A coalition of local organizations sponsored this questionnaire to help voters understand where each candidate stands on issues that shape whether every person can find and afford a home in Minneapolis.
We collectively submitted, refined, and selected these questions and invited campaigns of all candidates to respond. We will continue to accept responses and thank those who have participated. Their responses are published verbatim.
The only party holding caucuses for Minneapolis races is the DFL. For more information about participating in the Minneapolis DFL Caucuses in April, see minneapolisdfl.org/. For information on the 2021 November elections, see https://vote.minneapolismn.gov/voters/calendar/.
Sponsors: Envision Community; IX (Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia); Neighbors for More Neighbors; NRRC; Wedge LIVE!; Zacah
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Candidate responses:
- Jacob Frey – incumbent: responded
- Jerrell Perry: responded
- Kate Knuth: responded
- Sheila Nezhad: responded
Q1: In a city where more than half of people rent, what housing policies would you focus on to ensure that every Minneapolis resident has a safe, stable, affordable home?
Jacob Frey – incumbent:
My administration’s affordable housing agenda has focused on four key areas: production of new affordable housing units, presentation of existing affordable housing units, protection of renters’ rights, and fostering a pathway to affordable homeownership. We’ve increased the Affordable Housing Trust Fund by more than $40 million to provide gap financing for the production and preservation of affordable rental housing for households earning less than 50% of area median income, with priority financing for affordable rental units for households earning less than 30% of area median income.
Of all the 2017 mayoral candidates, I offered the most clear position for up-zoning and a diversity of housing options. I followed through on this promise by advocating strongly for the 2040 Plan (https://ash.harvard.edu/minneapolis-using-zoning-tackle-housing-affordability-and-inequality).
Further, as mayor, I launched Stable Homes Stable Schools which has helped provide housing for over 2,500 Minneapolis Public School students and 900 families. We’ve accomplished a great deal in the past four years, and look forward to continuing the work.
Jerrell Perry:
In a city where more than half of people rent, the housing policies I would focus on to ensure that every Minneapolis resident has a safe, stable, affordable home are very diverse but begin with ensuring that every Minneapolis residents has a safe, stable, good paying Job. The policies are diverse because the situations and circumstances of residents as well as our homeless Brothers and Sisters are all diverse. We say different strokes for different folks. Find out where they are and why and ask where they would like to be and provide access to the resources to get them into a place to be an independent productive citizen contributing to their own success and the success of others. That will put them in a position to fully take advantage of the Affordable Housing program and be able to sustain what they are blessed with because the prep work to get to this place didn’t just give them fish to eat, but collectively equipped and taught them to fish for themselves and eventually for others. We can’t stop with the Affordable Housing Programming. There has to be opportunity to move beyond that as in programming and funding to move on to Affordable Home Ownership for those that are ready and able which will benefit not only them and their family building generational wealth, but it will also benefit the entire community and the City of Minneapolis as a whole.
Kate Knuth:
Housing is a human right. An affordable, safe, and stable place to call home is the foundation of living with security, opportunity, and dignity. We have a responsibility to make sure we are moving unhoused people toward stable housing and increasing access to sustainable affordable housing options for every person and family, especially those with low-incomes, renters, retired and elderly people, people with disabilities, citizens returning from incarceration, and anyone else facing systemic barriers to housing. We can do this by passing rent stabilization and strengthening tenant protections, fully funding section 8 and public housing, investing in housing cooperative models and equitable land-use policies, and increasing access to homeownership for those who want it all while fighting gentrification and displacement.
Sheila Nezhad:
The best solutions come from people who are leading change on the ground. The landscape of our city and nation is changing rapidly, and will likely look even more different in January 2022. The first, and most important, thing I would do as mayor is to meet with organizers, renters, service providers, people experiencing homelessness to co-develop policies that are ready to meet the moment. My answers here are a start on the path to housing justice, and I am committed to expanding and changing approaches based on the real-time wisdom of those doing the work on the ground.
We can begin by maintaining affordability for the current rental housing in the city. I have been a renter in Minneapolis for 10 years. I know what it’s like to have to move out of neighborhoods that I loved because I could no longer afford the rent. I support the rent control proposal from Minneapolis United for Rent Control. As we see rental prices skyrocketing, and we should make sure that the “control” is actually keeping rent down (some states have implemented a 10% annual increase, which could mean $100/month increase on a $1000 apartment). I also support Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (TOPA), which will fight gentrification and displacement by offering tenants first opportunity to purchase their buildings if the owner decides to sell.
As our city is growing, we need to build more deeply affordable housing. One of the ways we can do this is by changing the qualifications of what is considered “affordable.” to regulate a capitalist housing market as this has set a false benchmark for “affordability.” I would argue that “affordable housing” be defined as no more than 30% AMI. And looking even deeper, the city needs to support more public housing, as this housing remains in the hands of the government, where housing can be viewed as a necessary service rather than a source of profit. I would support the expansion of public housing and increased funding to maintain and improve current public housing.
Finally, addressing unsheltered homelessness needs to be the top priority. Mayor Jacob Frey promised to end homelessness in 5 years, but it is now worse than ever. I believe that as a city we must pursue a Housing First model, where chronically unsheltered residents are placed in culturally competent stable housing. I would also fight for the city to contract with outreach teams to provide harm reduction services for people experiencing homelessness. I would also place a moratorium on forced evictions of encampments. I have watched far too many times as our city’s primary response to unsheltered homelessness has been to bulldoze people’s shelters without viable alternative places for people to go. Our city can provide housing for all of our residents if we have leaders with the political will. Finally, as mayor, a key part of my work would be working to push CPED and the health department to implement policies that move us toward housing justice. Part of this transformation would be making sure that CPED is led by advocates for housing justice, especially those who believe in maintaining our public housing system, and treating housing as a public good.
Q2: Do you support rent stabilization, just cause protection, pay or quit, city-funded legal services for those facing eviction, and other tenant protections? How will you work to pass these policies?
Jacob Frey – incumbent:
I support just cause protection. I’ve greatly expanded city funding for legal services for those facing eviction. Unlike criminal defendants, civil defendants have no constitutional right to counsel, but representation in housing court can mean the difference between a family being completely upended and having the freedom to start a better life. In these cases, nearly 80% of tenants who have a lawyer leave court without an eviction record, just 6% percent of those without a lawyer can say the same thing. With all this in mind, we started a program called More Representation Minneapolis. It has been wildly successful in providing free legal service to anyone facing eviction. In 2019 alone, tenants received over 2,300 hours of free legal services from the program. Since the eviction moratorium began, the money and volunteer hours we put into this program has been transitioned to expungements for those who have been evicted in the past.
While there are several variations depending on state statute, I do generally support a pay or quit notice.
On rent stabilization, I understand that there is a policy moving forward, but the details have not yet been drafted. While Council President Bender and I have both expressed opposition to “rent control” policies in the past, I believe in taking a data-driven process to evaluate housing policy options in general and that includes whatever policy is brought forward. I will review the specifics of this new Council-proposed policy as we move forward prior to taking a position.
Jerrell Perry:
Yes, I absolutely support rent stabilization. The cost of rent has steady risen making it less and less affordable. I truly believe that expanding the Affordable Housing program will have a huge impact on driving down the cost of rent in Minneapolis. It will stabilize the demand for privately owned rental properties giving people access to Affordable Housing Programs and ultimately transitioning them into the Affordable Home Ownership Program making room for new people to consistently enter the programs. As far as City-Funded legal services for those facing eviction I would say again, yes, absolutely. We want every resident of Minneapolis to have as mentioned above, a safe, stable, affordable home. When that comes into question through no fault of the tenant, they should be made aware of the rights they have as a tenant as well as access to resources and assistance working through the process to produce the best outcome to assure a family does not end up on the street. I support other tenant protections as well, but I want to make sure that we acknowledge that in some cases, it is the owner that needs certain protections as well. There is a mortgage that must be paid every month, insurances, taxes, etc. so we definitely have to have a balance between protections and policies that would put an owner in a position that would cause them undo harm or possibly even to lose the property altogether. We value everyone in Minneapolis and we want people to know and feel that as it is reflected in our policies and ultimately in our budgets which can be done if we do it together.
Kate Knuth:
Yes. Everyone deserves a safe and decent place to call home—but that is becoming out of reach for so many people in Minneapolis. Right now, more than half our city’s population are renters, especially young people and people of color. This is what makes Minneapolis such a vibrant, welcoming place for so many people to call home. Yet 44 percent of renters are cost-burdened. We need more protections in place for renters so that exorbitant price hikes and discriminatory practices in our rental markets do not continue to displace renters and make our city unaffordable for so many. I believe that we must advance evidence-based eviction-prevention models to support people and families before they are in crisis, and also increase city-funded tenant protection services and eviction defense funds.
I support the proposed charter amendments for rent stabilization. Minneapolis voters should decide if the charter should be amended to allow the City Council to draft a rent control ordinance to address rising rents across Minneapolis, with renters working to draft their own rent control resolution. Minneapolis elected officials must be in conversation with the housing advocacy organizations doing the work on the ground, as well as tenants with these lived experiences. If elected I commit to championing these policies and leveraging my relationships with the City Council to pass rent stabilization.
Sheila Nezhad:
I support all of the mentioned policies and will work to pass them. We know that the pushback on renter protection policies comes from big money landlord lobbying groups like the Minnesota Multi-Housing Association, and the only way we defeat these groups is by organizing tenants to stand together. I would follow the lead of tenant organizations, and help them build pressure against their landlords, city council, the state legislature, and other bodies of power that stand in their way.
Q3: Encampments of unhoused people have become common on public land in Minneapolis in recent years. What will you do to protect the people who see encampments as their best housing option, to connect them to a safe and stable permanent home?
Jacob Frey – incumbent:
Our unhoused and unsheltered neighbors must be treated with dignity and respect. We have stepped up in an unprecedented fashion to provide shelter and housing. Presently, a gap exists between people experiencing homelessness and the deeply affordable housing in our city. We tripled the previous record of housing, and explicitly focused it on deeply affordable units for those making below 30% of median area income. We also added three new shelters to our system by providing necessary capital and orchestrated setup in a very short period of time. We’ve provided culturally-sensitive and specific shelter for our Native American community, which is already seeing positive results. Further, we achieved a transformative model in the Avivo Indoor Village initiative, which provides individuals experiencing homelessness with their own space and privacy. Oftentimes, individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness choose not to use our shelter system because of privacy and safety issues, and the inability to keep personal belongings. This new model addresses these issues while providing the dignity they deserve.
Additionally, we recognized that individuals experiencing homelessness had no place to send their belongings. To address this issue, we provided lockers and storage areas at our convention center. We are working toward a more stable and long-term plan of action.
Our health department has provided assistance for harm reduction, health needs/COVID testing through the pandemic, and PPE. We’ve allocated nearly $1 million dollars for grants to free food distribution efforts throughout the City, largely focused on building organizations’ capacity to continue to serve Minneapolis residents into the future. We have transitioned a record number of people from homelessness into stable housing in the past three and a half years, and we are committed to continuing those efforts.
Jerrell Perry:
To protect the people who see encampments as their best housing option and connect them to a safe and stable permanent home there are multiple components but I will give you a couple. A large portion of the Encampments are Veterans who have put their lives on the line and fought for our Country so there is no way in the world that it is acceptable for them to be out on the street struggling from day to day to survive who again situations and circumstances that brought them to the place of homelessness are all different so they will have to be addressed differently. Regardless of the situation everyone in the encampments should be placed as a priority within Affordable Housing as we work towards jobs and resources to limit the ability for homelessness to reoccur once they are off of the streets. Until then, we will partner with local shelters and some hotels to provide for flexibility in certain rules to better accommodate the need of the people they serve making them more likely to come and receive the help and even more importantly it will help them stay until the help is properly received. Once in the Affordable Housing Program, Veterans who are interested should then be prioritized again when eligible to transition into the Affordable Home Ownership Program.
Kate Knuth:
We need to have compassion and empathy when addressing the root causes of homelessness, like substance use disorder, poverty, and systemic barriers to accessing stable housing. Police violence of all kinds is unacceptable, including at encampments. We must end the use of city funds for the eviction camps on public land, and rather find housing for people facing homelessness with these resources. I support increasing harm reduction education and resources by working with experts doing that work on the ground to ensure critical supplies like NARCAN, clean water, and bathrooms are accessible at every encampment. Ultimately the city has a responsibility to move unhoused folks into shelter and provide the necessary support to connect people to a safe and stable permanent home. Especially with the COVID pandemic, it’s more important now than ever to utilize our federal CARES funding to provide immediate shelter to everyone unhoused in our city, while pursuing solutions for long-term housing like fully funding public housing. I also support increasing city investments in alternative solutions that meet the immense need, like expanding tiny house indoor villages.
Sheila Nezhad:
I will work to make sure every encampment resident is able to find safe & long term housing through fighting for Housing First policy, wrap-around, harm reductions services, and increasing the city’s cooperation with the county and state to provide services that meet the needs of those on the ground.
I live a few blocks away from Powderhorn Park, where this summer there was an encampment with people staying in 550 tents. As I’d walk down the street, I’d see the half-empty SoPhi building, offering luxury studio apartments ($1500/mo). High prices are driving people out of their homes, and we cannot keep investing in housing that sits vacant while so many of our working-class, Black, brown & Indigenous neighbors suffer.
As mentioned above, I will support a Housing First policy. We also know that a big barrier to housing stability is the lack of investment in wrap-around services to help people receive healthcare, food, childcare, and other resources and services that are essential to helping people build stable homes. We need to shift funding away from MPD’s homelessness response and into contracts with harm reduction street outreach teams who have experience working with the unhoused community.
Q4: SROs and rooming houses have historically been the most affordable homes available, and an important option for people transitioning out of homelessness. They were largely outlawed during zoning reforms decades ago, and nonprofits like Alliance Housing that manage some of the few remaining rooming houses say they do not have enough space. Would you vote to relegalize this housing option in all parts of Minneapolis?
Jacob Frey – incumbent:
Yes. I actually began this work as a council member, but was unable to complete and pass it before my term was up. SROs are a critical tool of the housing ecosystem allowing low-income individuals a more efficient and usually cheaper option for housing. I favor re-legalization.
Jerrell Perry:
Yes I would vote to re-legalize this housing options like SROs and rooming houses in all parts of Minneapolis because we have a homeless population in all parts of Minneapolis and invaluable programming like this should be available to all of Minneapolis not just certain parts. I believe this would be beneficial because as I mentioned a little bit earlier, some of the rules imposed on us at shelters and different places of the sort prevent a lot of us from seeking the help because we don’t want to be obligated to follow countless rules that many have nothing to do with the fact that we are in need of a place to lay our head at night and most nonprofits are willing to provide for flexibility and meet us right where we are at!
Kate Knuth:
Yes, I support SROs and believe we should re-legalize this housing option in Minneapolis. With the level of the housing crisis we face in Minneapolis, we need multiple approaches to increasing access to a range of housing options, and SROs are one of those options.
Sheila Nezhad:
Absolutely, this kind of housing is vital to low income & working class Minneapolis residents. This housing was banned for racist & classist reasons, designated as “urban blight,” but in reality it helps people who are trying to build a better life for themselves. We also know that when boarding homes were legal, many people used to take in boarders as a way to use an extra room and help pay the bills. Some homeowners now do this with AirBnB, but boarding can be a better long term solution for both homeowners and tenants.
Q5: Minneapolis has enacted a number of reforms recently to expand access to more housing types in all neighborhoods — including legalizing ADUs, triplexes, and apartments in some places they’d previously been banned. Do you support this work? If so, what are some ways you’d build on it as mayor?
Jacob Frey – incumbent:
Yes, I support this work. I was the only 2017 mayoral candidate to express full-throated support for housing options in every neighborhood. I have consistently supported growth and density, and continue to offer my support for the 2040 Plan and alternative housing options. Providing a diversity of housing options in every neighborhood allows for a beautiful diversity of people in every neighborhood. Achieving affordable housing in every neighborhood in the city, which I have always supported, first necessitates allowing for affordable housing in every neighborhood. I’m passionate about this work and my position has been steadfast.
Jerrell Perry:
I do support the work done in Minneapolis to enact a number of reforms to expand access to more housing types in all neighborhoods including legalizing ADUs, triplexes, and apartments in some places they’d previously been banned. Some ways I would build on it as Mayor of Minneapolis are building on certain projects that have already been initiated. Those communities have already dealt with the implementation of the reforms and will be the best to continue building onto those sites as we work to acquire more throughout the City. I believe this also goes along with the SRO’s and Rooming Houses as well. We have diverse populations including some homeless but all who have diverse needs. Some of us are single, some partnered or married, some of us have children, some work from home. We all have different needs and we shouldn’t be limited or restricted to what community or neighborhood we can live in based on our current family size or economic situation.
Kate Knuth:
Yes. I believe that upzoning and increasing density is ultimately a good thing, as long as we are building equitably and not causing gentrification or displacement. Healthy and vibrant neighborhoods have a mixture of people– homeowners, renters, multigenerational families, and businesses. We just need to make sure that as we are increasing access to these diverse housing types, we aren’t pushing anyone out, especially Black, brown, Indigenous, and immigrant Minneapolis residents. I think a way we can do this is by supporting the tenant opportunity to purchase (TOPA) and right to first refusal policies. We also must ensure that these units with increased density have access to reliable public transit and that everyone can easily move through the city. I look forward to talking with your organizations about specific approaches you’d like to see the city take in expanding access to more housing types.
Sheila Nezhad:
The expansion of multiplex housing zoning in all areas of our city was a big step toward allowing more people to live in areas of the city that were previously inaccessible. This rule will help desegregate the city, especially in neighborhoods that have been dominated by single-family housing for generations. One shortfall of this plan is that it still relies heavily on profit-driven developers, who may work against the tenant’s best interests by building multiplex housing that isn’t affordable to our most vulnerable residents because of the 40-60 AMI rule. Unfortunately, 60% AMI for a 4 bedroom home is $1800/month. Considering that 30% of households make less than $35,000 a year, we are asking our most vulnerable to pay nearly 2/3rds of their income to landlords. Rather than relying on the median income of our city, where some of the wealthiest and poorest residents of Minnesota reside, we need to expand our view of affordable housing to a needs based system that considers the needs of individual tenants, in order to ensure that nobody pays more than 30% of their income for housing.
Q6: Affordable housing funding is precious, and public subsidy often builds homes that are still too expensive for the people struggling the most, with studio apartment rents over $1,000, and 4 bedroom rents up to $1800. How would you use zoning, TIF, or other city-controlled tools to legalize less expensive homes so that affordable housing funding can support the lowest income residents of Minneapolis?
Jacob Frey – incumbent:
Allowing for units of smaller square footage including SROs, supporting the work of our 2040 Plan, allowing for additional density, and continuing to provide city subsidy focused on low-income housing is crucial. I pushed for and supported the first tiny home in the city of Minneapolis. I continue to support that method in concert with others. Additionally, I’ve invested heavily to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing, and initiated our city’s work in the 4D Program which incentivizes landlords to retain affordable units in exchange for property tax reductions. TIF is an invaluable tool that must be used with intention and limitations. I support use of TIF for affordable housing projects in middle and upper income neighborhoods, and especially instances where the “but-for” test is met.
Jerrell Perry:
I would you use zoning, TIF, or other city-controlled tools to legalize less expensive homes so that affordable housing funding can support the lowest income residents of Minneapolis by working in requirements that Affordable Housing be just that, affordable. There are many different factors that are considered when forming a set rent amount. I firmly believe that the biggest and most important factor in this consideration is the input and income base of the community in which the property is being built or renovated and make adjustments as necessary to assure affordability. We would include implementing rent control requirements that are more fitting and use them as a pre-requisite to receiving Public Subsidy for these projects.
Kate Knuth:
We should be expanding access to housing that’s actually affordable for the people in our city with the lowest incomes. Affordability is relative, and we always need to question “who is this affordable for?” when investing in any development. Everyone deserves a stable place to call home regardless of income, ability, age, or location. While we must utilize the city-controlled tools at our disposal, like zoning, we ultimately have to build and increase access to housing at 30% AMI, especially for people who face systemic barriers to housing. We also know that public and Section 8 housing serve the most vulnerable Minneapolis residents, and this need is incredibly unmet. Not only do we need to increase “affordable housing” based on AMI, but we must ultimately increase access to government-subsidized housing that anyone can access regardless of their income. We need to fully fund Section 8 and exhaust the current waitlist while passing a public housing levy to increase our number of available units.
Sheila Nezhad:
With regards to zoning, there’s a floorspace/area ratio that is preventing more triplex units from being developed, this has been cited as a reason so few triplexes have been approved for development. Changing that ordinance with multiplex housing in mind would make it easier to build multiplex housing. I’d also support allowing the development of 4-plexes.
With TIF money I would like to encourage us to move past the state’s 20-50 & 40-60 AMI guidelines for affordable housing funded with TIF money. To build truly affordable housing, we do need to look at housing priced closer to the 30% AMI level, but as I referenced before, we should look past AMI to make sure we are meeting each individual resident’s housing needs, and making sure there are truly affordable options for people of all income levels.
Other options such as Land Trusts can help us build housing that stays in the community at affordable prices for future generations, and I would like the city to look into using this option more often. There has been some advocacy for using municipal funding mechanisms, such as municipal bonds or public banking that I would be open to exploring as a way to publicly fund the development of housing.
Q7: Our city has grown by 53,000 people in the last 9 years. Do you believe that Minneapolis should make space for more people as our city grows? If so, what is the best way to do that and also ensure that BIPOC communities and people who made Minneapolis their home before the current growth can stay in their communities if they want?
Jacob Frey – incumbent:
While our city has indeed grown substantially over the past 9 years – a fact I am proud of – we are still not at, or even near, our highest population mark. Yes, I believe that Minneapolis has room for growth and new residents. I also believe that our obligation is to retain residents of all backgrounds, and especially BIPOC and new American neighbors. As mentioned above, I pushed for policies to retain naturally occurring affordable housing, and have allocated direct funding towards homeownership among BIPOC communities. Homeownership is among the best ways to both prevent displacement and build intergenerational wealth.
Jerrell Perry:
Yes. I do believe that Minneapolis should make space for more people as our city grows, but it has to be in a way that does NOT displace any of our residents currently residing in Minneapolis. I believe there are a few ways we could make space for more people as our City grows and also ensure that BIPOC communities and people who have made Minneapolis their home before the current growth can stay in their communities if they want. Before any project is even considered, let alone initiated, we will make sure to get BIPOC communities and any other communities input and engagement not just for the sole purpose of collecting the information but actually for using it to direct the project in doing what is best for that specific community. The best way however, I believe is to start with investments within the communities that are already established. We could begin renovating foreclosed and/or abandoned properties reducing the risk and current harm these properties are causing and forcing the community to suffer from. We would also make additional investments into these communities through loan and grant programs, public subsidies, etc. in an effort to bring a higher level of Affordable Housing for students and others who wish to rent. These investments well also bring higher levels of Home Ownership and Business Ownership in BIPOC communities and all of our other communities that house loyal residents consistently dedicated to the betterment of our City as a whole enabling more residents to stay within the communities they made their home before the current growth. The best way however, I believe is to start with investments within the communities that are already established. We could begin renovating foreclosed and/or abandoned properties reducing the risk and current harm these properties are causing and forcing the community to suffer from.
Kate Knuth:
Yes, we should welcome anyone who wants to call Minneapolis home– longtime residents, students, immigrants– and embrace our increasing diversity. Development should not lead to displacement. I believe that there is a way to support the needs of our growing city, especially the need of the Black, brown, Indigenous and immigrant residents who call Minneapolis home. We can fight gentrification by working with impacted communities and learning from best practices from across the globe, ensuring that new commercial and residential do not price out residents, supporting energy conservation and efficiency in affordable housing, and making sure every resident has access to reliable public transit to get to work and take care of the basics of life.
Sheila Nezhad:
We absolutely need to make room for anyone who wants to come live in our city. However, the threat of gentrification lives large in Black, brown & indigenous communities in our city and across the country. I think the solution is to make sure we are building a housing system and a local economy that serves current resident’s needs, and racial justice, rather than building housing that is supposed to attract wealthier renters or buyers. Some ways we could do this is through support for cooperative housing, increased funding in land trusts and TOPA to close the gap between BIPOC homeownership, and rent control.
Q8: The city has the ability to pass a public housing levy. Would you vote to use that levy to the maximum extent?
Jacob Frey – incumbent:
Public housing has been underfunded by the federal government since the 1980s. Minneapolis has a part to play in addressing this need. For example, in my recent budgets we’ve devoted $2 Million dollars to the Elliot Twins Renewal project. I believe Minneapolis should continue to fund public housing, but not let our federal partners off the hook. Doing so would exacerbate our already existing budgetary crisis without making a significant dent in the public housing need.
Jerrell Perry:
Yes. If the City exercised its ability to pass a Public Housing Levy, I would vote to use that levy to the maximum extent simply because that would be the whole intention for it getting passed in the first place. Affordable housing is an asset to many communities and benefits everyone and federal subsidies are minimal making the demand much higher than the supply that is available which as a result causes or contributes to other issues including but not limited to higher rates of both homelessness and crime so I believe public support would be high for use of the levy as well knowing when our communities do better, we all do better!
Kate Knuth:
Yes, absolutely. The opportunity to pass a public housing levy would significantly increase funding to help house folks with low incomes in our city and we must leverage it. Not only do we need to fully fund public housing, but we also need to fight the privatization of public housing in Minneapolis that leads to displacement.
Sheila Nezhad:
We have seen a troubling trend of privatization of public housing, through federal programs like RAD and Section 18. This has made it difficult for cities like Minneapolis to maintain and expand their public housing programs without handing property over to a 3rd party. We know that public housing needs to remain in public control in order to stay affordable long term for residents. It is our responsibility to our tenants as local government to maintain this housing stock as a public good, and to do so we must levy a tax to the maximum extent needed to preserve this housing.
Q9: Given our history of redlining, exclusionary zoning, freeways, slum clearance, and urban renewal, what is your vision for an equitable and restorative way of building a better Minneapolis for all?
Jacob Frey – incumbent:
The question aptly points out historic shortcomings and the systemically racist structures that have been perpetuated over time. While we’ve made great progress, we have a long way to go. Freeways still separate communities of color from some of our greatest assets, like the riverfront. Pollutants are still far more present in low-income communities, leading to asthma and other health issues. The 2040 Plan was a great step in the right direction, but the comprehensive approach and vision must see action in the areas of transportation, health equity, safety, housing, and criminal justice. My record shows that I delivered on the strategies that I set forth during the campaign in 2017, and I recognize the need to go further.
Jerrell Perry:
Given our history of redlining, exclusionary zoning, freeways, slum clearance, and urban renewal, my vision for an equitable and restorative way of building a better Minneapolis for all is multi-faceted. It would begin with as already mentioned, before any project is initiated, or even considered, we will make sure to get BIPOC communities and any other potential community’s input and engagement not just for the sole purpose of collecting the information but actually for using it to direct the project in doing what is best for that specific community. It is the residents, not the government that should be deciding what their community looks like, what is included in it as far as schools, jobs, businesses, family resources, violence prevention strategies including domestic and gun violence as well as public safety throughout the entire City Enterprise. The sole purpose, the mandate of our City Leaders is to protect the citizens we have sworn to serve. That starts with a Public Safety System that is equitable and accountable to the people. Like many others, I believe the Department of Public Safety should be an umbrella with multiple city services and resources to serve the residents of Minneapolis in a way that will make them feel both safe and secure including Law Enforcement Officers. Not every call that is made to 911 is an emergency, nor is every call about a crime or a law that has been broken. Having said that, I believe our Law Enforcement Officers are too valuable a resource and with a minimal Force in effect, we need to use them wisely and lighten their work load by sending them to calls that necessitate Law Enforcement. Callers that do not require Law Enforcement would be sent a Specialist instead to see if the situation can be resolved diplomatically. This would partner with and include access to Emergency Medical Technicians, Social Workers, Psychologist and additional Mental Health Resources, 24- Hour Homeless Shelters and Hotels, Ride Share Vendors, and Community Organizations with boots on the ground that are not only familiar with the different neighborhoods, but they are also familiar with the residents and have consistently built relationships that have established a level of trust that is needed and necessary to properly assist in violence interruption and community outreach in general. We would include in the partnerships business owners both large and small as well as Minneapolis Public Works to assist in getting people, especially young people ages 12-34, good paying jobs which would assist in eliminating the financial incentive to participate in crime and lower the level of violence communities are experiencing and make us all a little bit safer than we are today!
Kate Knuth:
The effects of redlining and other racist housing policies in our city continue to be barriers to housing and still contribute to the deep racial wealth gap. We have to reckon with this history, take responsibility for the ways systemic racism continues to perpetuate housing injustice in our city, and repair the harm these practices have caused. In addition to providing increased funding at the city level for publicly funded and affordable housing and passing rent stabilization, the City of Minneapolis has the opportunity to take the lead on implementing restorative practices rooted in racial justice through other policies. We must advance access to homeownership within communities of color for those who want it by making investments at the city level. We also need to make sure these approaches are culturally-sensitive in how they are designed. We can also increase targeted investments in energy conservation and retrofits to significantly reduce the energy burden of families with lower incomes and communities of color who bear the brunt of the effects of environmental racism and pollution. I also support forming a reparations commission in the City of Minneapolis to study reparations for Black Minneapolis residents whose ancestors were enslaved. I will also work closely with Dakota people, whose stolen land we occupy, to ensure access to sacred sites and medicines as our city continues to grow.
Sheila Nezhad:
At the heart of all the solutions that have been discussed, the truth is we need to listen to our city’s residents who have been the victims of redlining, exclusionary zoning, freeways, evictions, and urban renewal. Co-governance is one of my core values. As mayor, I would fight for participatory governance, paid community advisory roles, and an enterprise-wide implementation of authentic avenues for community participation in government. And in my budget proposal, I would dramatically increase funding toward housing justice, guided by the people most affected by the city’s housing crisis.
Q10: If there are any other thoughts you’d like to add, please use this space to do so.
Jacob Frey – incumbent: none
Jerrell Perry:
We have an amazing opportunity to bring a change that is so desperately needed. With the help of God and his love, we can come together as a City United in a common cause to make life better for ALL of Minneapolis residents and business owners alike. If we tackle the issues of Violence Interruption/Prevention including but not limited to Domestic Violence, Gang Violence, Gun Violence and Public Safety Formation, Education, Jobs, Affordable Housing and Affordable Home Ownership, and most importantly LOVE, we can bring our City to a place that eyes have not seen and ears have not heard. Love for God, love for ourselves, love for our families, love for our neighbors, love for our communities, and ultimately Love for our City as we know love NEVER fails!
Thank you for the questions and the opportunity to provide you with my thoughts on them. The media is the most important part of our society because you all bring transparency and accountability to not just the leaders, but the people as well which is both needed and definitely appreciated. Thank you for the work you all do and i will look forward to speaking with and hearing from you all frequently here in the very near future!
Thanks again for your time and the consideration. Have an excellent rest of the day and if there is anything else you may need or any way I may be of assistance, please feel free to reach out at your convenience and I will be sure to get back to you as soon as I am able. Much love and may god consistently Bless!
Kate Knuth:
Thank you for all the work your organizations do to help people in Minneapolis move into and have access to housing options that work for them. As mayor, my approach to governing would involve working closely with community organizations and peoples organizations to make sure the policy we make as a city is shaped by people with firsthand experience of the challenges we are trying to address. Housing is an especially important context to take this approach, and I look forward to building relationships with you in the months to come.
Sheila Nezhad: none
