WASHINGTON, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced agreements with the City of Minneapolis and the City of St. Paul to further housing choice and neighborhood opportunities in the two cities and the surrounding region. The agreements will serve as the foundation to promote housing opportunities and comprehensive regional housing planning that address residential integration and segregation within Minneapolis, St. Paul and the Twin Cities metro area. Read the Minneapolis agreement. Read the St. Paul agreement.
“Families deserve real housing choice and increased opportunity to move ahead,” said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “These agreements place Minneapolis and St. Paul at the forefront of city and regional planning that incorporates fair housing as one of its stated goals. We look forward to working with the Twin Cities as they establish their goals and take steps to meet them.”
Under the agreements, the city of Minneapolis and the city of St. Paul will move forward on plans to revise a regional fair housing analysis within a year, taking advantage of new tools provided through HUD’sAffirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule. The cities’ analysis will identify barriers that affect the rights of fair housing choice within the cities’ jurisdictions and region, including patterns of integration and segregation, racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, and disparities in access to opportunity and disproportionate housing needs, with no admissions of liability.
The agreement with Minneapolis resolves a complaint filed with HUD in 2015 by the Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing, the Webber-Camden Neighborhood Organization, the Whittier Alliance, and the Folwell Neighborhood Association. The agreement with St. Paul resolves a complaint filed with HUD in 2015 by the Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing. The organizations claimed that the cities, which receive HUD community development and affordable housing funds, failed to comply with all of HUD’s civil rights requirements, including the obligation to affirmatively further fair housing. All parties concur that the settlement announced today resolves the complaints.
The parties agreed to participate in a regional fair housing planning process funded in part by HUD and will retain a consultant to conduct the revised fair housing analysis. The process will include the establishment of an advisory committee to help HUD, the cities and other jurisdictions in the region ensure that key stakeholders, including Minneapolis, St. Paul and the complainants, participate in the process.
The cities’ revised analysis will be used in Minneapolis’ and St. Paul’s 2015-2019 Consolidated Plans to demonstrate the cities’ commitment to affirmatively further fair housing. The analysis will also be developed as part of a regional analysis in conjunction with other HUD-funded communities in the Twin Cities Region.
People who believe they have experienced housing discrimination may file a complaint by contacting HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Housing discrimination complaints may also be filed at www.hud.gov/fairhousing or by downloading HUD’s free housing discrimination mobile application, which can be accessed through Apple and Android devices.
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HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.
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at www.hud.gov and http://espanol.hud.gov.
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Elena Gaona
(202) 708-0685
