Bill Cullen Responds:
Is rental property density or concentration of poverty the problem?
There are many neighborhoods that have a high concentration of rental
property and do not have the problems of North Mpls. I am unable to find
rental property density information by neighborhood. Maybe someone could
provide me with a URL? However, I suspect that Loring Park, Downtown and
parts of Uptown have nearly as high or higher rental property density than
North Mpls. I know those neighborhoods are not perfect, but none of them
have the constant battle North Mpls has.
Dennis Plante Responds:
Bill, I also suspect that Loring Park and Downtown (the 2 neighborhoods you mentioned), don't have nearly as high a percentage of impoverished minorities as does the Northside.
I have never inferred that we should "cap" the number of rental properties by neighborhood strictly for the purpose of limiting the number of rental units that exist in a neighborhood.
However, when you allow an unlimted (and basically unenforced) number of rental properties in an neighborhood such as Jordan, society is opening itself up to problems. I have a rough idea as to what the opening antee and the expertise necessary for an individual, or group of individuals to buy into a multi-unit property in either the Downtown, or Loring Park neighborhoods. It's considerably less (on both accounts) than what it takes to get into the rental "game" in Jordan. As a matter of fact, if you have $5K and a burning desire to someday not work, along with reasonable credit, you can belly-up to the table. The housing values in Jordan currently allow that to occur on a continual basis.
I am not so much concerned with whether or not landlords in Loring Park, or Downtown are up to the task of being good landlords. I am much more concerned with whether or not we're concentrating poverty in neighborhoods such as Jordan. I strongly suspect that the housing stock in Loring Park and Downtown are either too expensive, or generally don't have enough room to be considered suitable for most of the current renters in Jordan.
I happen to do a considerable amount of work (I'm a general contractor) for a very large rental property owner in the metro area. One thing that I can tell you that I've learned from him is that there are many different rental markets. I do not for a moment assume that if an ordinance were enacted that capped the number of rental units in a neighborhood, that some of the renters (in Jordan) would move into the downtown, or Loring Park areas. I do however assume, that it would then become incumbent uon the city and perspective landlords to fill the need for affordable housing for the low-income renters in this market elsewhere.
And what exactly is wrong with wanting low-income, disadvantaged renters to experience something other than other low-income, disadvantaged renters? Or, should we (as a society)just accept that lumping them together in small geographic areas is in the interest of the majority?
I personally know from growing-up in an extremely dysfunctional household as a child, that the largest influence I experienced in breaking the cycle of social dysfunction occured when I "blundered" upon healthy, productive mentors as a young adult.
Personally, as a taxpayer, I'd rather my tax dollars go to subsidizing renters in more affluent neighborhoods, than see them spent on increased funding for prisons, police staffing and social services. And that's what's happening right now.
Dennis Plante
Jordan
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