855 Rice Street Ground Breaking

North End Urban Farm Tomato Cutting

Central Corridor East end of line

What is a passive house?

The Residual Effects of Foreclosures

Little has been reported about the entire scope of how the foreclosure crisis is impacting people in all different ways. Yes, we know that the banks are hurting and don't want to be property owners. What we don't always really realize or think about are those families that are being displaced and uprooted by the impacts of foreclosures. This has been true for owner occupied units, but more now we are starting to see the large impact it is having on those that rent as well.

The Pioneer Press had this story:

Gary Benson is the perfect renter. He's never been late on a payment. He keeps his St. Paul house and yard clean. He spends his own money making repairs. But perfect isn't good enough. His family soon will be forced to move out — not for anything he did wrong, but because his landlord didn't pay the mortgage. The house must be sold, and real estate agents say it's easier to sell rental property if all tenants are gone.

"There is no sense in kicking us out. This would be another abandoned house," said Benson, 31, standing amid cardboard boxes in his living room. "If we left, you would have meth heads breaking in and stealing copper pipes," he said. "That is the last thing St. Paul needs."

Benson and his wife, Cynthia, are part of a new wrinkle in Minnesota's housing crisis. Most federal and state bailouts are aimed at homeowner foreclosures — yet the number of landlord foreclosures has been soaring as well. And when landlords go broke, innocent renters get evicted.

It seems this crisis is far from over.

Advancing Neighborhood Goals

Noel Nix has this excellent piece in the CURA Reporter. He discusses the role of geographically based Community Development corporations and how they function in the larger process of neighborhood planning. Nix also demonstrates the Winnipeg project as a case study of how small and larger for profit organizations can work together to create positive change in neighborhoods.

From the article:

In contrast to CDCs, area-wide nonprofit developers typically are not committed to a specific neighborhood or area of a city. These organizations often work in a variety of different communities, and often specialize in a particular area of community-development work, such as housing or business development. An integrated collection of projects such as the Seward Co-op and the Franklin Avenue Vision would lie. Volunteers help to implement test projects developed during the Franklin Avenue Vision process.

These characteristics position areawide developers as outside actors when it comes to planning and designing community-development projects. However, the Winnipeg is an example of how the community relationships, political capital, and entrepreneurial capabilities of CDCs can be paired with the organizational and financial resources of an area-wide developer to move a locally conceived project forward.

Home Energy Squad - North End Workshop

HOME ENERGY SQUADSThe Neighborhood Energy Connection (NEC) brings energy efficiency to Saint Paul homeowners with its Home Energy Squads, skilled crews who will make your home more comfortable and reduce your utility bills in one easy and affordable visit.

The Home Energy Squad will visit your home and recommend several energy-saving measures. You choose which improvements to make, and the Squad will install them--on the spot! Choose among exterior door weather stripping, "smart" power strips, programmable thermostats, compact fluorescent lighting, water-saving shower heads and faucet aerators, insulating water heater blankets, and more.

You pay for the materials, but installation is free. You'll start saving energy immediately and get a quick payback, too. If you attend a FREE Energy Efficiency Workshop in your neighborhood, the cost for a basic visit is only $30.

Improve your home and reduce your utility bills today. Phone 651-328-6220 or email marshaa@thenec.org to make an appointment. Check out the official Home Energy Squad website at www.homeenergysquad.net

Wednesday, May 5 at 6:30 p.m.
North End: 1414 N St. Albans St., St. Paul