Mayor announces $40 million for housing on North Side Following through on his commitment to 'put down the checkbook and pick up the phone,' Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak today announced several new partnerships, including $40 million for housing on the North Side. Rybak's third State of the City Address focused on housing and jobs, keeping Minneapolis the most liveable City in America and continuing to deliver good government for good value. Rybak announced the City has secured over $40 million for the North Side Home Fund, including $20 million each from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency and Franklin National Bank. Rybak said affordable housing was one of the most pressing issues when he took office two years ago and the City has responded. "I'm thrilled that over 3,000 new homes have been built in Minneapolis in the last two years. Every part of the City is growing," Mayor Rybak said. "Our riverfront is exploding with housing, our condo market is booming and our commercial core is expanding. The City has funded almost 2,000 affordable units, and the vast majority is available to people making under $11 an hour. There was still a clear need for reinvestment on the North Side, so we seeded this project with $1 million, which will be leverage more than 40-times that in additional funds." The project will renovate boarded and vacant properties, encourage private renovation and increase homeownership among people of color. The City also established the Affordable Housing Trust Fund last year and allocated in the toughest of budget times $12 million dollars toward affordable housing, up 50 percent from spending in 2001. While it's important to continue to create housing, the Mayor said it's equally important the City focus on making sure working families earn enough to pay for that housing. To do this, earlier this spring the City launched Close the Gap, a collaborative effort to close the historic unemployment gap between Minneapolis and the region. The strategy is to train and place 2,400 people in jobs and develop more career laddering programs, such as the Neighborhood Health Careers Institute, which trains people in Phillips for jobs at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. -- more -- "More jobs are being created in Phillips than in any other part of the state," Mayor Rybak said. "Allina is bringing 1,000 jobs to the Midtown Exchange, Wells Fargo is bringing 3,200 new jobs and we're working to attract international businesses to our Lifesciences Corridor, which already has 61 clinics, 2,300 doctors and two-thirds of the hospital employees in the City." In addition, the summer promises to be challenging again for kids looking for summer jobs. Rybak announced today that Step-Up, the summer job-creation program, has met its goal of creating 200 additional jobs for kids. The Mayor also highlighted the importance of private sector activity in the City ranging from Fair, Isaac and Co., a technology firm moving into Minneapolis to the success of small businesses such as Caldrea, a producer of earth-friendly cleansers. The work of both the Itasca Project, a group of civic-minded CEOs committed to addressing public issues, and that of a private homeowner or small business are both critical to the future success of the City. To make it easier for the homeowner or the small business the City recently is creating Minneapolis One-Stop, which will be one location for all consumer development-related services, including basic plan development, and approvals for building and home-improvement projects. Simple e-Permits will soon be available online for licensed contractors, and the City is making more services available online and working on additional ways to streamline the permit and development processes. Mayor Rybak also talked about the major accomplishments of the past year, including: * Allina's commitment to bring 1,000 jobs to the City in the Midtown Exchange (former Sears Building). * 2 big victories for the environment: successfully lobbying to convert the Riverside Coal Plant and securing $20 million from the MAC to complete Phase I of the Sound Insulation Program. * Tripling the City's tree planting budget for 2004 and leveraging an additional $100,000 from the EPA for greening the downtown core. * Launching the second MOSAIC Arts Celebration and starting to develop a citywide arts plan. * Starting to plan an exciting new future for riverfront land now occupied by the Upper River Terminal. * Preventing further budget cuts through innovative health care contract changes designed collaboratively with our unions that became a model for others in the state. * Receiving over $7 million for environmental health problems through the Lead Task Force, led by Council Member Paul Zerby and Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman. * Refocusing the Youth Coordinating Board and starting to develop a comprehensive Children's Agenda. * Developing a city-wide, strategy for improving water quality with Council Member Colvin Roy, the Park Board and the Watersheds and developing a city-wide environmental plan. Laura Sether Office of Mayor Rybak Standish-Ericsson
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