“Minneapolis City Council officials say they are determined to see more affordable housing available across the city and want developers to build for the future with that goal in mind.” writes Marissa Evans of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
The City Council voted in favor of Minneapolis 2040, a comprehensive plan for the city’s future. The plan reflects the results of over two years of engagement with residents, business owners, and developers.
As a major goal of this plan, the City of Minneapolis wants to cultivate a culture of mixed-income housing to help make housing more affordable and accessible to all.
Until now, new housing in Minneapolis has mostly been built in areas with amenities already in place, like downtown. But the city’s median income makes much of this housing out of reach for many. New inclusionary zoning will ensure that projects will be built in all neighborhoods and will create amenities to boot. Added to this, the city has worked with developers to create multiple options to make future projects compliant and to provide incentives to help make housing affordable. Without this zoning, the market alone would not deliver the affordable housing that’s needed.
The policies, similar to existing policies in Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Golden Valley, Edina and St. Louis Park, have attracted interest from many other cities who will be watching Minneapolis closely after the policies take effect on January 1.
Read the full story here.
Image by Giambattista Nolli licensed under CC0 2.0