Responding to list member Bill Cullen, who understandably wants more information before loading up and riding out ...
The particular points in Gretchen's post that I noticed and responded were that the NRP Policy Board "D. Did NOT specify that funds would be used for families with incomes at or below 50% MMI (targeted to low income), or would be targeted to specific sections of the city." "E. Did NOT respond to the purpose and intent of the fund which was to create new affordable housing units." Remember the 80% MMI "affordable" housing subsidy gesture the Council made in the 1990s? The problem with failing to target at 50% MMI or even more tellingly 30% MMI is that performance zooms right up to the upper limit %MMI whether new housing or turnover of existing housing. A mortgage guarantee for someone at 30% MMI is only meaningful for a purchase within that spending capacity and is meaningless if the market doesn't offer anything that cheap. Ditto at 50% MMI. My premise is that performance gravitates to >50% MMI and fails to address the very purpose for which the money was put in place by the city, namely as Gretchen points out, the production of new housing that lower-income folks can afford. Feeding mortgage guarantees into market-rate housing by-passes the whole thrust of the city's affordable housing initiative and throws an embarrassingly small bone to people who may be finding their cash flow stressed by the downturn in the economy but who are likely far more prosperous than the originally intended low-income targets. A more detailed answer to "qui bono" [who benefits] from this abrupt decision is certainly in order because new rental housing is also an important public good and mortgage guarantees bypass this goal. Fred Markus, horn Terrace, Ward Ten, in the Lyndale Neighborhood --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.455 / Virus Database: 255 - Release Date: 2/13/2003 TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
