Laserfiche WebLink
including an expedited process to <br />address nuisance properties. <br />c) Reexamine the Contract for Deed <br />statutes to determine whether <br />additional protections are necessary to <br />prevent property owners from <br />evading responsibilities of a landlord, <br />and provide local jurisdictions <br />resources to allow for education of <br />future buyers and sellers in contract <br />for deed arrangements. <br />d) Support local authority for cities to <br />collect all delinquent taxes, utility <br />bills, liens, and assessments on <br />foreclosed, vacant, boarded and/or tax <br />forfeited properties. <br />e) Improve notification to cities, and <br />consistency in the information <br />available to cities, when a property is <br />in the foreclosure process and vacated. <br />0 Support coordinated responses to <br />prevent foreclosures, activate and <br />guide private investment and home <br />purchases, and support distressed <br />neighborhoods. <br />Study and monitor the impacts on the <br />housing market of single-family home <br />acquisition by private equity <br />companies. <br />h) Re-enact a program similar to "This <br />Old House" to allow owners of <br />qualifying single-family homes or <br />multi -unit rental properties to defer <br />the increase in tax capacity from <br />repairs or improvements to their <br />homestead property as an incentive <br />for cities to maintain housing stock, <br />including, but not limited to re- <br />occupying and homesteading <br />foreclosed and vacant homes. In order <br />to provide potential opportunities in <br />more communities, the program's age <br />limit qualifications for a homestead <br />property should be updated to include <br />properties that are at least 30 years <br />old. <br />g) <br />74 <br />i) Support programs that provide <br />resources to cities for rehabilitation or <br />new construction of single-family <br />homes, such as the Community <br />Impact Fund and the Community Fix <br />Up Program currently administered <br />through MN Housing Finance Agency <br />(MHFA). <br />LE-9. Housing Policy <br />Issue: Cities recognize that stable housing is <br />essential to the health, safety, and welfare of <br />residents. Since the Fair Housing Act of <br />1968, and more recently with the <br />recognition that certain barriers to housing <br />disparately impact certain members of our <br />communities, local government has been <br />obligated to promote and reduce barriers to <br />fair housing and equal opportunity. For <br />example, households with housing choice <br />vouchers face many barriers to securing <br />housing in the private rental market, <br />especially when rental vacancy rates are <br />low. Currently rental vacancy rates are at a <br />historic low in much of the state. As a <br />result, many families and individuals may be <br />unable to use their housing choice vouchers <br />and thus unable to secure safe, decent and <br />affordable housing. Additionally, many <br />renters and homeowners face challenges <br />from housing displacement due to rising <br />costs, uninhabitable housing, and eviction <br />that exacerbates housing instability and <br />homelessness. <br />Despite progress since the Fair Housing Act <br />of 1968, households of color nevertheless <br />experience a gap in homeownership rates <br />compared with white households and face <br />barriers to housing due to a history of <br />housing policies and lending practices that <br />disproportionately benefit white households <br />(i.e., application of GI bill largely only to <br />white soldiers returning from war, redlining, <br />and restrictive covenants). According to the <br />U.S. Census Bureau and American <br />