urbanMSP

It’s not just one thing.

https://finance-commerce.com/2019/08/mi ... e-effects/

Denmark is not happy with Blackstone acquiring huge swaths of housing and raising rents.


https://finance-commerce.com/2019/10/bl ... ent-rents/

Manufactured homes have always had a rough go in the twin cities. A few parks at the fringes are trying to expand and are being fought.


https://www.startribune.com/mobile-home ... 569077962/

The Elliot Twins received funding for renovations, with commitments to not displace existing residents.

https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis ... 571280332/

That’s good, but this seems suspicious:

“The agency opened itself up to the private funding through the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration program, which transfers ownership of public housing buildings to a private entity. The private investors qualify for tax credits.”

How does that benefit society? What happens when a future administration or Congress removes those tax credits? Residents will be displaced as rents go up without a tax credit. It seems like a scam.

RAD is just the latest in a long line of Rube Goldberg machines that the federal government sets up to direct private money to fund affordable housing. With RAD, the public housing agency maintains 99% ownership of the property, even if 99% of the funding is private, so there's not actually privatization.

It is extremely ridiculous, but it's also the system we have right now. Housing authorities are in a spot where these tax incentive schemes are the only way that they can fund repairs to deteriorating properties. In a sane world, the government would fund it directly. If 2020 has proved anything to you, we do not live in such a world.

Will Stancil wrote a pretty good Twitter thread explainer on RAD last summer.