Cam has some good suggestions, but his last paragraph needs attention.
Cam asks that we bring all of the stake holders together. We have been
having roundtables with all of those people for quite awhile (16 years). It
doesn't work. When My hometown is serious about this issue they will
recognize that the owners,builders,funders are more then "equals" then the
rest of the invitees. They are the ones who can solve the problems.
As for the rest, they are opinion adders and expense generators.
Neighbors, neighborhood groups, housing service and resource centers add
costs to housing, they don't create housing. They can be part of the
solution, but not in a fashion that they have grown accustomed to.
Craig Miller
Former Fultonite
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>City planners reported that between 1990 and 2000 there was a net loss of
over
>1,500 housing units in Minneapolis. Between 1991 and 1998 the City
demolished
>more units than it added. The Family Housing Fund found that there are
roughly
>12,000 homeless people metro-wide and that there are 68,900 renters with
incomes
>below $10,000 in the metropolitan area, but only 31,200 housing units with
rents
>they can afford.
>
>The housing crisis is real. > - Stop demolishing and start emphasizing
maintenance, preservation and
> renovation.
> - Focus on in-fill and sell some of the 860 city-controlled vacant lots
for
> new housing.
> - Require that one of every four units in any city-funded housing project
is
> affordable.
> - Provide incentives and ease the process for the private sector to create
> new housing.
> - Develop design standards for single and multi-unit projects that work
for
> all neighborhoods.
> - Educate ourselves about housing needs, resources and creative options
like
> carriage housings, co-housing, cooperatives, lease to own and targeted
home
> buyer assistance programs.
>
>It is time to bring all the stake holders --- neighbors, neighborhood
groups,
>housing service and resource centers, developers, property owners, funders,
>architects, planners and those with housing needs � together as equal
partners
>to solve our housing crisis.
>
>Cam Gordon
>for City Council
>Ward 2
>
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