Minneapolis' 2040 plan heads back to court as city says progress continues
MINNEAPOLIS -- The city of Minneapolis' 2040 plan is back in front of a Hennepin County Court judge as environmental leaders continue to raise concerns about the city's plan to expand affordable housing. This comes as city leaders said they've made historic progress implementing the comprehensive plan.
The plan aims to provide all residents with access to affordable and quality housing by 2040, but environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 2018 arguing the plan may have severe unintended consequences on the environment. The core of the 2040 plan eliminates single-family zoning in favor of developing more muti-family dwellings.
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The Minneapolis City Council recently adopted the new zoning code which will officially be implemented in July.
Local nonprofit Smart Growth Minneapolis is among the groups listed on a lawsuit filed against the city. They argue under Minnesota's Environmental Rights Act, the city should have done a full environmental review before the 2040 plan was passed.
City leaders have argued under the Minnesota law, only individual projects must conduct an environmental review – not comprehensive plans like the 2040 plan.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the 2040 plan helps the environment by reducing the city's carbon footprint.
"It's more carbon that you're expending when you have to drive 45 minutes to downtown," he said. "There are less emissions if you're part of a multi-family dwelling than if you have a single-family home."
Rebecca Arons serves as executive director of Smart Growth Minneapolis. She said the group supports Minneapolis 2040's mission to expand housing. She also said they are not against rezoning to make room for more multi-family dwellings, and adds they just want to make sure the city is implementing the plan in a way that affects the environment in the least harmful way possible.
"It's the massive shift in both land use and where things can be built," she said. "If you lose green space and urban forest, you actually are making the risk of flooding, the risk of heat zones, risk of more polluted lakes and streams because of more contaminated runoff."
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The lawsuit was originally filed in 2018. Hennepin County Court Judge Joseph Klein ruled in favor of the environmental groups.
The city filed an appeal, but the Minnesota Supreme Court sided with environmental groups and declined to hear the city's appeal. It was eventually ruled the city could continue implementing the plan as the Court of Appeals sent the case back to Hennepin County for further proceedings.
The next hearing before Klein will take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Frey said the city has since hired an expert to do an environmental analysis of the city's 2040 plan, but because of the active lawsuit, he couldn't disclose who is doing the analysis, how they're doing it or when results will come out.
Though no legislation was passed, the mayor and supporters lobbied during the 2023 session in hopes of more clarity on what kind of plans need to have an environmental review.
"This is an issue that not just Minneapolis is going to see, but every single city in the entire state will experience when they set up a comprehensive plan," Frey said. "We need to allow for a diversity of housing options in every neighborhood and therefore a diversity of people and we need to push back on some of the very intentional segregation of the past."
Meanwhile, the mayor and city leaders said they've made historic progress in expanding affordable housing as showcased in the latest Way Home Report.
Among the highlights from the report, in 2022, construction began on 919 affordable housing units, which is six-and-a-half times more than what was constructed on average between 2011 and 2018. More than 260 of those units are considered deeply affordable to households with incomes at or below 30 percent of the area median income.
"There are gaps," Frey said. "There are gaps in terms of home ownership, between white people and people of color. There's gaps in terms of housing stability and so when we allocate funding at the lowest affordable level at 30 percent of area median income and below and when we provide home ownership opportunities to whole groups of people that have been traditionally excluded that's directly helping our BIPOC communities."
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There were also increases in protections for renters, including a right to council, and in the last three years, the city has helped roughly 4,000 children find homes through the Stable Homes Stable Schools program.
"You can't be in successful in school, you can't be successful in a job, you can't really participate in a meaningful way in civic community without having a stable place to live," said Andrea Brennan, the former executive director of community planning and economic development for the city of Minneapolis.
The city already has 23 projects funded for 2023, which are expected to provide more than 2,200 units for families and individuals across Minneapolis. They said 610 of those units are designated for households at or below 30 percent the area median income.
Leaders said their work is more important than ever with an ongoing shortage in housing options, rising interest rates, inflation, as well as the end of Title 42 – the COVID-era immigration policy.
"The need is great," said Elfric Porte, director of housing and policy development for the city of Minneapolis. "The challenges that exist. We need to think creatively on how we deploy these resources to meet the need."
The report also includes how the city has worked to keep housing affordable over time and how programs have help families with financial literacy and education on homeownership.