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Rental pre-eviction notification ordinance (2024-00836)
A comparative analysis of eviction statistics recently published by Princeton University’s Eviction Lab revealed eviction filings across the state of Minnesota are up 43% relative to the pre-COVID average, and eviction filings across the Twin Cities (Hennepin and Ramsey Counties) are up 62% relative to the preCOVID average. Eviction statistics made available by Hennepin County show that around forty percent of all eviction filings result in a formal eviction, indicating that most eviction filings in Hennepin County are either dismissed or ruled in favor of the tenant.
Notice is required prior to initiating evictions proceedings. What this ordinance does is it requires property owners to give more advance notice to renters, before filing an eviction case in court. It extends the time period from 14 days to 30 days’ notice before bringing an eviction action.+
The goal is to give renters more notice time before facing a court eviction. It allows more time for renter to apply for emergency rent assistance or receive legal help if needed, avoiding possible litigation. This ordinance hopes to address one the city’s goals of housing that prioritizes equitable access to safe, stable, accessible, and affordable housing to help eliminate racial disparities in housing. The effective date of implementation would be March 1, 2025.
Wadaag Commons Affordable Housing Trust Fund project budget appropriation (2024-01030)
Wadaag Commons is the final phase of Seward Commons, a multi-phased, mixed-income development project that closed in April 2024 and is under construction. The City Council provided final funding approval for the project in October 2023.
Staff is seeking to appropriate the recycled City Transit Oriented Development (TOD) funds for this project that were approved by City Council in October 2023 to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) budget for disbursement. In 2009, Seward Redesign received a City TOD loan in the amount of up to $600,000 to facilitate the acquisition and redevelopment of the multi-phase Seward Commons site. Seward Redesign drew $544,858 on the loan and repaid $346,393 in 2020 at the Bessemer Apartments closing. As part of the approvals for the Bessemer Apartments financing, the Council authorized that the partial loan repayment be reserved for future assistance to the Wadaag Project.
City Council approved a new loan to the project of up to $627,077 sourced with the 2020 City TOD loan repayment of $346,393, the remaining principal loan balance of $250,287, plus accrued interest of approximately $30,397. This appropriation is necessary as these funds are subject to the terms and conditions of the AHTF loan program and this appropriation was not made at the time of the previous approvals.
Portland Village Financing: 1829 Portland Ave S (2024-01023)
The Portland Village project is a 26-unit townhome property in the Ventura Village neighborhood planning a recapitalization and rehabilitation. Initially developed by RS EDEN and Alliance Housing in 2001, the project is comprised of three two-story residential buildings and a one-story administrative and community building. The residential buildings were constructed in 2001, while the administrative and community building was constructed in 1961-1962. Twenty-five of the units have project-based Section 8 vouchers secured by a Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract with the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. Portland Village Limited Partnership is the current owner of the project. The Partnership plans to transfer the project to a newly formed partnership: RS Eden Portland Village Limited Partnership. RS EDEN is the managing agent and primary supportive services provider.
Portland Village provides permanent supportive housing to households exiting homelessness. The property consists of 10 two-bedroom, 12 three-bedroom, and 4 four-bedroom units. Residents in the project-based Section 8 units pay approximately 30% of their income towards rent, with the voucher covering the remaining portion. One unit is set aside for an employee caretaker and is restricted at 60% Area Median Income. Twenty units are designated High Priority Homeless and are filled through Hennepin County Coordinated Entry. Five units are designated for people with a disability. RS EDEN and partnering agencies provide supportive services to the residents of Portland Village. These services include access to childcare, case management, and mental health and substance use recovery connection services. This action is approving the following modifications to the City’s 2000 HOME loan debt on the Portland Village project:
- Forgiveness of principal in the approximate amount of $986,896.
- Forgiveness of accrued interest in the approximate amount of $1,630,683.
In addition, this will be approving additional funding of $115,000 from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) Contingency Pool for the Portland Village project located at 1829 Portland Ave S. to increase the total award from a maximum of $1,350,000 to a maximum of $1,465,000.
Contract amendment with SoundThinking, Inc. for a gunshot location system(2024-00888)
The City established Contract C-35511 with SoundThinking, Inc. (formerly known as ShotSpotter, Inc.) to provide support and maintenance of SoundThinking’s gunshot location system deployed in Minneapolis. This system is comprised of both hardware and software licensing components and provides a subscription-based data service to the City. The system provides detailed data for the response and investigation of violent crimes that contain gunfire events. It is utilized by both the Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center (“911”) and the Minneapolis Police Department (“MPD”); in that gunshot activations are received by 911, who then dispatches marked squads to the reported location.
Authorizing an increase to contract C-35511 with SoundThinking, Inc. in the amount of $345,000, and an extension through March 21, 2026, for support and maintenance of the gunshot location system. The second action is authorizing an increase to contract C-35511 with SoundThinking, Inc. in the amount of $77,250, to expand coverage of the system through the end of the contract term.
This expansion would not only cover the most emergent hotspots that have developed since the system was last expanded but would also account for areas where gun violence has become more prevalent in recent years.
Encampment removal reporting ordinance(2024-00114)
The Encampment Removal Reporting Ordinance aims to bring transparency, accountability, and oversight to the processes involving the removal of encampments in Minneapolis. It responds to the growing need for a data-driven approach to managing and understanding unsheltered homelessness in our City. Good governance requires good data. The required reporting prioritizes information on sound fiscal decisions/expenditures, understanding of where encampments over time are removed, how service provision is conducted in relationship to the City of Minneapolis, public safety data, the outcomes/impacts on affected individuals who lived within the encampments, and overall transparency in our encampment removal process.
The ordinance would require two individual quarterly reports annually from our City’s Administration. The first report would track information on the location and coordination of the encampment removal, including the source of initiation, City personnel present by department, non-government entities present, service providers present, and associated costs of the removal. The second report category would track how many individuals were affected by the removal, what housing services they were offered; and 311 or 911 data related to removals, with information disaggregated by call type and type of violence (if applicable).
Rethinking I-94 priorities (2024-01027)
The Minnesota Department of Transportation is planning for the full reconstruction of I-94 between Hiawatha Avenue and Marion Street as part of its Rethinking I-94 project. The Rethinking I-94 project is an opportunity to repair the harms that were committed during the construction of I-94 in the 1950s and 1960s, and to address the racially unequal public health impacts that I-94 has currently. In 2020, the City Council approved a resolution outlining the city's priorities for the Rethinking I-94 project at that time. This resolution establishes updated official city priorities for the Rethinking I-94 project process and outcomes to best align this major piece of transportation infrastructure with the City's equity, climate, and transportation goals.
Infrastructure planning impacts communities and effects all our lives its integral that we rethink 1-94 as it negatively impacts communities of color. For example, Seven Corners Library, the only public library in the neighborhood that served as a community hub and invaluable resource to the immigrant and migrant laborers who moved into the neighborhood and supported Minneapolis’ industries and growth.
The area known as Cedar Riverside (now known as Seward and Phillips) which supported each other with walkable necessities and amenities, and I-94 and its interchanges effectively divided these neighborhoods, reducing local accessibility for all residents; the elderly, children, those with limited vehicle access, and confined local business prosperity. I-94 effectively eliminated the usability of the once-essential Riverside Park and adding multiple long-term pollution sources. Today highways including I-94, I-35, and MN-55 occupy over 456 acres in and around Cedar Riverside alone, occupying space that could be repurposed for community benefit.
City Council of Minneapolis asks the Minnesota Department of Transportation to halt planning on bridge projects within the Rethinking I-94 project corridor until a preferred alternative is selected. The City Council of Minneapolis supports cross-collaboration efforts with other agencies and encourages the Minnesota. |
