Minneapolis shocked America, as well as some other westernized nations, when its city council decided unanimously in 2018 to allow multifamily dwellings in any residential neighbourhood. The increased density was necessary to allow the city to grow.
For years any density-increase proposals, particularly those that introduced low and no income housing into neighbourhoods, received relentless pushback. That came from neighbourhood NIMBYs1, their objections focused on the “purity” of single family neighbourhoods, which would be sullied by a litany of consequences if “neighbourhood character” changed.
Minneapolis exhibited rare, indeed pioneering, civic courage in allowing higher neighbourhood density in single-family neighbourhoods. The initiative attracted interest from cities across the nation, which face endless NIMBY battles that cost time and money, without any guarantee of success2.
Now, with the announcement of a major public housing initiative, is the city finally reaping the rewards of its radical initiative?
The answer would seem to be both “yes” and “no.” One successful NIMBY tactic has always been raising the spectre of quiet neighbourhood streets nuked by a giant public housing project offering a litany of horrors. But the same arguments cannot be reasonably made about scattered public housing units that add only a family or two to a particular lot.
The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s (MPHA) new construction initiative would definitely fit into the spirit of scattering public housing throughout the city, rather than giant projects of hundreds or even thousands of units. However, it seems that single family neighbourhoods may not be the target of this initiative.
This conclusion comes from the housing forms chosen for the new project. The 2018 bylaw change for former single family neighbourhoods allows a maximum density of one triplex on a lot. Current MPHA plans are call for four- and six-plexes — too large to be permitted by Minneapolis’s 2018 by-law change. These new scattered units will apparently require further bylaw changes in the neighbourhoods which will host them.
Read more about this new initiative in MINNPOST: Minneapolis Public Housing Authority looks to embark on largest new construction project in nearly 20 years
Here’s some further news that may interest those following the Minneapolis bylaw saga. One concern that has traditionally fuelled NIMBY protests: multi-family units built in single family neighbourhoods will lead to a drop in the value of each individual home/lot. An “early days” financial analysis is suggesting that the opposite is true. At least in the short term, individual homes may actually increase in value. Read more from the American Planning Association: Measuring the Early Impact of Eliminating Single-Family Zoning on Minneapolis Property Values
Finally, for those who might have missed reading about the consequences of exasperation with NIMBY obstruction at a national, rather than mere city level, try: Enough Is Enough! NIMBY Threatened By A NZ National Brushback
Footnotes
- the acronym for Not In My Back Yard
- Try: Minneapolis Drives A Stake Into The Heart Of The American Dreamscape
