“Homes for All,” a documentary from
Twin Cities Public Television (TPT), showcases several Twin Cities affordable housing projects that go above and beyond.
The documentary, which was sponsored in part by the
Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers,
Minnesota Housing Partnership, and the Community Land Trust Coalition, will air on TPT on Feb. 19.
It focuses on three different public- and private- sector developments that vary in size, including Hope Communities apartments in Minneapolis, Quarry View townhomes in Apple Valley, and Forest Ridge Townhomes in Forest Lake.
Chip Halbach, executive director of the Minnesota Housing Partnership, explains that the documentary was put together to “give the general public a more in-depth understanding of what affordable housing is.”
The documentary profiles some residents of the developments behind the scenes, showing what their homes look like and how they fit into the community.
In each of these cases, the developments are “designed to contribute to the community,” he says.
For example, Hope Communities, a 173-unit apartment complex at Franklin and Portland avenues in Minneapolis's Phillips neighborhood, has helped turn around a blighted area.
Besides stabilizing home life for its residents, the building, which was developed jointly by Minneapolis-based
Hope Community and nearby
Aeon, hosts various youth programs. “It goes beyond just making it safer,” Halbach says. “It’s a community-organizing vehicle” that has sparked revitalization elsewhere in the neighborhood as well.
Although there's more work to be done in the neighborhood, “It all adds up to something that’s a real positive force in the Phillips neighborhood," he says.
In the documentary, a number of housing experts also “provide context for why the public should be interested in these affordable housing investments,” he adds.
Source: Chip Halbach, executive director, Minnesota Housing Partnership
Writer: Anna Pratt