BY PETER MCLAUGHLIN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The cost of housing has ballooned in the Twin Cities, and this increase has disproportionately affected low-income renters. For every 10 families who are below 30 percent of the area median income in the Twin Cities, it is estimated that there are only three homes that are available or affordable to them. Since December 2019, LISC Twin Cities has made several key partnerships to help maintain the cost of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH) in the Twin Cities in order for people to keep their homes and their community. Most recently, we helped Land Bank Twin Cities purchase five apartment complexes in the Corcoran neighborhood.
The movement to buy five apartment buildings in this neighborhood began in 2015 with InquilinxsUnidxs Por Justicia (United Renters for Justice), a community group that has worked with tenants to ensure affordable housing. They rallied together to address the poor living conditions in the apartments. Five years later, LISC Twin Cities has partnered with the group Land Bank Twin Cities Inc. and the City of Minneapolis to provide a $8.43 million loan to help Land Bank purchase the apartment complex, preserve the affordable housing for the tenants, and improve living conditions. Of this $8.43 million loan, $3.45 million was made possible through zero percent interest financing from the City of Minneapolis as part of the Small and Medium Multifamily Loan Program for the preservation of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH) properties.
