MHP Connect

Minnesota Homeless Fund Launches

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Created: Monday, 06 January 2020 08:23

Written by Andy Birkey

On Dec. 19 at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and community leaders announced the formation of the Minnesota Homeless Fund, a public-private partnership to provide immediate shelter for people experiencing homelessness. 

"This is a call to action," Flanagan told the crowd of reporters and advocates. "It is completely unacceptable to the governor and to me that anyone is sleeping outside, especially at this time of year."

Walz announced that nearly $5 million had been raised for emergency shelter across Minnesota by charitable foundations and private companies.

“This is nothing new,” Walz said. “No one here thinks they’re reinventing the wheel. No one here believes that this is a one-off initiative and that we can ease our consciences and forget about it.”

The Minnesota Homeless Fund will help create new opportunities to bring people indoors that are currently unsheltered and so far has raised $5 million which is being administered by the St. Paul & Minnesota Foundation. 

The Fund seeks to get resources to the community immediately and is accepting applications for projects at www.spmcf.org/minnesota-homeless-fund through Jan. 7 for the first round. Review and distribution of resources will be on January 9. 

MHP board elects six new members

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Created: Sunday, 15 December 2019 15:08

Written by Andy Birkey

Six new members join MHP board: Chris Coleman, Alisha Gehlert, Dr. Brittany Lewis, Kayla Schuchman, Cecile Bedor, and Julia Nelmark

At its December meeting, the Minnesota Housing Partnership’s Board of Directors honored five departing members and welcomed six newcomers. The new members of the board are Chris Coleman, Kayla Schuchman, Cecile Bedor, Dr. Brittany Lewis, Alisha Gehlert, and Julia Nelmark.

“These are experts in affordable housing and bring perspective from many angles: research, policy, real estate, indigenous lands, and finance. MHP has a strong future ahead with these new board members,” MHP Executive Director Anne Mavity said.

The new members join the board as MHP enters the second year of its strategic plan. 

Leaving the board were Skip Duchesneau, Pam Wheelock, Deidre Schmidt, Jay Jensen, and Jamie Thelen. 

Anne Mavity presents former board members Jay Jensen, Jamie Thelen, and Skip Duchesneau with housing art as appreciation for their service.

“We’re grateful to Skip, Pam, Diedre, Jay, and Jamie for their many years of dedicated leadership on MHP’s board, and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to learn from each of them,” Mavity said. “These leaders have committed their careers to advancing affordable housing and community development. We cannot thank them enough for the insights and expertise that have made MHP a stronger organization. They have helped us move toward a Minnesota where everyone has a safe, affordable home.”

New Board Member Bios

Kayla Schuchman, Director of Housing, Planning and Economic Development, City of St. Paul. Schuchman spent nine years implementing affordable housing policy through successive roles at Minnesota Housing, the state’s affordable housing agency. Previously, she was a project manager for the St. Paul-based affordable housing developer CommonBond Communities, where she structured deals and built community support to develop affordable multifamily projects. She also serves as co-chair of the Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers Housing Committee, a regional association of community development organizations; and as a board member for Urban Homeworks, a nonprofit that transforms vacant properties into housing. Schuchman is a certified housing development finance professional through the National Development Council. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Macalester College, and a master’s degree in public policy with a concentration in economic and community development from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.

Cecile Bedor joined the CommonBond team as Executive Vice President of Real Estate in April 2018. She is responsible for all aspects of the purchase and development of real estate; property asset management to ensure financial sustainability and reporting to project funders and investors.  Cecile previously served as the Executive Vice President of GREATER MSP, where she began in 2014. Prior to that, she served for eight years as the City of Saint Paul’s Director of Planning and Economic Development (PED). During that time, she was also the Executive Director of the City’s Housing & Redevelopment Authority. Prior to joining the City, she was the Director of Partnerships and Development for the Minneapolis Public Library, overseeing the system’s marketing and communications; community library capital projects; and community partnerships. She previously held positions with the National Equity Fund, the Metropolitan Council, and Aeon.  Through Board and volunteer service, she’s supported various organizations, including the Itasca Project, the American Red Cross – MN, Wilderness Inquiry, Hope Community, Lambda Alpha, Saint Paul College, and others. She has two adult children and lives in south Minneapolis.

Chris Coleman joined Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity as President & CEO in June 2018 after serving as Mayor of St. Paul for twelve years. As Mayor, Chris was a champion for economic development, education, housing, and racial equity. From 2013 to 2014, Chris was the President of the National League of Cities, a bi-partisan coalition of leaders from across the country. Prior to his election as Mayor, Chris was an investment advisor for RBC and he served for six years on the St. Paul City Council. Chris was born and raised in St. Paul and earned bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Minnesota. Chris lives on St. Paul's West Side where he and his wife, Connie, raised their two children, Molly and Aidan.

Alisha Gehlert is the Director of Economic Development and Planning for Red Lake Nation. She is a graduate of Bemidji State University and has an MBA in American Indian Entrepreneurship from Gonzaga University. Alisha is a proud member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.  While in her Master's program Alisha began her professional career with the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians' Family and Children Services (FCS). While with FCS Alisha was exposed to issues surrounding family reunification, youth homelessness, and the importance of delivering social services that meet people where they are at.  After almost 2 years with FCS, Alisha was hired as the Director of Economic Development and Planning for the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians. In her current capacity she believes there is opportunity for economic development through housing, healthcare, and education; which are three core pieces to every individual’s wellbeing.  Alisha has had the opportunity to work with a group of core partners on the Minneapolis Navigation Center and an Urban Tribal Affordable Housing Development.

Dr. Brittany Lewis is a well-respected community engaged qualitative scholar, thought leader, author, and professor known for bringing those most often locked out of local decision-making processes to the action research table for close to 10 years. Dr. Lewis is the Founder and CEO of Research in Action, an urban research consulting firm, and is currently a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) at the University of Minnesota. Formerly, Dr. Lewis was a Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank Scholar in Residence and Visiting Assistant Professor at Macalester College in Political Science and American Studies. Dr. Lewis is the Principal Investigator of the Illusion of Choice: Evictions and Profit in North Minneapolis report and the Co-Principal Investigator on the recently published report entitled: The Diversity of Gentrification: Multiple Forms of Gentrification in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Dr. Lewis’s research was used in a Minnesota Supreme Court to expand rights for tenants facing evictions, as direct testimony at the Minnesota State Legislature, and to inform the human services and public safety impact agenda within Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis. Dr. Lewis has consulted with philanthropic partners such as the Pohlad and Graves Foundation who refer directly to Dr. Lewis’s research as they develop their own scope of work and strategic plans of action.

Julia Nelmark was named MMCDC’s president in August 2018, after developing and leading the company’s New Markets Tax Credit Financing division since their first allocation. She led the deployment of $544 million of NMTC allocation across Minnesota and surrounding states, for dozens of projects ranging from $250,000 to $20 million. Originally from Illinois, Ms. Nelmark received her bachelor’s degree from Benedictine University, where she was Accounting Major of the Year. She received her CPA certification and went on to receive a masters of management degree from Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University. She held a number of accounting, finance and analyst positions for Amoco Corp. and subsidiaries, and managed the budgeting – strategic planning area for Advance Transformer Company before joining MMCDC. She and her husband own an interest in the family dairy farm near Wolf Lake, Minnesota.

MHP releases 2020 policy agenda

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Created: Tuesday, 17 December 2019 12:28

Written by Andy Birkey

While the legislative session is still more than a month away, MHP has already been meeting with lawmakers, legislative staff, and other affordable housing advocates to garner support for our 2020 policy agenda. 

That agenda includes: 

• $500 million in bonds to create more deeply affordable housing
• An Affordable Housing Tax Credit to harness available private capital to create more housing opportunities by filling affordability gaps
• State support for local communities to establish and grow Local Housing Trust Funds through a state funding match program

Because 2020 is a bonding year at the Capitol, MHP along with our coalition partners will be pushing for $500 million in bonds to create more affordable housing. $500 million is the largest bonding request for housing in state history, and we are partnering with the Homes for All Coalition to get it done in 2020.

MHP also seeks $25 million annually for the Affordable Housing Tax Credit. More than 60 organizations in Minnesota have endorsed the tax credit (view the list of endorsers and find out how to endorse). This innovative new tool encourages local businesses and neighbors to invest in their community by creating housing opportunities. Because the private market is not supplying housing that is affordable to working people in Minnesota, a public private partnership is the best way to ensure an adequate supply of housing. The Affordable Housing Tax Credit incentivizes private investment and promotes community and economic development. 

Local Housing Trust Funds (LHTF) are funds established by a local government by dedicating local public revenue for housing. They are a consistent, flexible resource for housing within a local jurisdiction. Trust funds help communities leverage public and private resources and jumpstart projects that draw investment and jobs. LHTFs enable communities to prioritize developments that maximize benefit to the local community.

Across the country, state investments are proven to motivate communities to create and resource LHTFs. MHP is seeking a $10 million state investment in a match program to jump-start LHTFs across the state, and give communities the flexibility to respond to housing needs. 

Please join MHP's Policy Team as they provide an update on MHP's legislative agenda and insight into the 2020 session. Click here to register. 

Stay up-to-date all session long by joining our Capitol Connect email list and following us on Twitter.

Minnesota Housing Partnership Receives $1.7 Million HUD Grant to Assist Rural and Native Community Development

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Created: Wednesday, 04 December 2019 09:15

Written by Andy Birkey

Minnesota Housing Partnership (MHP) has received a crucial grant to assist rural and Native leaders in solving housing and economic development issues in their communities. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rural Capacity Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing Grant program (RCB) will provide $1.7 million to continue MHP’s important technical assistance and capacity-building work. 

The award will fund MHP’s Strengthening Rural Communities (SRC) program, which gives leaders the tools and knowledge they need to identify and address regional development needs through strategic collaboration. 

In rural and Native communities nationwide, there’s a significant gap between the supply of affordable housing and the number of people who need it, and a pressing need to address economic and community development challenges. Providing resources and guidance to local and Tribal governments and other rural housing development organizations has proven an effective model of helping local communities address these needs.

"Without the RCB support and funding we would not have been able to move forward with two major initiatives for our agency, our community and the people we serve,” said Audrey Moen, Director of Housing for Northland Counseling Center (NCC). With MHP’s assistance and RCB funding, NCC was able to fund an Itasca County housing market study which led to the development of new affordable housing units and the conversion of existing housing units for low income occupancy.

The impact of the technical assistance from MHP and funding from HUD “gave a strong message to our community leaders that MHP cares and is concerned about rural Minnesota’s needs,” Moen said. “Our commissioners, city officials, and community leaders were impressed by what MHP -- under the RCB assistance -- has been able to support.”

She added, “MHP is an important stakeholder in what can and does happen for our area.  We are fortunate to have Minnesota Housing Partnership’s expertise and involvement.”

“Minnesota Housing Partnership is ready to put this funding to work immediately in rural and tribal communities,” said Anne Mavity, MHP’s executive director. “We are thrilled that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has committed these funds to help our communities thrive.”