Join Habitat’s Book & Film Club
Did you know Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity has a book club? If you enjoy a good read and great discussion, we'd love to have you join us! We choose books that delve into housing, poverty, race, class, social change, and the meaning of home. And this year we are throwing a couple of films into the mix.
Our meetings are the first Monday evening of each month, October – May. We’ll kick off the year on Monday, October 1, 2012, at 7-9 p.m. in St. Paul. What better way to celebrate the back to school season!
Visit our book & film club website for more details and to see what we’ll be reading or watching each month. It’s OK if you can’t make it to every meeting. Simply RSVP on line for the months when you can attend.
William Butler Yeats said, “Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.” As a club we strive to make a difference in the world by gaining a better understanding of important issues facing our community, and by raising our voices to advocate for change.
Here’s what last year’s participants said was most memorable about the Book Club:
I feel inspired! Coming together from different perspectives but with a common goal is critical to solving our community’s housing problems.
Talking about how we could take what we learned from each book to change our own thinking or actions. Hearing about how others' life experiences affect what they got out of each book.
Although I have been a Habitat volunteer for many years, the book club has caused me to look at the reasons behind HFH. It has pushed me to think about why an organization like this needs to exist, and what it means to just have a home. I have never been without a safe place to live. I have always had a place to call home.
The attitudes about affordable housing are often that it's the person's fault that they are in that situation. I liked exploring the idea that it is in our best interest to work for the good of all.
Book reading is usually a solitary activity, but it was really enjoyable to get to share and discuss all the new things I had discovered.
My eyes were opened to the idea of getting involved in public policy.
I read great books that I wouldn’t have picked otherwise and I made some connections with people in the field that I will continue.
Club members were not shy in expressing their opinions and had respect for differences of opinions.
I never knew that someone working full time could still be homeless. That should not happen here.
by Jill Kilibarda
Housing Matters! is a community education program of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
To achieve Habitat’s vision that everyone would have a decent affordable place to call home, we need to create more awareness and understanding. To that end, our blog seeks to highlight news and current events in the world of housing. Please share our posts to create conversation, inspire creative action, and further Habitat’s mission.
Click to visit our interactive online learning center!
This article highlights a unique volunteer opportunity in efforts to provide temporary housing to homeless youth. The Minneapolis Host Home Program, which matches homeless youth to qualified Minneapolis residents, demonstrates a means of solving housing problems through creative ideas and partnerships. Similar to the way that Habitat volunteers commit to helping build homes, this program provides Minneapolis residents another way of providing housing to those in need; by bringing someone into their home.
Partnerships such as these are a critical component of strong families and provide community stability. John Larsen, a participant in the program opened his home to a 19 year old girl, stated: “We provided a roof over her head and food. With that she finished high school, went on to college, [made] the dean’s list, is applying to graduate school. She’s a remarkable young woman.’’
Read more...
If you liked this article, visit our Housing Matters! interactive online learning center, and see our Housing News section for more articles.
Shari Hemmingsen, Housing Matters! Intern, and Jill Kilibarda, Education and Civic Engagement Program Manager, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
Housing Matters! is a community education program of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
To achieve Habitat’s vision that everyone would have a decent affordable place to call home, we need to create more awareness and understanding. To that end, our blog seeks to highlight news and current events in the world of housing. Please share our posts to create conversation, inspire creative action, and further Habitat’s mission.
Click to visit our interactive online learning center!
Housing trends: Minnesota worst in Midwest for affordable rents
![minnesota map 1[1]](/Portals/92650/images/minnesota-map-1[1].jpg)
What many may find surprising from this article is the fact that the lack of affordable housing is a big issue in rural areas, not just the Twin Cities. In many rural areas in Minnesota, rental housing supply is inadequate, resulting in rents that are very high compared to people’s income. And the four counties that have the highest percentage of people unable to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment are in greater Minnesota.
“We found that Minnesota actually had the worst affordability of any state in the Midwest,” said Leigh Rosenberg, research and outreach manager for the Minnesota Housing Partnership. According to Rosenberg, 54 percent of renters in Minnesota do not earn enough to afford a two-bedroom unit at the “fair market rent” She explains that this is the result of high housing costs as well as the fact that Minnesota’s minimum wage is set at the federal level, while many other states have a higher minimum wage.
Agency seeks to create affordable housing in Baxter
This article also highlights the need for affordable housing in greater Minnesota.
The Central Minnesota Housing Partnership (CMHP) has applied to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for funding to create affordable townhomes in Baxter, MN. While the building has not yet been approved, this case reinforces that rural communities are wrestling with this issue and trying to find solutions.
The townhomes have the goal of being affordable to low-income households. The property has established income limit guidelines that must be met for families interested in living there. According to these guidelines, a family of four with an income less than $35,520 could qualify to live in the townhomes. The project also has four units designated for families or individuals that have been experiencing homelessness.
Not only will the project address the issue of homelessness and affordable housing, it also meets current interests in building for energy efficiency, as the project will incorporate green building standards.
If you liked these articles, visit our Housing Matters! interactive online learning center, and see our Housing News section for more articles.
Solutions will only happen if we bring enough attention to this issue. Please share this post and help create dialog about housing solutions.
Shari Hemmingsen, Housing Matters! Intern, and Jill Kilibarda, Education and Civic Engagement Program Manager, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
Housing Matters! is a community education program of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
To achieve Habitat’s vision that everyone would have a decent affordable place to call home, we need to create more awareness and understanding. To that end, our blog seeks to highlight news and current events in the world of housing. Please share our posts to create conversation, inspire creative action, and further Habitat’s mission.
Click to visit our interactive online learning center!
This week we found two interesting articles that we would like to share:
It can be easy to think of people without a permanent home as “homeless” first and “people” second. But this article is a good reminder that people are people, and we all have more in common than we realize. Many of us like to run or walk with friends as a way to relieve stress and build relationships. In the case of this running club, it is comforting to have others around who are dealing with the same thing – coping with the experience of not having housing.
County approves lease for homeless shelterclub, it is comforting to have others around who are dealing with the same thing – coping with the experience of not having housing.
Last week, we talked about how 125,000 Minnesotans were “one paycheck away” from losing their housing. We often think of homelessness as an urban issue, but due to the foreclosure crisis, job market, etc., it is a growing issue in the suburbs. In Anoka County alone, there are nearly 700 homeless adults. Anoka is taking steps to address this problem, expanding an already existing homeless shelter from a capacity of 20 to 60. Although it doesn’t meet the full need for emergency shelter in that area, we want to highlight this move in the right direction.
If you liked these article, please visit our Housing Matters! interactive online learning center, and see our Housing News section for more articles.
Solutions will only happen if we bring enough attention to this issue. Please share this post and help create dialog about housing solutions.
Shari Hemmingsen, Housing Matters! Intern, and Jill Kilibarda, Education and Civic Engagement Program Manager, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
Housing Matters! is a community education program of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
To achieve Habitat’s vision that everyone would have a decent affordable place to call home, we need to create more awareness and understanding. To that end, our blog seeks to highlight news and current events in the world of housing. Please share our posts to create conversation, inspire creative action, and further Habitat’s mission.
Click to visit our interactive online learning center!
Imagine yourself reading an article stating that crime has increased this year in an area of Minneapolis where people experiencing homelessness have begun sleeping outside. Honestly, what would your first thoughts be? Who would come to your mind as the criminal and who would be the victim?
I can answer for myself that I immediately assumed that the people experiencing homelessness were responsible for the crimes. I’m embarrassed to admit that, because it goes against everything I understand about homelessness. I know that people who are homeless are not dangerous criminals, but what else would explain the increase in crime?
The following two articles set me straight. They were a good reminder that people experiencing homelessness are often the victims of violent crimes as many of them sleep in public spaces, making them incredibly vulnerable to assault. "Every night that I lay my head down, I'm in fear of my life," said Eric LaCour, who has been homeless for 11 years and believes he's lucky to have survived so long without being attacked. One woman he knew was strangled while she slept.
In a world where we are bombarded with media images of scary homeless people, those images can’t help but sink in. Articles like this help to bring us back to reality.
Violence shadows Mpls homeless
Police evict homeless from Peavey Plaza
If you liked these links, visit our Housing Matters! interactive online learning center, and see our Housing News section for more articles.
Shari Hemmingsen, Housing Matters! Intern, and Jill Kilibarda, Education and Civic Engagement Program Manager, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
Housing Matters! is a community education program of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
To achieve Habitat’s vision that everyone would have a decent affordable place to call home, we need to create more awareness and understanding. To that end, our blog seeks to highlight news and current events in the world of housing. Please share our posts to create conversation, inspire creative action, and further Habitat’s mission.
Click to visit our interactive online learning center!
The Center for Housing Policy has released a new report updating its Paycheck to Paycheck database, which presents wage information for more than 70 occupations and home prices and rents for more than 200 metropolitan areas. This year’s report demonstrates home prices are actually going up in many metropolitan areas—and even in communities where prices have fallen, housing still costs more than what many jobs pay.
As expected in the current economy, many communities saw a slight drop in cost to own a home in 2012. For more than 70 percent of the metro areas studied, the income needed to buy a median-priced home dropped three percent or more in the last year.
However a significant number of communities run counter to this trend. In 21 of the studied metro areas, the income needed to afford a median-priced home increased by three percent, while in eight of the studied areas, there was an increase of 10 percent or more.
Minneapolis/St. Paul saw a 6 percent decrease in income required to purchase a median-priced home. The 2011 median home price was $160,000 and the qualifying income to afford a median-priced home was $47,377. In 2012 the median home price dropped to $158,000 and the qualifying income to $44,621.
Check out this interactive database to research common occupations and whether or not they can afford housing in your community.
If you liked this post, see our Housing News section for more articles.
Shari Hemmingsen, Housing Matters! Intern, and Jill Kilibarda, Education and Civic Engagement Program Manager, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
Housing Matters! is a community education program of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
To achieve Habitat’s vision that everyone would have a decent affordable place to call home, we need to create more awareness and understanding. To that end, our blog seeks to highlight news and current events in the world of housing. Please share our posts to create conversation, inspire creative action, and further Habitat’s mission.
Click to visit our interactive online learning center!
Last week, we wrote about the affordability of rental housing and the fact that we’ve all seen property values drop in recent years, but unfortunately that does not mean everyone can now afford a decent place to live. Currently, 76 percent of families in the Twin Cities earning less than $35,000 per year are still paying more than they can afford for housing. This week, we will focus on homeownership.
The Minnesota Housing Partnership graph below illustrates that even with lowered home values, homeownership still isn’t available to people of many income levels. The jobs listed on this graph are very common and essential to the functioning of a community, but you’ll see by the grey line that the individuals who hold these jobs are not able to afford a median priced home, and the black line shows most cannot afford rent either.
So, although we might think the affordability problem has been solved, it hasn’t. There is still a big gap between what people earn and the cost of housing. Our work is as important as ever. Please stay committed to building communities where everyone can afford to live.
If you liked this post, visit our Housing Matters! interactive online learning center, and see our Housing News section for more articles.
Shari Hemmingsen, Housing Matters! Intern, and Jill Kilibarda, Education and Civic Engagement Program Manager, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
Housing Matters! is a community education program of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
To achieve Habitat’s vision that everyone would have a decent affordable place to call home, we need to create more awareness and understanding. To that end, our blog seeks to highlight news and current events in the world of housing. Please share our posts to create conversation, inspire creative action, and further Habitat’s mission.
Click to visit our interactive online learning center!
In recent years, we’ve all seen property values drop, but that does not mean everyone can now afford a decent place to live. Currently, 76% of families in the Twin Cities earning less than $35,000 per year are still paying more than they can afford for housing. The map below is an interesting visual that demonstrates the high cost of housing. It shows that in Minnesota, a person working minimum wage would need to work 86 hours per week to be able to afford a fair market two-bedroom apartment. And while it is typically thought the majority of workers earning minimum wage are teenagers, over half of the people earning minimum wage are actually over the age of 25.
One issue is that rent has increased dramatically. According to Minnesota Housing Partnership’s 2x4 report for Quarter 1, 2012, rental demand remains high while supply is low, resulting in the tightest rental market in a decade for the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
Due to the foreclosure crisis, more homeowners have moved into the rental market. With 135,000 foreclosures since 2005, increasing demand for rental housing, along with limited rental construction in recent years that has limited supply, the average rent has been pushed up to $927. With a continued low rental vacancy rate, rates are likely to rise higher. A vacancy rate of 5% is considered to be the “balanced” point, but vacancy rates in the Twin Cities are currently at 2.8%.
If you liked these links, visit our Housing Matters! interactive online learning center, and see our Housing News section for more articles.
Solutions will only happen if we bring enough attention to this issue. Please share this post and help create dialog about housing solutions.
Shari Hemmingsen, Housing Matters! Intern, and Jill Kilibarda, Education and Civic Engagement Program Manager, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
Image from Facebook.com
Housing Matters! is a community education program of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
To achieve Habitat’s vision that everyone would have a decent affordable place to call home, we need to create more awareness and understanding. To that end, our blog seeks to highlight news and current events in the world of housing. Please share our posts to create conversation, inspire creative action, and further Habitat’s mission.
Click to visit our interactive online learning center!
“Housing is the answer.” said Tracy Berglund, director of housing and emergency services for Catholic Charities. She said this in response to statistics showing an increase in the number of homeless people in Hennepin County.
While the causes of homelessness are broad and complex, the solutions are surprisingly simple. The route to ending homelessness begins with housing, specifically creating enough housing that people at all income levels can afford. In the case of Higher Ground Housing, an innovating housing development highlighted in the news this week, the issues of both homelessness and the lack of affordable housing are addressed in one place.
Several other examples of creative housing solutions got publicity this week. You can read about new affordable homeownership opportunities being created at Little Earth in Minneapolis, and in Shakopee through a partnership between Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and Ryland Homes.
At Habitat we say that healthy communities have a continuum of housing choices - affordable rental and homeownership, supportive housing and emergency shelter – and we’re happy to see progress on all of these areas.
To Further explore this topic, play our interactive game: WHAT does the solutions look like?
Solutions will only happen if affordable housing advocates bring enough attention to this issue. Please share this post and help create dialog about housing solutions.
Shari Hemmingsen, Housing Matters! Intern, and Jill Kilibarda, Education and Civic Engagement Program Manager, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
Housing Matters! is a community education program of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
To achieve Habitat’s vision that everyone would have a decent affordable place to call home, we need to create more awareness and understanding. To that end, our blog seeks to highlight news and current events in the world of housing. Please share our posts to create conversation, inspire creative action, and further Habitat’s mission.
Click to visit our interactive online learning center!
This week in the news we see several stories highlighting the different challenges individuals face in obtaining safe and stable housing. And we see that the solutions are not one size fits all. Building communities where everyone can afford to live requires us to understand the unique situations faced by different populations:
If you liked these articles, visit our Housing Matters! interactive online housing education resource center, and see our Housing News section for more articles.
Solutions will only happen if we bring enough attention to this issue. Please share this post and help create dialog about housing solutions.
Shari Hemmingsen, Housing Matters! Intern, and Jill Kilibarda, Education and Civic Engagement Program Manager, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity
Housing Matters! is a community education program of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.
To achieve Habitat’s vision that everyone would have a decent affordable place to call home, we need to create more awareness and understanding. To that end, our blog seeks to highlight news and current events in the world of housing. Please share our posts to create conversation, inspire creative action, and further Habitat’s mission.
Click to visit our interactive online learning center!