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Community Organizing
Affordable Housing
Community Reinvestment
Congregational Organizing
Immigrant Rights
Racial Justice

Affordable Housing

JCA’s affordable housing work includes efforts to build inter-racial and inter-faith partnerships in order to promote the preservation and production of affordable housing. The AHWG successfully maintained the affordability of Oak Grove Towers, worked with pastors and community members in North Minneapolis to organize several events aimed at preserving affordable housing on the North side, and coordinated an affordable housing conference attended by more than 150 people.

In St. Paul’s Highland Park, it created GIFT, an inter-faith affordable housing advocacy group consisting of 14 congregation and organizations, and won a commitment from the City Council to preserve as well as create 200 more affordable units. The construction of the Gateway Village was completed in 2005 and included 121senior apartments, all of which are affordable, and two family apartment buildings, which have 79 affordable units, scattered among the 313 apartments. The senior building opened in February of 2005 and the family building opened in phases starting in June of 2005.

In the spring of 2001, a developer came to South West Minneapolis with plans to devote a large piece of property to affordable housing and mixed use, dense development. In the midst of controversy from the community, a group of concerned citizens saw the importance of affordable housing in their neighborhood. After the victory of ensuring the project continue as planned, the group came together formally as the Southwest Interfaith Neighborhood Group for Affordable Housing, SWING. They have held series of educational forums on affordable housing and created an informative brochure on affordable housing and their organization. They have continued to monitor new development projects, such as the South Lyndale development, and have played an active role in establishing the City of Minneapolis Affordable Housing Trust Fund. They are currently working to support an affordable housing project in Tangletown that would include 40 affordable housing units.  The SWING neighborhoods include:
Armatage, East Harriet, Fulton, Kenny, Kingfield, Linden Hills, Lynnhurst, Tangletown and Windom.

JCA, in coalition with other faith-based groups, worked to ensure that Hennepin County will create an affordable housing trust fund and that $50 million of new money will be made available for affordable housing in Minnesota.

Minneapolis Condo Conversion

JCA has been an active partner in the Minneapolis Affordable Housing Coalition (MAHC).  The coalition worked specifically "to change public policy on condo conversion to preserve that affordable rental housing stock, protect low-income tenants and buyers, and engage residents and communities in the process."  While the coalition was unsuccessful at passing an ordinance on condo conversion, some new protections were put in place and the coalition continues to seek policy changes to preserve and expand affordable housing.

University Avenue Community Coalition

University Avenue Community Coalition (UACC) is comprised of religious, labor, housing, and community organizations committed to creating an effective and powerful coalition of groups that uses grassroots organizing, and the groups’ organizational power, as a vehicle for effecting social, political and policy change.  The coalition is committed to substantially influencing equitable development on/near University Avenue using community benefits agreements/approaches as an important tool.

JCA and the University Avenue Community Coalition have sent an interim zoning ordinance to the St. Paul City Council.  This would set preliminary standards for benefits to the community, as well as transit-oriented development—all of which would ensure that new development includes substantial input from neighborhood residents, affordable housing policies, local hiring, and livable wages.

Because of JCA and the Equal Access Working Group’s three years of organizing, St. Paul's contracting practices will undergo a groundbreaking audit.  What does this mean?  A full scale examination of the city's record:  Are companies owned by people of color, or with disabilities, or women, given a fair shake at city contracts?  Once the audit if completed, JCA will work to ensure that its recommendations are implemented, and that the distribution of city contracts is done fairly.

 Links:

Overview of Affordable Housing in Minnesota

Get Involved in Minneapolis Affordable Housing

A History of GIFT

GIFT Member Organizations at-a-glance

Get Involved with GIFT!

HEADLINES FROM JCA

Rosenthal Wins LCW Award
Vic Rosenthal, executive director of JCA, has been named one of this year's recipients of the  Advocacy Institute and Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World Award.
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