Is your home ready for fall?

Before you know it, the leaves are going to start to drop, the temperature is going to dip, and fall will be in full swing. As you start to break out your sweaters and put away your sandals, make sure your home is ready for the cold too. Don’t wait until it starts to snow to find out you needed to replace your windows or upgrade your furnace.

The Waite Park Community Council and Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) can help you take on these home improvements with their loan programs designed specifically for Waite Park residents. With these loan programs you can complete a wide range of home improvement projects, from a new heating system or insulating your attic to new floors or a fresh coat of paint throughout your house. The options are endless, get started today!

Financing is not one-size fits all. That is why our neighborhood loan program offers multiple financing options, all of which have flexible terms, so you can find a loan that is the best fit for your home. You can find more information on our home improvement loan page or by calling 612-335-5884.

Join us for a neighborhood meeting on racial covenants in Waite Park

The Waite Park Community Council will host a special neighborhood meeting on Thursday, June 30, to address a shameful chapter in the city and neighborhood's history in which Black residents were prohibited from buying or renting homes in the community.

Racial covenants were documents recorded against a home's legal title which banned property owners from selling, renting, or allowing their home to be used by people of certain races. The discriminatory language was not always the same, but most covenants targeted Black people.

Racial covenants were recorded on homes in Minneapolis by developers and homeowners starting in the 1910s. The use of racial covenants forced Black community members to live in racially segregated areas where they could not get mortgages, buy property, or build wealth.

Racial covenants were outlawed by 1968 and are no longer enforceable. Yet, Black people and other people of color in Minneapolis still experience the harm caused by these covenants. In 2010, Minneapolis’ population included 69% white residents and 19% Black residents. However, in the neighborhoods where racial covenants had been common, the population was still 73-90% white.

From 2016 to 2020, the Mapping Prejudice team at the University of Minnesota used technology and volunteers to review thousands of documents looking for racial covenants. They found over 8,000 racial covenants recorded against properties in the City of Minneapolis alone, including more than 200 in the Waite Park neighborhood.

The City of Minneapolis is offering Minneapolis homeowners the chance to learn about and discharge the racial covenants recorded on their properties. It also allows homeowners to reclaim their homes as equitable spaces.

Join us for an informational meeting on the city's Just Deeds project to learn how homeowners can eliminate this hurtful language and reclaim their homes as equitable spaces. Assistant City Attorney Amy Schutt will give a presentation on history of racial covenants and other discriminatory housing practices in Minneapolis, and also take questions from residents.

The meeting will take place at 7pm on Thursday, June 30, on Zoom. Register or sign-in to the meeting at https://tinyurl.com/WPCCjustdeeds

Watch: The TPT documentary ‘Jim Crow of the North’ tells the story of racist, restrictive real estate covenants in the Twin Cities.

How we can help you pay for home improvements this year

Waite Park neighborhood residents planning home improvements this summer may qualify for financing through a new zero-interest loan program.

The Waite Park Community Council approved the program last year as a way to encourage investment in the neighborhood and its housing stock.

A second program, also approved by the neighborhood board last year, offers forgivable, no-interest loans to cover the cost of emergency repairs.

“We can’t wait for folks to start taking advantage of these great programs to help maintain safe, sustainable, and high-quality housing in our neighborhood,” said Hayley Nemmers, chair of the community council’s housing committee.  

Home Improvement Loans

The home improvement program offers loans of up to $15,000 for most permanent exterior and interior improvements, including:

• Interior remodeling

• Windows/doors

• Solar panels

• Insulation

• HVAC, water heaters, geothermal

• Roofing

• Painting/siding

• Correction of code violations

• Accessibility improvements

• Decks, porches, retaining walls

• Garage repairs or construction

• Driveways, sidewalks, steps

• Health measures including asbestos, lead abatement, radon, carbon monoxide, and/or mold removal

Fences, trees, shrubs and other non-permanent landscaping improvements are not eligible unless part of a larger project or needed to address a potential structural threat.

The program is limited to owner-occupied properties of 1-4 units within the Waite Park neighborhood. Income limit is 80% of Area Median Income.

More details and an online application for the home improvement loans are available here or by calling the Center for Energy and Environment at 612-335-5884.

Emergency Deferred Program

The emergency deferred program offers no-interest loans up to $5,000 for repairs to address conditions that make a home dangerous or uninhabitable. Examples include sewage back ups, furnace failures in extreme cold months, or major holes in a roof or window cavity.

The emergency loans will be 100% forgiven if the owner continues to own and occupy the property for 5 years from the loan closing date. There is no maximum income limit for the emergency deferred program.

More details and an online application for the emergency deferred loans are available here or by calling the Center for Energy and Environment at 612-335-5884.

Just Deeds Project helps homeowners remove racial covenants

The City of Minneapolis has launched a new initiative providing Minneapolis homeowners with the opportunity to learn about, acknowledge and discharge racial covenants recorded against their properties. The City’s Just Deeds Project, led by the City Attorney’s Office, will allow people to reclaim their homes as equitable spaces.

Racial covenants were binding documents recorded against a property’s title, which prohibited all future owners of the property from selling it, renting it, or allowing it to be used by people of certain races or ethnicities. Racial covenants were recorded on residential properties in Minneapolis by developers and homeowners beginning in the 1910s to prevent the sale and use of these properties to non-white Minneapolitans. 

Mapping Prejudice, a research project based in the Borchert Map Library at the University of Minnesota, has compiled a map of over 8,000 properties in Minneapolis with racial covenants, including more than 200 homes in the Waite Park neighborhood.

Through the City’s Just Deeds Project, Minneapolis homeowners can acknowledge and disclaim the racial covenants recorded against their properties by recording a discharge form against their property title. The City Attorney’s Office staff will assist homeowners in completing this process free of charge. Hennepin County has also waived its typical fees associated with this process. Participation in the City’s program will be first-come, first-serve, subject to staffing availability. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

Learn more about the Just Deeds Project by visiting the City’s website or by emailing JustDeedsProject@minneapolismn.gov. —via the City of Minneapolis

Apply for emergency rent assistance from Hennepin County by March 19

Hennepin County is offering emergency rent assistance. Households with unpaid rent and low incomes may qualify. The deadline to apply is noon Friday, March 19. Apply now.

While you can’t be evicted for not paying rent during Governor Walz’s executive order, rent is still due. When the order is lifted, people owing unpaid rent could be at risk for eviction.

This is an initial short-term program for urgent needs. More help will be offered through a statewide COVID-19 Emergency Rent Assistance program opening later this month.