What follows is a post from Bill Paterson (who is the Public Information Coordinator for MPHA). It's in response to Victoria's post about MPHA's screening standards. - Sara Dietrich (Kingfield)
------------------------------ Minneapolis residents and community leaders deserve to have accurate and timely information regarding vital programs such as public housing. The main reason why this is so important is that today, some 19,000 men, women and children have affordable more stable homes, thanks to the public housing and Section 8 programs delivered by the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA). MPHA owns and operates nearly 5,800 public housing units in Minneapolis, housing families, senior citizens and other single adults. The agency also administers 3,700 Section 8 vouchers. MPHA has maintained 99%-100% occupancy of all its available public housing units for 71 consecutive months, and in December, its Section 8 utilization rate also rose to 100%. It does not normally take six months to process an application, it may range from a couple of weeks to a couple of months or more. The longer processing is due to the huge volume of applications we receive, the number of applications that require multi-state background checks, and the necessity to be accurate and thorough in fairness to applicants themselves and to ensure the safety and comfort of our current residents. MPHA is also doing a tremendous amount of work improving and preserving its affordable housing resources for the future by completing $121 million in capital improvements projects since 1992. In addition, MPHA operates two homeownership programs through which more than 120 families have purchased their own homes since 1993. Every single dollar received through the Hollman lawsuit has been channeled into implementing the Consent Decree as agreed to by the lawsuit parties and ordered by the Fourth District Federal Court. To date, commitments have now been secured on all 770 replacement public housing units that must be developed in the city and suburban communities -- completed and occupied units include 231 in suburban communities and 80 in the city of Minneapolis. One hundred fifty-five more units are right now under construction or being acquired, meaning that 61% of all replacement units are completed or currently being completed. The remaining units have all be committed to and negotiations for construction or acquisition are underway. Finally, an exciting new development is the group of collaborations MPHA has established with community partners like RS Eden, Central Community Housing Trust, Alliance Housing, Harriet Tubman Center and others in providing 170 affordable housing units for homeless families in the city. These collaborations are creating 117 new affordable housing units and preserving 53 existing units, ranging from efficiencies to four-bedroom apartments. The first 24 units, Portland Village, will be occupied by the end of this month. Construction of other units begins in coming months. For more information about the affordable housing programs that MPHA provides, please visit the agency's Web site at www.mphaonline.org BILL PATERSON MPHA PUBLIC INFORMATION COORDINATOR _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
