Dyna makes some good points about manufactured
housing.
What are the arguments in favor of blocking "Dream
Homes"?
Ed Fesler [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minneapolis
Cororan
--- Dyna Sluyter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> For those who missed the post last week or the
> latest issue of "North
> News", our city now has stopped issuing permits for
> new homes. In a
> questionable bit of frankness that surely will give
> the purveyors of
> "Dream Homes" grounds for yet another multi million
> dollar lawsuit
> against our city, Council Members have pretty much
> admitted that the
> whole purpose is to stop Dream Homes from erecting
> more quick and dirty
> rental housing.
>
> A bit of a backgrounder is in order here. Dream
> Homes specialty is
> plopping down 6 bedroom rental homes with no
> basements, electric heat,
> and no offstreet parking on 40 foot lots. They or
> whatever "investor"
> they sell them too then makes a killing collecting
> $1600 or so a month
> in rent on them. Now, there are clearly a number off
> problems with this
> sort of design that suggest the city try to
> encourage more sustainable
> construction.
>
> Meanwhile, just up the block from me our city is
> happily issuing
> permits and even variances for rehabbing hundred
> year old tenements
> with 6 bedrooms and no useable basement nor
> offstreet parking into
> rental housing. They'll at least have hot water
> heat, but they've got 4
> of them on 2 43 foot lots!
>
> What's the difference between the two projects?
> Near as I can tell,
> the one our city is trying to discourage is- horrors
> -manufactured
> housing! That means instead of being built by
> frostbitten hands, and
> probably nonunion hands at that... It was built
> under optimum
> conditions in a factory, and probably by union
> labor. And instead of
> being a one-off the manufactured home is more
> affordable thanks to the
> considerable cost savings of mass production.
>
> Now as a member of the Democratic Farmer Labor
> party since the days of
> Humphrey the first I remember affordable housing was
> always a key value
> of our party. Back to that "North News" article...
> Council Members
> Natalie Johnson-Lee and Don Samuels seem to be
> saying that affordable
> housing like manufactured homes is a bad thing
> because it's too
> affordable. So please, Council Members, do I hear
> you saying that we
> should make Minneapolis housing even more expensive?
> Do I hear our
> honorable Council Members saying that we should put
> home ownership out
> of the reach of the working class core of our
> Democratic Farmer Labor
> party? Of course, Council Member Johnson-Lee by
> flying the Green Party
> flag of convenience is not held to quite so high a
> standard... At least
> by here party.
>
> I think I'm now starting to understand why my
> friend Laurie is so
> cynical about politics, even the DFL variety. Blind
> from birth and now
> in her 50s, Laurie survives on Social Security
> Disability and
> occasional work as a musician. Suffice to say most
> of her income goes
> to her landlord. And despite having reliably paid
> her rent every month
> there's no way she could get financing on the
> cheapest Minneapolis
> home, now priced well above $100,000.
>
> Laurie and I made the rounds of the camping show a
> couple months back
> and she fell in love with a small manufactured home.
> At 12 foot wide by
> 36 feet long the proportions don't give away it's
> factory beginnings.
> The various exterior trims available make it look
> like a perfect little
> country cottage or northwoods log cabin. It's just
> the right size for
> one or tow people. We looked all over and under
> these homes, through
> the manufacturers' literature, and at their
> websites. We found that
> these little homes meet Minnesota building codes but
> still cost only
> about... $40,000!
>
> Better yet, at only 12 feet wide you could easily
> fit these little
> homes on the "sliver" lots that aren't normally
> buildable. Even with a
> full basement and utilities were talking about
> $60,000 or so to give
> low income citizens the dignity and long term
> stability of home
> ownership.
>
> But apparently some of our Council Members would
> rather keep my friend
> broke and stuck in a near century old tenement,
> freezing in the winter
> and baking in the summer's heat. It seems they're
> more interested in
> artificially inflating property values well beyond
> the reach of working
> class citizens. Such behavior is not in the proud
> traditions of the
> Democratic Farmer Labor party, and any Council
> Members expousing same
> need not ask for our party's endorsement.
>
> hanging on in Hawthorne,
>
> Dyna Sluyter
>
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