Some Worry Minneapolis Housing Stock Is Too Restricted to Poor People

Hundreds of houses and apart­ments are rising in north Minneapolis, thanks to ample government help in the wake of the foreclosure crisis and the May 2011 tornado. But not just anyone can live in them. Major public intervention in the city’s poorest area has created a new generation of housing stock that some worry is overly restricted to lower-income people. Private developers still can’t generate enough revenue to build without subsidies in many neighborhoods, but the government programs that help them come with income restrictions.

City records show that just six of 501 new and proposed apartment units on the North Side are open to people of all incomes. About 76 percent of the total apartments will be limited to renters making 50 percent of the area median income, about $29,000 for a single person.

New and rehabbed homes built with public dollars are available to a wider range of buyers. Records show an array of recent programs are aiding at least 189 homes on the North Side that are now, or will be, restricted to buyers making 50 to 120 percent of area median income. About 115 are limited to households making 120 percent of the median, or $89,640 for a family of three.

Still, some have been turned away from new subsidized houses because they make too much.