A Construction Shut Down

Brothers of Briar

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RSteve

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"More than half of St. Paul, MN city residents are renters, and the city faces steep inequities in home ownership. 83% of Black residents are renters, compared to 41% of white residents. According to the city statistics, 39 percent of St. Paul renters are extremely low income."

In November, on the ballot, in my city, St. Paul, MN, was the most stringent and restrictive rent control measure in the U.S.
It passed by a 6% majority. It is stated very simply in the ordinance, that an annual residential rent increase may not exceed 3%. It does not take into account inflation, increase in property taxes, repairs to structures and/or individual units. Virtually every apartment construction project has shut down as construction lenders: banks, etc. have withdrawn funds for construction.

Not far from my house, during the summer, a very large area, along the Mississippi River was cleared of all structures to begin construction of a luxury apartment complex. It is bare land and it appears it'll stay that way. "Highland Bridge" the 160 acres of land where the Ford Automobile plant was located was slated to have numerous mixed residences, from luxury single family homes, middle income town homes and condominiums, to upper, middle, and lower income apartments. Construction has basically stopped on anything rental.

One of my friends, whose family has owned mid to upper income apartments since the 1930s says every building his family owns in St. Paul is for sale. With some anger and disgust in his voice, he said he's selling his own St. Paul home and moving less than a mile into Minneapolis, where rent is market based.

This is a boon to Minneapolis and the St. Paul-Minneapolis suburbs. The population is growing sizably and there's an extreme residential shortage. Minneapolis and the burbs will experience all the growth, while rental properties in St. Paul deteriorate.
 
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