As we move into a new year, the Family Housing Fund, together with our partners the Metropolitan Council, Minnesota Housing, Twin Cities LISC, ULI Minnesota/Regional Council of Mayors, and the McKnight Foundation, seeks to expand the conversation around Rethinking Housing.
We will be using this blog to:

• provide new and thought-provoking information and analysis,
• showcase best practices and innovations in design, policy, and financing,
• post materials from workshops and other events, and
• give users an opportunity to learn from others.

Engage!
You can interact with us by submitting comments, volunteering as a guest blogger, and suggesting relevant topics for us to cover in future posts. We want this website to be a virtual conversation and your participation is essential!

Our second forum, held on November 10, built upon the initial Rethinking Housing conversation and engaged participants to specifically rethink housing finance systems in our region in the face of new housing market realities. Facilitated by Stacy Becker, this forum helped invited participants:

• Examine new housing market realities and trends in the Twin Cities metropolitan region and explore how these trends affect our current and future work.
• Explore new approaches and financing needed to meet local and regional affordable housing needs and challenges over the next five or ten years.
• Identify specific approaches (collective and individual) that will build on our region’s strongest assets and opportunities and help overcome the inevitable challenges that arise when moving in new directions.
• Work to align the assets, skills, and resources of funders, developers, designers, city officials, and community residents to provide the housing needed in the future.

In advance of the workshop we gave participants materials to spur ideas about how we might rethink housing finance systems given the current housing market realities in the Twin Cities metropolitan region. See links below to access these reports and articles.

• Opportunity City Pilot Program Summary Report. ULI/Regional Council of Mayors. 2009.
• Affordable Housing Plan 2010-11 MN Housing.
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Role of Housing in Recessions and Recoveries. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. August 2009.
• Summary of Meeting with Tom Stinson, MN State Economist. Civic Caucus. October 16, 2009.
• Measure the Recession’s Impact on Housing, Metro Stats, Met Council. September 2009.
• Meeting Multifamily Housing Finance Needs During and After the Credit Crisis, Joint Center for Housing Studies. January 2009. (Full Version).

Click here to download a summary report of the event.

Rethinking Housing is all about the next generation of affordable housing in the Minnesota. Below is a listing of some of the many activities that either resulted from or are in the spirit and context of the Rethinking Housing initiative.

• ULI MN/Regional Council of Mayors Housing Initiative has provided comprehensive demographic research and technical support to five “Opportunity Cities” looking to provide a full range of housing choices in their communities. A second round of opportunity cities are coming soon! To learn more about this initiative, visit: http://minnesota.uli.org/Housing.aspx.
• Looking for local and national best practices related to the preservation and production of a full range of housing choices in the Twin Cities metropolitan region? Explore ULI MN/RCM’s Minnesota-specific tool box at: http://www.housingpolicy.org/toolbox/index_MN.html.
• The McKnight Foundation commissioned Himle Horner to research the attitudes and values of Minnesota citizens toward affordable housing. The full report, Research: Minnesota Values & Attitudes on Affordable Housing, is available at http://www.mcknight.org/region/hsg_eval.aspx.
• The Citizen’s League, in partnership with individual cities, ULI MN/RCM, and the Family Housing Fund, lead the Citizen Involvement in Municipal (Re)Development Project. The cities of Apple Valley, Lake Elmo, and Brooklyn Park were selected to participate. With support from the Lincoln Land Institute, Stacy Becker authored the report, “Do Local Panning Processes Fuel NIMBYism?” To read the report, visit: http://www.fhfund.org/educational_materials_reports.htm
• The Family Housing Fund has created the Twin Cities Community Land Bank as an innovative tool to help spur land acquisition and site control to meet the changing housing needs in Twin Cities neighborhoods and communities now and in the future. The Land Bank is designed to respond quickly and effectively to the challenges and opportunities of the foreclosure crisis and to further regional growth objectives linking housing, jobs, transportation, and education. For more information, visit: http://www.tcclandbank.org/.
• Innovation in Design of Affordable Housing: A Report to the McKnight Foundation by the Housing Studies Program at the University of Minnesota. December 2008. To view the full report and other housing resources, visit http://www.mcknight.org/region/hsg_eval.aspx.
• The Family Housing Fund, the City of Minneapolis, and the City of Saint Paul have supported the development of Live MSP (www.livemsp.org), a web portal with comprehensive information about home ownership assistance programs, city neighborhoods, and the advantages of city living.
• Minnesota Green Communities, a collaboration of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, the Family Housing Fund, and Enterprise, is the largest green building program in Minnesota with more than 3,000 units completed, under construction, or under development. In partnership with Minnesota Housing, there are now uniform policy standards that ensure that all newly built and rehabbed affordable housing development meets green standards statewide. The initiative has set a goal to facilitate green retrofits of 10,000 units of existing housing over the next five years. To learn more, visit http://www.mngreencommunities.org/.
• The Central Corridor Funders Collaborative is working with multiple partners to advance the housing policy, financing, and action needed to maximize affordable housing development and preservation on the Central Corridor. Additionally, the collaborative is working to advance transit oriented development opportunities for stops along the light rail line. To learn more, visit: http://www.funderscollaborative.org/.

On February 10, 2009, we held the first Rethinking Housing workshop. Architect, designer, and educator William R. Morrish facilitated the event with over 40 architects, designers, developers, funders, and policymakers participating. Key themes emerged, including:
1. Think and act very differently about the way we build housing in the future to fit the new economic and demographic realities;
2. Improve the ways we can make existing and new housing more green and sustainable;
3. Improve the housing regulation and production processes to be more clear and efficient;
4. Form stronger alliances and build new alliances across sectors;
5. Better connect with and educate the public and key decision-makers; and
6. Research, gather, and share good information.

To learn more about this event, explore the materials below.
Click here to download a summary report of the event (.pdf)
Click here to view speaker’s PowerPoint (.pdf)
Click here to view the workshop handouts (.pdf)