executive Officer of Bremer Financial Corporation and Task Force co-chair, Jeanne Crain. “That requires a commitment from the private sector, people from every county around the state, philanthropy, and government at all levels. We all have a role to play.”

(Task Force Recommendations continues on page 7)

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Barbara Dacy has been an a tireless advocate for affordable housing and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Washington County Community Development Agency (CDA). Under her leadership, the CDA expanded its programs and broadened its portfolio in order to meet complex housing needs in this eastern Twin Cities suburb community. These efforts included developing senior housing, preserving public housing, increasing home ownership plus stabilizing a manufactured home park community. In addition, Barbara has been an active member of Minnesota NAHRO culminating with her serving for eight years on the board including President from 2015 to 2017. Among her many contributions was her spearheading the passage of the senior housing as a new eligible use as part of the Housing Infrastructure bonds. But most important, Barbara has served as in these roles with both humor and humility. Thanks you Barbara for your leadership and service.

2018 Allen Anderson Award of Merit

RECOGNIZING EXCELLENCE IN OUR INDUSTRY

Many of you know Mary Dobbins for providing her expertise in the popular “Ask the Attorney” sessions at our conferences. However, in addition to the legal expertise she graciously shares, Mary has served as legal counsel to many of our member agencies. She has handled everything from simple eviction proceedings to complex litigation at both the district and appellate level. Mary has always been strong legal voice who understands the challenging choices housing agencies often face. In her role as legal counsel, she has always provided sage advise and never forgets the importance of the clients our programs serve. Thank you Mary for your contributions and service.!

This year one of Minnesota's scholarship winners advanced to both the regional and national scholarship levels. This is no surprise to us as Sofia Abdullah has a compelling personal story. Sofia is an aspiring medical student of Kurdish descent. Her interest in becoming a doctor crystalized at a young age when her brother was diagnosed with cancer and she witnessed first hand the support and relief the oncologist gave her brother.

Sofia has also demonstrated commitment, resilience and dedication as she works towards becoming a physician. As noted by her sponsor agency, Sofia “strives for always doing her best and never losing site of her goals. Sofia’s achievements in the midst of adversity make her an outstanding recipient for this scholarship.” Her North Dakota State University Advisor Tanie Boeddeker noted that “Sofia has a strong desire to help people and her community. Her happy and warm demeanor has contributed greatly to her personal interactions with patients and their family members. She is a very welcoming person who can easily be trusted and relied upon. She is also not afraid to speak up with any concerns regarding the well being of others.” Congratulation Sofia and we wish you the best as you pursue your dreams!

2018 Scholarship Winner

2018 Housing & Community Development Achievement Award

Bryan Hartman, Senior Vice President; Mary Dobbins, 2018 Award Recipient; Diane Larson, President

Dara Lee, Clay County HRA Sponsor Agency; 2018 Scholarship Award winner Sofia Abdullah with her brother and mother; Diane Larson, President.

Bryan Hartman, Senior Vice President; Barbara Dacy, 2018 Allen Anderson Award of Merit recipient; Diane Larson, President

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STATE OF THE NATION’S HOUSING REPORT

MEMBER SHOWCASE: TENANT PROTECTIONS IN ST LOUIS PARK

Effective July 1, the St. Louis Park City Council launched an ordinance enacting a tenant protection period following the sale of an affordable housing building. The goal aims to protect lower-income tenants in the city and St. Louis Park is the first city in the state to adopt such an ordinance.

The ordinance was recommended by a city-convened workgroup advocating for the preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH). NOAH properties are rental buildings where at least 18 percent of the units have rents that are affordable to households with incomes at or below 60 percent area median income (AMI). The 18 percent mirrors the percent of affordable housing units required at 60 percent AMI by the city’s Inclusionary Housing Policy.

Under the ordinance, new owners of affordable housing buildings are required to pay relocation benefits to tenants if the owner increases the rent, re-screens existing residents or implements non-renewals of leases without cause within a three-month period following the ownership transfer of the property and the tenant chooses to move due to these actions. The ordinance took effect July 1, 2018.

Join us November 8th at the Minnesota NAHRO Redevelopment Symposium to learn more about how this ordinance came about, the important protections it puts in place and how it relates to the challenge faced by communities when NOAH properties are sold and those affordable rental units are lost due to rent increases.

Excerpted from the Harvard Joint Center of Housing Studies article

Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies issued its seminal State of the Nation’s Housing report which shows that, overall, if the nation is to make real progress in addressing its housing challenges, there is a clear need to expand assistance for those beyond the market’s reach. Strategies are needed to help the private sector produce more moderately-priced housing. Doing so will require new approaches for making effective use of public funding, reducing construction costs, and easing regulatory barriers.

The report also demonstrates that the number of Americans burdened by housing costs has risen by nearly 14 million households over the last 30 years. Plus the number of households with student loan debt has nearly doubled, and the gap between black and white homeownership has widened.

The report further highlights a number of challenges that persist since the first State of the Nation’s Housing report published 30 years ago. In many respects the situation has worsened for both the lowest-income Americans and those higher up the income ladder. The increases in prices and rents combined with a growing lack of subsidies for low-income households mean that nearly a third of all households (38.1 million) paid more than 30 percent of their incomes for housing in 2016. These include 20.8 million renters (47 percent), and of these, 11 million pay more than half their income for housing. While these figures are down slightly from their peak during the recession, they are significantly higher than in previous decades.

Growing income inequality has helped drive the increase in cost-burdened households. According to the report, the real median income of households in the bottom quartile increased only 3 percent between 1988 and 2016, while the median income for adults aged 25 to 34 rose by just 5 percent. Meanwhile, the median home price grew 41 percent faster than inflation between 1990 and 2016, the median rent grew 20 percent faster, and the nation had 2.5 million fewer units renting for less than $800 a month (in real terms). Thus, significant factor is the fact that incomes have not kept pace with the economy's growth. If they had, households would have easily matched the rise in housing costs.

The report also points to constraints in the supply of new housing, which is helping fuel affordability challenges. Construction started on 1.2 million new housing units in 2017, up slightly from 2016. The entire increase last year came from single-family starts, which were up 8.6 percent but, at just 849,000 units in 2017, remained well below the 1.1 million per year historical average. In contrast, multifamily starts declined by 9.7 percent to 354,100 units. The relative lack of new housing, along with Americans’ decreasing propensity to move, limited the number of homes for sale, which dropped to record lows in 2017.

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TOOLS YOU CAN USE: MINNESOTA VOTES FOR HOUSING 2018 Where we live impacts everything. Stable, affordable housing is the foundation from which children learn, workers earn, seniors thrive and communities prosper. It's essential that candidates in the upcoming election cycle understand the central importance of housing to our state's vitality.

Election season is underway and with many competitive races at both the federal and state level, it is important to engage candidates and educate them on the importance of affordable housing on our state. Once elected, lawmakers will have the opportunity to vote on whether our state remains economically competitive by providing the resources necessary for affordable housing serving both renters and homeowners. This fall, candidates will campaign and participate in many community events. These interactions provide an opportunity to educate and advocate for investing in affordable housing as an economic driver.

Minnesota NAHRO, as a member of the Homes for All Coalition, has a number of tools and resources developed by member organizations to help raise awareness about the affordable housing crisis in our state. In addition, these tools help advocate for the investment in affordable housing needed to ensure that good quality homes and strong communities remain the cornerstones of a prosperous Minnesota.

State Legislative Profiles Whether we engage in person or online, when we advocate for #Homes4AllMN, policy makers need to know what's going on in the communities they represent. MHP’s Legislative District Housing Profiles are an essential resource, providing data on housing measure for all 134 legislative districts across the state. While each district is unique in its challenges and opportunities, some troubling trends hold true. Utilizing data from the 2016 American Community Survey, we see a continued rise in housing costs, increasing numbers of families paying more than they can afford on housing costs and, in many districts, declining income for both renters and homeowners. Click here to find your legislative district profile. Don't know your district? Find out here!

Candidate Questionaire Underway - MHP, with support from our Homes for All MN coalition partners, has invited candidates for the Minnesota House of Representatives to complete a questionnaire on housing issues. The questionnaire is nonpartisan, and it is not meant to serve as an endorsement of or for any particular candidate or political party. Collected responses will be posted on the MHP website and updated as responses are received. Click here to read more.

Reverse Doorknocker Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity created a “reverse doorknocker” to help you engage candidates when they canvass your neighborhood. Just keep this by your front door and you will be ready to candidates about the need for affordable housing to keep Minnesota competitive. To download your copy, visit our webpage at www.mnnahro.com/blog/mn-votes-housing.

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Excerpted from article written by Gabriel Norton, Minnesota Housing Partnership

A productive workforce requires safe, stable housing. Yet, too many Minnesotans laboring in the most in-demand jobs must pay too much for housing, forcing them to basic necessities like groceries, medicine and other critical daily needs to make ends meet. Out of Reach Minnesota 2018 reveals that the current market conditions in housing hits hardest for the workforce that is the backbone of our communities; jobs like retail sales, food preparation and housekeeping. It also foreshadows challenges ahead, as jobs with the most projected growth, like home health aides, don't make enough to pay the rent, either. Building on the annual report produced by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, this report tracks the growing gap between wages and rent, not just in urban areas, like the Twin Cities, but across Greater Minnesota.

Key Findings: • Nearly 30 percent of Minnesota residents — more than 609,000 households — live in a rental home.

That's a 12% increase from 2000 to 2016.

• At $18.82, Minnesota ranks #22 in the nation for the highest hourly wages required to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.

• Minnesota's housing wage — the wage necessary to afford a two-bedroom apartment — jumped 10 percent over the past decade alone.

• Meanwhile, median renter income declined 11 percent from 2000 to 2016.

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

• Minimum wage earners have to pay $3,228 more than they can afford per year to cover the rent for a one-bedroom apartment and $5,724 more than they can afford for a two-bedroom. Those are dollars taken away from other critical needs. For instance, for an individual with only one child in Minnesota, the cost of food is $5,900 per year and healthcare is $3,340 per year.

• In nearly half of all counties (47%) the average renter would need to earn at least $10,000 more per year to afford a two-bedroom apartment. While two-bedroom apartments are out of reach in all Minnesota counties, even one-bedroom apartments are out of reach to the average income renter in 41% of counties.

• Over the next decade, the five positions with the most projected job openings earn median incomes less than $25,000 per year -- $5,000 below the income necessary to afford a one-bedroom apartment and $14,000 below the income necessary to afford a two-bedroom apartment.

ICYMI: OUT OF REACH MINNESOTA 2018

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PRESIDENT’S CORNER (CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1)

FINANCIAL TRAINING FOR SMALL AGENCIES

From the national experts at Hawkins Ash CPAs, this two-day event will equip your agency staff with the foundation to help your organization fulfill its regulation and reporting demands. This workshop will be geared toward the basics of housing authority accounting and finance. Starts Wednesday Oct 3 at 10am and ends Thursday Oct 4 at 3pm.

LOCATION: MinnWest Technology Campus in Willmar, MN TOPICS: Fundamental financial topics covered during the workshop will include:

• Operating Subsidy and Budget • PH and CFP Financial Statements • Year-End/FDS Reporting • Audit Reports • Voucher/VMS • REAC Reporting/Scoring

LODGING: Best Western Plus at 320-235-6060 at a rate of $114.99

per night & room block ends Sept 18th (ask for the Minnesota NAHRO rate)

Visit our website at www.mnnahro.org for more details & to register

OCTOBER 3RD & 4TH IN WILLMAR, MN

made redevelopment projects a reality. Emphasizing the need for increased legislative advocacy across the state, MN NAHRO is in the process of developing a “Small Agency Advocacy Toolkit”, specifically designed for small housing authorities. This toolkit will provide basic information on when, how, and why it is important to become involved.

As we see several Executive Director positions changing due to retirements or resignations, we have also developed a Welcome Letter to new Executive Director’s to make certain all agencies across the state are aware of the services and support offered by MN NAHRO. Please let us know if an agency in your region has new leadership – we would love to reach out to them! Also, your Senior Vice-President, Bryan Hartman, and I are very willing to attend your regional meetings. Please let us know when you schedule your meetings, as we would like to come and hear your ideas and needs.

Finally, I want to say that I am very proud of Minnesota NAHRO and our scholarship program. We have provided educational scholarships for many years but recently aligned our application process with NCRC. This year we provided three state scholarships with one of those recipients, Sofia Abdullah, going on to receive a $1,000 scholarship at the regional level. Her application then advanced to the national level where she was awarded $1,000 at the NAHRO conference in San Francisco!

As always, do not hesitate to reach out to me with your ideas. I am easiest reached by email diane@itascacountyhra.org or telephone at 218-326-7978 ext.111 Thanks and I hope to see you in Duluth!!!

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TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS (Continued from Page 1)

Following extensive discussion and analysis, the Task Force compiled the following recommenda-tions in a final report:

1. Commit to Homes as a Priority – Create a broader and stronger public commitment to the urgent need for more affordable homes for more Minnesotans.

2. Preserve the Homes We Have – Keep the homes we already have, especially those that are most affordable.

3. Build More Homes – Build 300,000 new homes by 2030, across all types, prices, and locations to stabilize prices and meet demand.

4. Increase Home Stability – Assist twice as many people at risk of losing their homes because of rent in-creases, evictions, and heavy cost burdens.

5. Link Homes and Services – Build stronger links between where we live and the services needed to live sta-ble lives.

6. Support and Strengthen Homeownership – Create pathways to sustainable homeownership, with a focus on removing barriers for households of color.

Among the 30 recommendations, highlights of the report call for commitment, investment, and Minnesota ingenuity to:

• Launch a public-private partnership to forecast demand, set goals, and measure progress in building, pre-serving, and attracting investment in housing throughout Minnesota.

• Define and crack down on predatory rental practices, including excessive evictions and poor condition of rental units.

• Create dedicated permanent funding sources for affordable homes in addition to current funding sources.

• Position Minnesota as a national leader in the advancement of construction innovation and technology.

• Increase access to homeownership resources for the large number of income-ready households who want to buy their first home. To read the Task Force’s recommendations in full, CLICK HERE.

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Page 1 Minnesota Housing Task Force

Releases Report & Recommendations

PLUS President’s Corner

Page 2 Awards& Recognition

Page 3 State of the Nation’s Housing Report

From Harvard’s JCHS PLUS

Member Showcase: Tenant Protections

Page 4 Tools You Can Use: Minnesota

Votes for Housing 2018

Page 5 Minnesota Out of Reach 2018

Page 6 Financial Training for Small Agencies

Page 8 Join Us for these Fall Events

OUR ELITE SPONSORS

Mark Your Calendars For These Exciting Fall Events

WHAT’S INSIDE?

2018 ANNUAL CONFERENCE — SEPTEMBER 12-14 IN DULUTH, MN

MINNESOTA NAHRO CO-COSTS GOVERNOR CANDIDATE FORUM SEPTEMBER 12 AT THE DECC

BBQ & BREWS SCHOLARSHIP & NETWORKING EVENT SEPTEMBER 13

CHARTER FISHING SCHOLARSHIP EVENT

FINANCIAL TRAINING FOR SMALL AGENCIES (AND ANYONE ELSE)

OCTOBER 3-4 IN WILLMAR, MN

2018 REDEVELOPMENT SYMPOSIUM

NOVEMBER 8 IN BLOOMINGTON, MN

Formerly National Joint Powers Alliance (NJPA)