Phillips Partnership Housing Stabilization Initiative
March 2009
Goals: The Phillips Partnership Housing Stabilization Initiative seeks to stabilize existing homeowners, move foreclosed properties into responsible hands, and prevent foreclosures where possible.
New focus area: In consultation with neighborhood residents and community development advisors, the Committee recommended focusing on the area bounded by Elliot to 12th Avenue, and between 24th and Lake Street.
Strategies: To pursue these goals, the Phillips Partnership has adopted the following strategies that will be pursued over the next three years:
1. Home improvement grants: The Phillips Partnership will provide grants up to $7,500 to homeowners in the Project Focus Area whose income is below 80% of area median, to pay for exterior improvements or other necessary health and safety improvements to their homes. This program will be administered by Project for Pride in Living (PPL), who will distribute exterior improvement grant information packets to all households in the target area on April 1st and 2nd. The application deadline for the grants is Friday, April 24, 2009. Grant recipients will be announced at the end of May and work is anticipated to commence by June. Additional grants will be awarded in 2010 and 2011. Detailed grant guidelines are available.
2. Downpayment assistance: The Phillips Partnership will provide up to 15 loans up to $10,000 each at zero percent interest, forgivable over five years, to anyone buying a home in the Project Focus Area. This program will be administered by Project for Pride in Living. The 2009 application deadline will be April 20, 2009. Additional grants will be awarded in 2010. Detailed downpayment assistance guidelines are available.
3. Neighborhood Marketing: The Phillips Partnership will work with area residents and build on past marketing efforts to promote the neighborhood’s many assets to homebuyers.
4. Foreclosure Prevention and Housing Resource Guide: The Phillips Partnership will work to connect neighborhood homeowners with foreclosure prevention resources such as the Home Ownership Center. The Partnership and Project for Pride in Living prepared the Phillips Housing Resources Guide as an outreach tool to engage area residents and inform them of available resources. Click here for a copy of the Phillips Housing Resource Guide.
5. Other Housing Stabilization Efforts: Abbott Northwestern Hospital is exploring the idea of ‘adopting’ a problem property within the focus area for rehab and resale. The Partnership also will explore enlisting other partners and resources such as Urban Homeworks, Brush with Kindness, and GMCC to mobilize improvements within the focus area. All participants in the Downpayment Assistance and Home Improvement programs will be informed about the Phillips Partnership’s Health Careers job training opportunities, and urged to participate in the Partnership’s crime prevention activities.
Phillips Partners’ Commitment: Three Phillips Partners (Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Children’s Hospitals & Clinics, and Wells Fargo) have pledged $425,000 to this Housing Stabilization Initiative, and the Partnership will seek to raise an additional $285,000 from other sources.
City of Minneapolis Commitment: The City of Minneapolis will utilize federal and state housing resources through its Neighborhood Stabilization Program and other efforts to provide additional funding in tandem with the Partnership initiative:
1. Minneapolis Advantage Match: The City is planning to launch a Phase II of the Minneapolis Advantage program, to again provide $10,000 in downpayment assistance to certain homebuyers. The City has agreed to match the Partnership’s commitment to provide downpayment assistance of $10,000 for 15 households within the Project Focus Area.
2. Vacant and Boarded Foreclosed Housing: The City’s Neighborhood Stabilization Plan (NSP) will provide $11.2 million to facilitate the acquisition and rehab of vacant and boarded foreclosed housing, some of which will be available for Phillips. Project for Pride in Living has submitted an application to acquire and rehab vacant and boarded foreclosed housing within the Project Focus Area using NSP funds. (As of November 13, 2008, there were 25 foreclosed and 13 vacant and boarded properties within the Project Focus Area).
3. Developer Recruitment: The Phillips Partnership shares the City’s commitment that properties for ownership or rental be acquired by developers with a track record of responsibility and integrity. In the case of acquiring and rehabbing multi-unit buildings for rental, the Phillips Partnership has a long successful track record of partnership with Project for Pride in Living. The Partnership has requested that the City – CPED staff continue to work with the Phillips Partnership in identifying developer partners in any City-funded acquisitions within the Project Focus Area.
Project Development Process: The Phillips Partnership’s Housing Committee, drawn from neighborhood residents, City and County staff, the police department, non-profit housing groups, and institutional partners--reviewed housing needs in this part of the neighborhood, interviewed residents, and developed a preliminary framework for a new housing initiative. The Committee also held four meetings with neighborhood residents in 2008-09. One resident member on the Committee also serves on the Board and the Housing Task Force for the Midtown Phillips Association.
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