More of MICAH in the News

With hundreds wanting to comment on Ford plant redevelopment, hearing will continue next week
By Frederick Melo, fmelo@pioneerpress.com - 09/20/17

Whitney Clark, president of the Friends of the Mississippi River, said the Ford plant site in St. Paul needs more bluff-edge parkland. Housing activist John Slade likes the density but wants more affordable housing. Youth coach Kevin Cunningham said the city’s zoning plan “is essentially to drop a chunk of Manhattan — the isle of Manhattan — in St. Paul."

MICAH Organizer, La Shella Sims, named to Environmental Justice Advisory Group for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Bulletin - 09/06/2016

Saint Paul, Minn. — Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner John Linc Stine, with the assistance of a selection committee, has invited 16 individuals from around Minnesota to advise the MPCA on matters related to environmental justice. The group will provide input and recommendations about ways to incorporate the principles of environmental justice into the agency’s work

Settlement could alter how affordable housing is built throughout Twin Cities metro
By Peter Callaghan at MINNPOST - 05/13/16

Somewhat quietly, the city councils of Minneapolis and St. Paul are approving a settlement of complaints that the two cities are violating federal fair housing law — an agreement that could result in broad changes to how the region builds affordable housing.

The Minneapolis City Council voted 10-2 Friday to approve the settlement of a legal complaint brought by the Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH) alleging the cities failed to follow a federal requirement to “affirmatively further fair housing.”

Authorities, Twin Cities Muslims gather to discuss anxiety after terror attacks
By Stephen Montemayor , Star Tribune -03/24/16

Farhio Khalif, MICAH board member and executive director of Voices of East African Women, along with other Muslim community leaders, met with law enforcement officials to discuss anxiety after terrorists attacks.

Law enforcement officials and leaders of the Twin Cities Muslim community gathered Thursday to confront the anxiety that has arisen in the days following Tuesday’s terror attacks in Belgium and the high-profile rhetoric they have inspired

Plans for the meeting materialized shortly after Texas senator and GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz on Wednesday referenced Minneapolis’ Somali-American community as an example of where law enforcement efforts could be concentrated while doubling down on calls this week for authorities to be able to patrol Muslim communities.

Hundreds of families could be forced out of Meadowbrook Manor in St. Louis Park
As upgrade begins, leaders and families prepare for change.
John Reinan Star Tribune March 23, 2016 — 8:43pm

Hundreds of families could be forced out of affordable housing in St. Louis Park, as the new owner of one of the Twin Cities’ largest apartment complexes begins an upgrade of sprawling Meadowbrook Manor.

New lease agreements are going out to some 350 households, with rent increases of $100 to $125 a month. Residents must undergo a criminal record check and prove they have income of at least 2½ times the monthly rent. About two-thirds of the residents at the 551-unit complex are on month-to-month leases.

US HUD Secretary Visits Minneapolis to Discuss Affordable Housing, Economic Opportunity with MICAH and other local leaders
KSTP Jennie Lissarrague 3/4/16

To quote Sue Watlov Phillips, MICAH Executive Director: Friday’s meeting, with HUD Secretary Castro, with Mayors across the metro area, County Commissioners, MHFA Commissioner, Philanthropic and Regional leaders, MICAH, people impacted by housing crisis and homelessness, and the Community, was an incredible experience of coming together as a community, listening to each other, agreeing to work together and address impediments to fair housing through mutually agreed upon strategies.

Castro’s visit to Minneapolis is the latest stop on HUD’s Prosperity Playbook Community Tour, which kicked off in February in Kansas City, Missouri...

“I’m very proud of a lot of the work that’s happening here in the Twin Cities and Minneapolis area, so today we’re going to talk about some of that and also how we can increase affordable housing communities throughout the area,” Castro said at the event.

Hearing draws support, concern about $1.5 billion Bottineau light-rail project
Janet Moore, Star Tribune January 20, 2016 — 5:39pm

About 100 people at a public hearing Tuesday evening had mostly positive things to say about the proposed $1.5 billion Blue Line (Bottineau) light-rail expansion, which would connect downtown Minneapolis to northern Twin Cities suburbs.

The hearing, held at the Central Library in Minneapolis by the Metropolitan Council, Hennepin County and its railroad authority, is part of a municipal consent process required by state law for light-rail projects. It’s essentially a review of the project’s critical design components, such as tracks, bridges, stations, roads and support structures.

MICAH Northeast Chapter Tour guides advocate for affordable housing
Kristine Goodrich/Editor, White Bear Press, Dec 16, 2015

Community-built houses, rentals with long waiting lists, senior apartments under construction and a center for formerly homeless families were among the stops on a bus tour organized by a nonprofit affordable housing advocate. Members of Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH) took local leaders on a tour of affordable housing accomplishments in the White Bear area, shared data about the need for more affordable housing and asked the the attendees to support future local and state initiatives more...

West Broadway Transit Study Engagement videos
Video interviews of perspectives on the West Broadway Corridor and BRT and Streetcar
MICAH Organizer La Shella Sims speaks in the eighth interview.

A lot of people believe the Twin Cities needs more affordable housing; a lot fewer agree on where to build it
Peter Callaghan at MINNPOST 11/05/15

Community Housing Conversation on October 30, 2015 with Congressman Ellison and HUD Secretary Castro

WCCO video, posted to Keith Ellison’s Facebook Page.
HUD Secretary Gets and Earful About Twin Cities Affordable Housing Problems
Eric Roper Star Tribune

Suburban Integration and/or Neighborhood-Based Development? The Path Forward for Affordable Housing and Equitable Development
Craig at KFAI On-air date: Mon, 08/24/2015 (listen to program, starts 4:30 minutes into stream.)

Since the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s, two approaches to racial justice have competed for community support and financial resources. On the one hand, advocates for racial integration challenged the exclusion of African-Americans from neighborhoods, schools and employment opportunities. Citizens of all races and ethnic backgrounds, they argued, should be able to live in any community they choose. And along with choice of neighborhoods would come the social and economic benefits accorded whites.

Advocates of community control, on the other hand, believed that only by building up African American communities could genuine racial equity be achieved. These arguments had parallels in other ethnic and cultural communities, as well. Today, both advocates for housing integration and placed-based development see their approach as a way to reduce racial inequities and build a sturdy path out of poverty.

To explore where these paths converge—and perhaps at times diverge—Truth to Tell will feature a conversation with Sue Watlov Phillips, executive director of one of the region’s premier housing advocacy organizations, the Minnesota Interfaith Council of Affordable Housing. MICAH, as it is commonly known, has joined several inner-ring suburbs and Minneapolis community groups in legal complaints challenging policies that concentrate housing in high-poverty areas.

Also joining the discussion are Owen Duckworth, who works on the Equity in Place initiative as coalition organizer for the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, and Nelima Sitati Munene, who helped rebuild housing in North Minneapolis in the aftermath of the recent devastating tornado and continues to work on affordable housing issues in the northwest suburbs where she resides. Nelima also served on the Metropolitan Council’s Housing Policy Planning Work Group, which will influence housing development in the metro region for the next 25 years