Minnehaha Commons breaks ground

On Thurs., Sept. 13, 4pm, community leaders, public officials, neighborhood residents and others will gather at 3001 E. Lake St. to celebrate the groundbreaking of new housing development by Alliance Housing.

By fall 2019, 44 adults, 55 years old or older, will call Minnehaha Commons home. All residents will be very low income; most will have experienced homelessness and may have been screened out by other landlords due to their housing, credit or criminal history. Alliance Housing owns and/or manages similar properties in South and North Minneapolis.

“According to the Wilder Foundation’s homeless survey, seniors are the fastest growing segment of homeless people locally,” said Alliance Housing Inc. Executive Director, Barbara Jeanetta. “Alliance Housing was ahead of the curve when we conceived this project more than ten years ago. Our organization is uniquely positioned to successfully house this population because of our previous experience serving seniors in rooming houses.”

Jeanetta continued, “Our tenant service coordinators and property managers build trusting relationships with tenants, discuss problems, identify options for maintaining housing stability and increasing self-sufficiency, and assist tenants to choose their community services. It is a proven program, and we look forward to bringing this exciting new development and its related support services to serve seniors in south Minneapolis.”

Alliance’s partner, Touchstone Mental Health, will provide a range of support services to ensure tenants can remain stably housed. Cermak Rhoades Architects managed the project design. General Contractors are Watson Forsberg in partnership with TRI Construction. Broen Housing provided financial packaging and preparation. The Longfellow Community Council, Councilmember Cam Gordon, and Representative Jim Davnie welcomed the project to the neighborhood by providing letters of support.

The groundbreaking guests expected to provide brief remarks include Commissioner of DHS Emily Piper, Minneapolis Councilmember Cam Gordon, Alliance’s board chair Ben Olk III, Longfellow Community Council board member Lisa Boyd, and a current Alliance Housing tenant. Ingrid C. Arneson Rasmussen, Pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, will provide a blessing honoring the homeless family that lost their lives when the McMahon Bar, the site of the new building, burned. The development is expected to be completed by September 2019.

$10.8 million in funding was provided by a variety of sources including a State of Minnesota Department of Human Services Live Well at Home grant, Minnesota Housing’s Housing Infrastructure Bonds and 4% tax credits. The City of Minneapolis’ Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Hennepin County’s Affordable Housing Incentive Fund, the Metropolitan Council’s Livable Communities Local Housing Incentives Account, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines’s Affordable Housing Program also provided financial support. Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Thrivent, and the Sisters of Carondelet provided early support.