EXCERPT: “When Brad Johnson pitched the idea of building micro-apartments to his two younger brothers, the Johnson Brothers went their separate ways. The family, known for its liquor wholesale business and commercial and residential developments, came to different conclusions about the viability of installing 78 housing units on a half-acre parcel of land tucked behind St. Paul’s Lyric and Carleton Lofts. It didn’t help his case that Johnson quoted his siblings rents of roughly $1,000 a month for 400 square feet of studio living. ‘It was the same questions that the banks asked: Who is going to pay those rents to live in a tiny house?’ he recalled . . . Michael and Todd Johnson washed their hands of their older brother’s vision but agreed to sell him the one-story warehouse at Charles Avenue and Carleton Street, near Metro Transit’s Raymond Avenue station along the Green Line. The nondescript storage building had housed dry ice and truck washing equipment . . . In late July, the building known simply as ‘Ray’ debuted 78 units of market-rate housing, with most apartments ranging in size from 372 to 505 square feet, at monthly pre-lease rents of $890 to $1,100 before utilities. By late August, 60 of those units were occupied, and all but the three model units had been rented out. Prices have since gone up.” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2xbrpHy

EXCERPT: “Having signed a purchase agreement last spring to acquire Seasons Park Apartments, an affordable-housing preservation group is receiving financial assistance from Richfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority. In order to help keep rents down while improving the property, the HRA voted unanimously Aug. 21 to issue a $150,000 no-interest loan to Aeon, a nonprofit that signed a purchase agreement in April to keep the 422-unit property out of the hands of a developer that, according to the fears of affordable-housing advocates, would have forced out a multitude of low-income residents. The loan will help Aeon qualify for a special property tax status – called 4d – that applies to low-income rental housing, according to Community Development Director John Stark. Aeon’s goal is to rent all units at Seasons Park at levels affordable to tenants who earn 60 percent of the area median income, according to Blake Hopkins, a project manager at Aeon. Currently, rents at the property are affordable for tenants making between 50 and 54 percent of the area median income, Hopkins said. But work is needed to enhance living conditions at Seasons Park, he added.” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2wJ7LjR

EXCERPT: “On a whim last fall, Loren Schirber paid $65,000 for a 3-acre strip of land on St. Paul’s east side that looks like a useless patch of broken-up blacktop and overgrown weeds. But he has a vision for the plot: an entire cooperative neighborhood of tiny houses with 52 units, gardens, chickens, a community center and a dog run. Before construction on the ‘East Yard Cooperative’ can begin, however, Schirber has some big hurdles to overcome. For starters, the land is bordered by two active rail tracks — locals know it ‘Railroad Island’ . . . The houses Schirber wants to build would likely feel the trains’ impact more. They’re tiny: between 280 and 530 square feet, plus a sleeping loft . . . At a recent public interest meeting, east side residents like Paris Yarbrough raised another concern: gentrification. ‘People want to talk about tiny homes. We’re losing affordable units at an alarming rate. So where are these people going to go?’ Yarbrough asked. ‘They’re not going to go in tiny homes because the average east sider can’t live in a tiny home.’ While technically affordable, Yarbrough said a tiny house is impractical for many people in the area who have blended, multigenerational family. She fears these new, trendy tiny houses will attract outsiders with more money than the rest of the neighborhood.” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2gqYY1L

EXCERPT: “Affordable housing advocates are closely watching a package of bills currently under consideration by California lawmakers that would invest billions of dollars in helping to alleviate the state’s severe housing crisis. For years, California residents have struggled to afford surging real estate and rental prices in many of the country’s most expensive housing markets. Nearly one-third of California renters pay more than 50 percent of their income toward rent. If passed, the bills would create a permanent $300 million-a-year fund for affordable housing, streamline the approval process for housing construction in cities and authorize a $3 billion bond for the 2018 ballot, the first housing bond in California for over a decade.” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2wN1iak

EXCERPT: “Edina requires affordable housing to be part of multifamily developments. But the companies behind a plan to build a pair high-end condo towers near Southdale are considering whether building affordable units at another site would be good enough for the city. The option of additional, affordable housing at a separate site is one of the options being considered by Estelle Edina developers Ryan Cos. US Inc. and Arcadia . . . The project has gotten some pushback from officials already, and the affordable-housing aspect may be another flashpoint. Some City Council members prefer affordable components to be part of the core project.” FULLSTORY:

EXCERPT: “A unique and decades-old law in Minnesota that requires mobile home parks to offer storm shelters or evacuation plans for residents is often not taken seriously and is rarely enforced, a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation shows. Minnesota is the only state in the country with a law like it on the books. It requires mobile home parks built after 1988 to have an adequate storm shelter. Older parks still must have an evacuation plan — approved by the local municipality — for residents to seek shelter off site in the event of severe weather. Despite the law, people living in many of the state’s mobile home parks often have nowhere to hide. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reviewed thousands of pages of mobile home inspection reports from across the state. The investigation found at least 60 violations relating to storm shelters, the lack of shelters or the lack of an approved plan for the residents who live there.” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2hDU9CJ

EXCERPT: “As developers try to capitalize on a hot rental market, the city of Richfield is trying to determine how far its authority extends in protecting low-income tenants. After hundreds of low-income renters were displaced from Crossroads Apartments last year, and after a similar scenario was narrowly avoided at another large Richfield apartment complex in April, city leaders gathered last month to assess their options to preserve affordable housing in Richfield. Aeon, a nonprofit organization that buys properties to preserve affordable housing options, signed a purchase agreement in April for the 422-unit Seasons Park Apartments, keeping the property out of the hands of a developer who was thought to have designs on renovating the complex, which would have forced out low-income renters. Shortly after Aeon signed the purchase agreement for Seasons Park, city leaders heard from the Housing Justice Center, which recommended ways to prevent similar close calls for financially vulnerable tenants.” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2fmBGcQ

NEWS RELEASE EXCERPT: “Kraus-Anderson and Inland Development Partners today announced a new joint venture that will develop a three-story, 316-unit housing project in Richfield, Minn.  Located near 66th and Cedar Ave., the $60 million Chamberlain apartment complex is the first joint venture between the two companies, which both focus on developing and redeveloping office, industrial and retail property. The property was purchased from the City of Richfield and is part of the Richfield Parkway, which runs through the Chamberlain complex and extends south from 66th Street, following 18th Avenue, to 70th Street . . . Kraus-Anderson Construction is the general contractor.  Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2018.  The first units will be open in the spring of 2019.”

EXCERPT: “Greg and Maggie Peterson are on their way toward the American dream of home ownership. Three years ago, they would not have thought it possible. A tight, fixed income made the idea of home ownership seem like a pipe dream. ‘We had pretty much come to terms that we would be renting for probably at least the next 20 years if not more,’ said Maggie. However, a pair of housing programs helped them buy a home in Claremont, making that dream come true. Those programs — the federal Section 8 housing program run by the Southeast Minnesota Multi County Housing Redevelopment Association and the federal Department of Agriculture’s USDA 502 Direct Loan program — have given the family a chance to own a home. ‘Both are equally important and critical to us moving from being renters, indefinitely, to home owners,’ Greg said.” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2vYhqlP

EXCERPT: “A series of low-income landlord lawsuits, started over a decade ago and alleging that St. Paul city housing codes had a discriminatory impact against minorities, is now officially dead. The three lawsuits, which started in 2004, accused the city of going to excessive lengths to condemn the properties of 16 landlords — a ‘code to the max’ strategy that the landlords said reduced the number of affordable housing units available to minorities. They claimed the result was a violation of, or had ‘disparate impact’ under, the federal Fair Housing Act. But following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that created a higher legal standard, the five remaining landlords who had stuck with the suit for over a decade dropped their claims. ‘We’re very pleased for the city, and I think this is the right result based on the current state of the law. And I think this will sharpen the focus for future claims like this,’ said Skip Durocher, the lead attorney with Dorsey & Whitney, which represented St. Paul pro bono. John Shoemaker, the Minneapolis-based attorney for the five remaining plaintiffs, who he said lost their properties over a decade ago, said, ‘They were 12 to 13 years in a federal court action against city hall, and they were never able to present their cases to a jury. And then the court changes the law that applies to something that happened 15 years ago? The fairness of that is questionable.'” FULLSTORY: http://bit.ly/2eIMyle