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Housing

What I Wish Were Different for Survivors Like Me

The question I wish people would ask is not, "Why did you go back?" It is: "What was missing that would have made it possible for you and your children to stay safely gone?" ... The system fails survivors when it only recognizes danger at the moment of crisis. Safety has to last longer than the emergency.
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New Wadaag Commons Affordable Housing Community Opens With Public Art

A $500,000 investment was made in permanent public art that is integrated directly into the new Wadaag Housing development as a defining element of the space. The work features Somali, East African, Muslim-identifying, and women artists whose cultures shape the neighborhood.
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YOUTH: How Do We Apply Community to Housing Solutions?

"By 16, I was sleeping in my own truck. When I turned 18, I bounced between my car, my grandfather’s house, and unstable rentals."
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UPDATED: People With Disabilities Got Help From Legislature

At the end of 2025, Silver received notice from her care agency that 95 percent of the services her agency bills for were suspended. After working to build an independent life, find meaningful work, and establish a home in a community she loves, her right to a safe, self-directed life is now directly jeopardized.
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How My Sister and I Are Building Houses in Grand Marais

"We don’t build for new people moving into the community, but for the ones already here who are struggling to stay due to costs growing out of their reach. Many people we know have already left due to lack of affordable housing."
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One Family’s Journey Into Building an Intentional Community

Twin Cities Family Cooperative uses consensus for decision-making, which is common in cohousing communities compared to more general cooperatives. Households own a share in the community rather than owning a unit. As such, they can move spaces as family needs change. Monthly operating dues are based on a percentage of the household’s income regardless of the space.
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Co-op Real Estate: A Collective Solution

Frustrated with how traditional developers were mismanaging neighborhood properties and ignoring community needs, Leslie Watson and her neighbors decided that they needed to act.
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ACTION: Elizabeth Glidden Talks About Housing Next Steps

Currently there are multiple campaigns Minnesotans can get involved with related to housing: Yes to Homes, and Our Future Starts at Home. There also are popular state housing tax credits, students building affordable houses, community land trusts, and attempts to reduce red tape.
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ACTION: What You Can Do About Homelessness

Sindy Mau has been work with people experiencing homelessness for years. Here are her suggestions of how everyone — individuals, employers, landlords, and social service agents — can help resolve the housing crisis in small but big ways.
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ACTION STEPS: Volunteer, Talk, Interact, Learn

Volunteers Needed for Minneapolis Homeless Peace House offers…
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FUTURE FORWARD: What does it mean to be in it for the long haul?

Many tenants cried during interviews as they recounted their experiences. What moved them to tears was not interactions with landlords or even the threat of eviction itself — it was the dehumanizing language of shame and blame from the very systems meant to help.
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Sue Watlov Phillips. Photo by Sarah Whiting

DEEP DIVE: Why Housing Gaps Are a Central Issue in Society

When I began this work nearly 59 years ago, the landscape was very different. We demolished large amounts of low-cost housing and built office buildings, many of which now sit underused or vacant. At the same time, we began to shift our mental health system, but we failed to build the housing and supports necessary to make that transition successful.
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A Conversation With Jewelean Jackson

"We have the resources to address it. What we lack is political will. Still, I believe in perseverance. I’ve seen legislation pass by a single vote. I’ve seen young people fight back against unfair housing practices and win. I’ve seen what happens when people refuse to give up. So, as long as I’m here, that’s exactly what I intend to do."
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The Long Journey of Zenobia Carson

When you are in that space of thinking “this is all I can do, I can’t do any better,” then you are stuck in a limbo life. Many women around me had hearts for doing other things. They just did not know how to make it happen.
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FUTURE FORWARD: A Solution to Youth Homelessness 

As a member of the youth delegation connecting with legislators this year, we are recommending development of a pilot program to identify, renovate, and repurpose vacant buildings into affordable housing for youth, with dedicated funding allocated in the next state budget cycle.
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