The Currie Commons housing development under construction in the Harrison neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., Thursday, July 20, 2023.
Ben Brewer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Affordable housing is hard to find in the United States today. Although the average 30-year fixed mortgage is down Compared with last year, the median sales price of existing homes increased by approximately 3.1%. According to the National Association of Realtors.
But a plan in Minnesota could be one of the keys to solving the problem, even if it faces its fair share of controversy.
In 2019, Minneapolis became the first major U.S. city to end exclusive zoning for single-family homes, opening the door for developers to build multifamily housing on lots where single-family homes once stood. through a name Minneapolis 2040the city invites developers to mix project types in different neighborhoods, including units dedicated to affordable housing.
The plan also includes other reforms, such as removing parking requirements and prioritizing designs that benefit public transport users, pedestrians and cyclists.
“If we’re going to build affordable housing, we don’t just want to house a family,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who oversees the city’s 2040 plan. There is also hope for housing for 5, 6, 8 or 25 families. “We allow for a greater diversity of housing options. “
Housing has become a top issue during the campaign. The overall economy is Voters’ top concernsbut inflation rose by 70% Attributable to housing expensesthe debate about cooling price growth is really a debate about how to slow housing costs.
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have both broadly pledged to provide some support for first-time homebuyers, and the Harris campaign has provided more details. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Wants to build 3 million new homes Addressing the housing affordability crisis.
Carolyn Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, blamed rising housing costs on the policies of the current administration and the “unsustainable invasion of illegal immigrants.” Campaign broadly says Trump’s housing plan Relates to releasing federal land for housing and cut regulations.
The Currie Commons housing development under construction in the Harrison neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., Thursday, July 20, 2023.
Ben Brewer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
supply meets demand
Five years after the passage of Minneapolis 2040, Frey said “the results speak for themselves.”
pew research center Report noted that from 2017 to 2022, starting with Minneapolis 2040, the city’s housing stock increased by 12%, while the statewide housing stock increased by 4%. NBC News A measure of the difficulty of buying a home It shows that Hennepin County, where Minneapolis is located, is the second-easiest county to buy a home compared to seven neighboring counties — although Hennepin County is the easiest county to buy a home. The state’s most populous county.
The pump looks ready for more residential construction. Ryan Allen, an urban planning professor at the University of Minnesota, analyzed 50 years of permit applications in Minneapolis and found that over the past five years, developers have applied for permits to build in the city at twice the rate of the half-year average.
“This is a clear signal of developer interest and confidence in the real estate market here,” Allen said.
The ultimate goal remains to make urban living more affordable. While there are many factors that determine market prices for housing (e.g. amenities, local economy, cultural factors, immigration patterns), early indications are that Minneapolis housing plans are consistent with lower rents.
Apartment List estimates that rents across the country have soared 22% in the roughly five years since Minneapolis 2040 was approved. During this period, the real estate market experienced a series of unprecedented shocks. global pandemic Dramatically reshuffle the deck Where Americans choose to live, followed by Supply chain nightmare and high interest rate That Limited supply of new homes and put on handcuffs Many homebuyers choose homes today.
By comparison, rents in Minneapolis fell 4% over the same five years. California’s Bay Area neighbors San Francisco and Oakland were the only more populous cities to also see rent declines, according to Apartment Listings estimate.
“When you increase supply to meet demand, it’s like supply-side progressivism as a political philosophy. You prevent rents from rising significantly,” Frey said.
A mixed-use development under construction on the site of the Ford Motor Company assembly plant in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S., Thursday, July 20, 2023.
Ben Brewer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
backyard brawl
But Frey, a Democrat, acknowledged the plan was hugely controversial. Signs appeared across the city imploring developers not to “bulldoze my neighborhood.”
In Northeast Minneapolis, a sign in the yard of a single-family home reads “Stop Northeast Land Grab,” referring to the city’s northeast. The sign is now located across the street from Solstice Apartments, a new complex that opened this spring. The building has 23 units, one-fifth of which are certified affordable housing, on the same footprint that once housed just one single-family home. The building has all but one unit leased, meaning at least 22 families now share the address, where just one family previously lived.
Cody Fischer, the project’s developer, said the project won’t be possible before Minneapolis reaches 2040.
“Absolutely not. It’s a combination of zoning and parking requirements. It’s impossible,” Fisher said. He added that to say the plan was somewhat controversial would be an “understatement”. “People in the neighborhood really don’t want this apartment building here.”
Jeremy Wieland, who lives a block away from the development area, is one of them. Wieland is concerned that Solstice Apartments has no street parking, which will make traffic in the area worse.
Wieland said the Solstice plan didn’t do enough to listen to neighbors. But he added that he supports other nearby multifamily buildings that are more “in the spirit of 2040,” such as buildings with more two-bedroom units rather than one-bedroom units, since one-bedroom units are more likely to be moved into.
“The building over there is in my backyard and I love it, and the building down there (Solstice Apartments) is in my backyard and I don’t love it. So it’s always about the specific instance,” Wieland said.
Developer Fischer said he designed the building to be part of the community, adding that neighbors’ “worst nightmares” about parking did not come true.
Environmental groups have also filed complaints against the city of Minneapolis, arguing that the city needs to do more to prove that increased density will not cause harm. one litigation A nonprofit group claims the city violated the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act by failing to prove the 2040 plan would not harm the environment. In 2022, a court ordered a halt to implementation of Minneapolis 2040.
Minnesota Legislature later through legislation Essentially protecting the plan from lawsuits. Frey calls Walz ‘committed to mission’ affordable housing, sign The measure became law in May. Last month, the Minnesota Supreme Court decided not to review the lawsuitgiving the green light for the plan to move forward.
Supporters say that as the program gains momentum and housing comes under intense national scrutiny, the Minneapolis experiment demonstrates the need for a multi-pronged approach — with oversight and community involvement as important as funding and tax breaks.
“We need the market to step in,” said the University of Minnesota’s Allen. “But I also think that’s not enough. We also need to have more aggressive state, local and federal policies to support the housing market.”
