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Where We Live Impacts Every Aspect of Our Livespage 2

What is VEAP’s Response to This Housing Crisis?page 7

June 2017

Formal Actions that VEAP is taking to increase affordable housing access:

SUBURBAN HENNEPIN HOUSING COALITION (HSSC)This coalition’s mission is to work in partnership to preserve and increase safe, affordable, and sustainable housing options in suburban Hennepin County. VEAP’s CEO, Lisa Horn, was invited to present in a May Richfield City Council work session about the community and organizational impacts of the lack of affordable housing in the region. Co-presenters were Lael Robertson, Staff Attorney for the Housing Justice Center, and Christine Hart, Community Developer for Community Action Partnership of Hennepin County.

BLOOMINGTON HOUSING COALITIONVEAP is an active participant in the Bloomington Housing Coalition, which is a gathering of religious leaders, commuity organizations, tenants and advocates to find ways to jointly act to address affordable housing needs in Bloomington. The group’s goal is to take steps to increase the availability of and protect existing affordable housing options in Bloomington while advocating for tenant rights and protections from displacement.

“Communities thrive when all residents are

emotionally and mentally healthy. Affordable

housing that is safe and promotes a feeling of

self-worth provides a baseline requirement to

achieving comprehensively good health. Humans

with limited incomes need homes that provide

the healthy level of security and dignity that

most of us enjoy - and take for granted.”

- Jon Oleson, Bloomington City Council

“Affordable, safe and dignified housing is the cornerstone of a healthy and thriving community. It provides the stability and peace of mind families need to carry out their day-to-day activities such as attending school, work and being a part of the greater community. All people deserve and have the right to affordable, safe and dignified housing. “

- Maria Regan Gonzalez, Richfield City Council

Stable, safe housing is critical for local jobs and strong economies.

Where we live impacts the safety of our children and is essential to our kids’ performance in school, the foundation of their future success as adults. Where we call home determines where we buy our groceries. Affordable housing is vital to positive health outcomes, both mental and physical health.

RENT COST BURDENAt least since the National Housing Act of 1937, which established America’s public housing system, policymakers have believed that families should spend no more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs (Institute for Research on Poverty - April, 2015). Minnesota Housing Partnership reports that Minnesota has the fastest increase in households paying more than half their income for housing of any state.

At VEAP, individuals and families accessing financial assistance to prevent homelessness through the VEAP social service department are typically spending over 80% of their income on rent. Three months post program exit, the burden on rent of VEAP clients has decreased by a minimum of 35% and 84.5% of clients are considered stable in their housing, but still paying well over 50% of income on housing.

The types of jobs in VEAP’s service area, combined with the high cost of rent, fuel the income to rent cost burden. There is a high density of industries in VEAP’s service area – hospitality, retail, entertainment, medical facilities, corporate headquarters and transportation – which require positions at or slightly above minimum wage, such as customer service, janitorial, drivers and servers. A household earning minimum wage ($9.00/hour) would need to work 89.7 hours per week to afford rent in VEAP’s service area, according to a document prepared by Metropolitan Council

Where We Live Impacts Every Aspect of Our Lives

circulated at a Richfield City Council work session on April 25 (2017).

SENIOR HOUSINGHousing cost burden, or paying 30% or more of income for housing, is a serious problem among seniors. Of the 88,592 senior headed households in Hennepin County, about 65% of renters are cost-burdened (American Community Survey 2009-2013).

A May 23 (2017) story in the Star Tribune outlines a scenario in the community of Edina with a recent apartment complex. According to the article, “the complex was recently purchased by apartment trader Scott Weber, who is raising rents to Edina market value levels to pay for renovations”. Interlachen Apartments is a 61 unit complex - about half the tenants are retired or on fixed incomes, according to Star Tribune.

One resident, on Social Security disability, pays $740 a month on rent. That could rise to $1,195 when her lease expires at the end of August, a difference of $455. According to the article, other renters could pay on average $600 extra each month, with one tenant paying $1,000.

LACK OF AVAILABILITYHigher rents and lower vacancies mean that it is a challenge to find affordable rentals in the Twin Cities, where there are only 78 affordable and available units of rental housing for every 100 very low-income renter households (National Low-Income Housing Coalition).

As demand increases, there is more financial incentive for landlords to increase rent, impacting the naturally occurring affordable housing market. According to the Metropolitan Council, rents and home sale prices climb while

vacancy rates hit all time lows. Apartments that rent for $1,000 or less in the Twin Cities metro have vacancy rates below 2%, an unfavorable environment for those seeking an affordable, safe and dignified home.

This low vacancy rate, creates an environment ripe for stringent application requirements. In a case study of the purchase and redevelopment of Crossroads at Penn to Concierge Apartments in Richfield, existing tenants were required to

reapply under restrictive admission standards, including requiring a 625 minimum credit score, three times the income, social security numbers and a maximum of only two persons per unit. In this situation, 669 of the 698 residents had vacated their homes at Crossroads on Penn by December 2016, forcing tenants into an already low vacancy rate environment. This purchase and redevelopment trend is being replicated across the Twin Cities metro region, displacing hundreds of families in one fell swoop.

HOUSING AND THE IMPACT ON HEALTHHousing is well understood to be an important social determinant of physical and mental health and well-being. According to the Center for Housing Policy (April 2015) the following are ways affordable housing impacts health:

V Affordable housing alleviates crowding and makes more household resources available to pay for health care and healthy food, which leads to better health outcomes.

V High quality housing limits exposure to environmental toxins that impact health. V Stable and affordable housing supports mental health by limiting stressors related to financial burden or frequent moves, or by offering an escape from an abusive home environment.

“Your home should not be hazardous to your health or academic achievement. Providing the opportunity for all children to live in safe, stable and affordable homes greatly impacts their chance for life-long health and success.”

- Joan Bulfer, Health Promotion Specialist, Bloomington Public Health

Housing Instability and Children’s Academic Success“Homelessness is a problem that impacts our school community greatly. There are no easy answers to solving this issue but what is easy to understand is why we should work to end homelessness. It is the right thing to do.

Homelessness is extremely disruptive to our community. Not only does it de-stabilize the family unit, but the impact on our students’ success has long-term, devastating effects. When our students don’t have a home or move from place to place, they miss a lot of school and this negatively impacts their academic learning.

Our goal at Bloomington Schools is to develop in all our learners the ability to thrive; but, this becomes exceedingly difficult for our students when their basic needs are not being met. Ending homelessness is not easy and, at times, it may seem insurmountable. However, our children are absolutely worth our efforts. When we have strong, successful schools, we have strong, successful communities.”

- Julie Campanelli, LICSW, Bloomington Schools Learning Supports Specialist, McKinney-Vento Liaison for Students and Families in Transition

What is VEAP’s Response to This Housing Crisis? The following are ways VEAP is responding to the housing crisis in its service area:

SOCIAL SERVICES AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCEVEAP’s Social Services programming offers caring, professional support for individuals and families to stabilize their financial situation. Clients work with a licensed social worker using a strengths-based approach to create an individualized plan to access resources to prevent homelessness.

HEALTHY FOOD SUPPORT AS A BUDGET TOOLWhen VEAP asks clients about their barriers to accessing healthy foods, their first stated barrier is cost. VEAP clients value meat, eggs, milk, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other nutrient dense foods for themselves and their children. Accessing healthy food support through VEAP’s food Pantry is a budget tool to “free up” budget dollars that would normally be spent on food in order to prioritize monthly income on rent or mortgage to prevent homelessness.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND CONVENINGCommunity engagement is an intentional process with the specific goal of working collectively with identified groups or individuals, connected by geographic location, special interest, affiliation and/or identity to address

issues affecting themselves and/or their community.

Recent program evaluation at VEAP revealed that this affordable housing dynamic has created an environment that is financially unsustainable, not only for low income community members, but for VEAP by straining VEAP’s financial resources and its staff capacity. Therefore, through VEAP’s strategic planning process, VEAP has formalized its commitment to leading and participating in community dialogue and to promote strategies to increase access to affordable, safe and dignified housing for individuals and families whose income is limited and basic needs are unmet.

“I believe it is simply a profound injustice today

that no amount of hard work guarantees that

families in our community can meet their basic

needs. Affordable, safe, dignified housing for

everyone is important in our communities,

because it is the foundation for health, stability,

and prosperity of individuals, families, and the

community at large. Therefore, we should not

rest until all people in the city are able to afford

housing and still have enough money for food

and other basics.”

- Pastor Erik SevigCommunity of the Cross Lutheran Church Leader on Bloomington Housing Coalition

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