Housing

Many Minnesotans out of work because of COVID-19 are starting to face their first rent and mortgage payments since the state’s stay-at-home order went into effect. Some are finding relief. Many are wondering what help they may get.

Hennepin County is moving homeless seniors and others in high-risk groups to hotels to isolate. Night shelters are preparing to stay open 24 hours a day, but it’s a heavy lift.

State officials say renters are the most under-counted group in Minnesota. And those residents could make the difference in determining whether the state holds on to an eighth Congressional seat.

The City Council is considering an ordinance that would limit security deposits to one month’s rent and background checks related to rental, criminal and credit history.

The campaign organizers argue that officials need to ensure that developers who build affordable housing are also compensating workers fairly.

The encouraging signs include a rise in home and apartment construction and a reduction in renter evictions. But homelessness rose last year and racial disparities in homeownership persist. The trends have been noted previously by other organizations.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of construction and demolition waste — much of it from home tear-downs and remodeling jobs — end up in landfills every year. But some homeowners are learning it's environmentally and financially rewarding when those materials are reused or recycled.

The Upper Harbor Terminal project promises amenities, jobs and economic growth in a working-class part of the city. Many in the ethnically diverse neighborhoods around it worry it will drive them out. Can the project build wealth for current residents without erasing them?

Journalist Conor Dougherty doesn't traffic radical ideas in “Golden Gates,” but tells the story of housing in all its complexity, acknowledging that imperfect solutions are often the only solutions.

It’s estimated that more than 8,000 students in Minnesota’s schools are homeless. For many it’s not obvious that they are homeless, because they are able to stay with friends or family temporarily. But the impact of not knowing where they will sleep each night is severe. This hour we discuss the factors that often lead a young person to become homeless and what can be done to help.