There’s been a lot of talk about guinea pigs and rent stabilization lately. In fact, the Minnesota Multi Housing Association recently sent me a picture of a guinea pig! They even hired someone to come to my house and give me a second picture of a guinea pig! It’s almost like the Minnesota Multi Housing […]
Tomorrow is Labor Day, the end of the State Fair and the traditional end of summer. It’s not too late for you to get to the State Fair and consider Bill Lindeke’s Seven Urbanism Lessons from the Minnesota State Fair on location, where “There’s a lot that urban designers and decision makers can learn from the fairgrounds, […]
On a hot Monday evening in a bustling North Minneapolis park, Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia [Renters United for Justice] convened a community discussion around a ‘Renter’s Bill Of Rights’ for the city. “We have a rental supply problem in our city, we have a 2% rental vacancy rate, and most housing experts say 5 to 6 […]
Here’s a map showing how states rank on a 0-100 scale of “renter friendliness”. It is brought to you by Rent Café, which I assume is some sort of apartment-finding website. They have a good list of policies that give more rights to renters, including how long you have to wait to get back a […]
I believe housing is a human right, and that we are facing a housing crisis that will impoverish a generation if we do not act quickly and aggressively. I would support nearly any policy that would increase access to affordable housing, reduce the number of rent-burdened households, and reduce or eliminate displacement. But I […]
You might have missed Greta Kaul’s excellent article in Minnpost a while back, bringing some data into the conversation about the Twin Cities housing market. It is well worth your time and describes how the rental and home markets have changed over the last 5-10 years. Here’s one of the charts that caught my eye: […]
Matthew Desmond, author of the award-winning book Evicted, about rental housing and poverty in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was in town last week to discuss his work. He gave a lecture sponsored by the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, and here’s a chart from his presentation. The point of the chart is pretty clear. Through programs […]
Now that the election is over, streets.mn readers can consider how to get busy with the results and think about how to address transportation and land use issues with a Republican-controlled Minnesota legislature, the red shift in Washington, and whatever changes took place in your local units of government. As you think, why not write […]
If you’re like me, you’ve heard people complain about Minneapolis or St. Paul’s snow emergency rules, that they’re complex and burdensome. In reality, these complexities may be a pain a handful of times a year they apply, but they allow for better cities all year long. If you speak Minnesotan, you know that a snow emergency is an event […]
Here’s a chart from this great “statistics and demographics” article in today’s Star Tribune. Check it out: CJ Sinner at the Star Tribune reports on how and why these data were created: Recently, a sharp drop in median income among Black Minnesotans prompted the Minnesota State Demographic Center to take a deeper economic look at ethnic […]