Cynthia Young was waiting for the bus at East Franklin and Chicago, mulling over rent prices in her mind on Monday, when she spoke to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.
“A lot of people can’t make a certain rent and rent’s going higher and higher,” she says. “You’ve still got to pay bills on top of that, like water, trash, and sewage in most apartments.”
Young, who works as a personal care assistant, says paying $1100 a month for a one-bedroom apartment in the city was just too much.
Addressing affordable housing gaps in Twin Cities suburbs
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A short time ago, she moved to Bloomington.
She’s not alone.
A new Harvard University report found rents in Minneapolis have risen 2.6% since February of last year.
The study says a record number of renters are “cost-burdened,” paying more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities.
“It’s kind of this persistent, perpetual shortage of affordable housing,” notes Dan Hylton, research manager for Housing Link, a Minneapolis non-profit that provides resources and housing for low to moderate-income families.
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He says that with the lack of housing, there’s little incentive for landlords to lower rents.
An economic tug-of-war, where both renters and landlords are feeling the pinch.
“Financially, it just doesn’t work from a developer or landlord perspective, with the market rates are what they are,” Hylton says. “It’s just unaffordable to people at lower levels of income, so in those instances, folks have to look for subsidized housing or living in housing that’s not affordable and finding creative solutions, like doubling up and so on.”
In Hennepin County, the numbers are even higher.
“We have 60,000-plus households that are spending more than 50% of their income towards housing,” explains Will Lehman, the Area Manager for Housing Stability at Hennepin County. “Which means they’re one crisis away from falling behind on rent.”
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The county has two programs to help, Lehman says: no-cost legal representation for low-income tenants in Housing Court, and rental assistance, with a per-household cap of $10,000 or ten months of rental arrears.
He notes the county has prevented more than 9000 evictions since 2023 through the provision of $35 million in emergency rent assistance and no-cost legal representation.
Lehman also says the county has committed nearly $10 million in discretionary funding for emergency rent assistance in 2026.
“Oftentimes, legal representation is a critical resource for a tenant facing eviction,” he notes. “But ultimately, what is needed is cash to allow that household to catch up on rent and afford a settlement at Housing Court.”
A new housing bill, recently passed in the U.S. Senate, aims to ease regulations and give developers incentives to build.
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But critics say rent and home prices could eventually go up — and that again, could affect the amount of affordable housing in the city.
“It’s really about economics,” Lehman says. “90% of evictions in Hennepin County are due to non-payment of rent. It’s a result of households struggling to make ends meet.”
An ICE agent facing several assault charges in connection with a January shooting involving two Venezuelan people in Minnesota has been arrested in Texas, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said.
Christian Castro was charged earlier this month with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
CNN is working to determine whether Castro has an attorney and has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Castro faces those charges in connection with the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man shot in the leg through the front door of a Minneapolis home. The incident took place during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement blitz in the Twin Cities.
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Originally, Sosa-Celis and his cousin Alfredo A. Aljorna were facing federal charges after DHS said they had attacked an agent, prompting him to fire a defensive shot.
But the Justice Department dropped the charges in February, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement said two of its agents, who made false statements about the incident under oath, were placed on administrative leave.
FOX 9’s Erika Mrazik has your Thursday evening and extended forecast. Our temperatures continue to feel more like July than May, and we’ll continue to see plenty of sun.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has issued an air quality alert for the Twin Cities starting Friday.
Air quality alert in Twin Cities
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What we know:
MPCA says that ground-level ozone will be at unhealthy levels in the Twin Cities on Friday. An air quality will be in place from noon to 9 p.m.
An air quality alert in the Twin Cities. Graphic courtesy of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. (Supplied)
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Sunny skies, low humidity and warm temperatures make for favorable conditions pollutants to react with sunlight to make ground-level ozone. MPCA says the ozone will subside as the sun sets.
Who is most affected by poor air quality?
Dig deeper:
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People with asthma or other breathing conditions like COPD, chronic bronchitis and emphysema will be affected by poor quality. They can experience symptoms like difficulty deep breathing, shortness of breath, throat soreness, wheezing, coughing and unusual fatigue.
Additionally, children, teenagers and people of all ages who are doing heavy physical activity outside.
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What you can do:
MPCA recommends taking it easy while outside and limiting physical activity.
To help reduce pollution, use public transit or carpool when possible, fill up your car’s tank at dawn or dusk and avoid backyard fires.
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The Source: A press release from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
After the murder of George Floyd, the Minneapolis Police Department lost hundreds of officers and was a “depleted police department,” a statement from former Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara’s attorney said.
The chief “made significant progress in rebuilding community trust and pride within the ranks of MPD,” the statement reads.
At the memorial to Alex Pretti, who was killed during Operation Metro Surge, part of the attorney statement hits home. It says the city was constantly on the “precipice of igniting the spark that would set the city on fire again” and it claims O’Hara helped mitigate the violent clashes.
Most people WCCO spoke with around several Minneapolis neighborhoods say O’Hara had their respect.
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“I was watching the Twins game on my phone and the announcement came over and I was like, ‘Whoa, what’s that all about?’” said Marta Knick as she was heading to the Guthrie Theatre.
“I was very sad because we’re more than the sum of our mistakes,” said Minneapolis resident Howard Dotson.
Hours after the announcement, community members were eager to learn more about the one challenged with leading the most scrutinized police department in the country.
“What’s heartbreaking the most is he was in a high-level position of leaderhip and he dropped the ball,” said Michael Wilson, who works at Pimento Jamaican Kitchen.
Some are giving grace more than others.
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“He may have made a mistake but that doesn’t erase his four years of transformational work in the MPD,” Dotson added.
O’Hara joined the department in November 2022, two-and-a-half years after the murder of Floyd.
“You have to reestablish culture. I feel like he did an amazing job at that and was front-facing, which is good,” said Wilson.
That wasn’t the chief’s only challenge. Just within the past year, he responded to the Annunciation Catholic School shooting and Operation Metro Surge.
“I was pleased with the whole way he handled the Metro Surge thing,” said Ruth Lipker on the Stone Arch Bridge.
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In the statement from his attorney, O’Hara says he was “proud to serve Minneapolis and remains grateful to the officers and community partners who did difficult work under extraordinary pressure.”
“Yeah, he was invested in his job and the community. but he had personal investments in that job as well,” said Minneapolis resident Donald Turner.
Now, Minneapolis residents are looking ahead.
“We have change, again, and because we have change, I think we’re in the place to create a positive outlook or negative outlook,” Wilson told WCCO.
“I always have hope for the city. The city’s bigger than any of us and I love living here,” another man added while walking the Stone Arch Bridge.
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In the recent statement from his attorney, there was zero comment on the investigation that occurred. Those WCCO spoke to continued to have questions about that.
