Eight percent of homeowners and 10 percent of renters in Cook County pay at least half of their income for housing each month. A minimum wage earner would have to work 80 hours a week to afford rent of $757, which is considered to be the cost of a “safe, modest” apartment in Cook County, according to the Minnesota Housing Partnership, a coalition of organizations focusing on homelessness and affordable housing. The median wages for food preparation and retail sales jobs in Cook County are lower than the amount needed for such an apartment. The median wage for vacant full-time jobs is $14.44 an hour and for parttime jobs is $8.13 an hour.
According to Leah Hall of the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency, the cost of housing in Grand Marais is equitable with the metro area. She called this “an anomaly” in the region.
A workshop was held at Lutsen Resort on September 23, 2013 on housing programs available in Cook County. Five agency representatives talked about what their programs have to offer.
Northeast Home Consortium
Steve Nelson of St. Louis County and the Northeast HOME Consortium, a program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), explained that his program helps first-time homebuyers with down payments and closing costs and rehabs already-owned homes. People who have been divorced or whose homes have been deemed uninhabitable are considered firsttime homebuyers again, he said.
Nelson said that in some places, owning a home can be cheaper than renting, but finding a house in Cook County that meets HUD standards can be difficult. The initial assessed value of Cook County homes is often too high to qualify for HUD funding. “We have some of the oldest housing stock in Minnesota in northern Minnesota,” he said. Many homeowners need rehab on their houses but have debt loads too high to qualify for financing.
Nelson said HUD’s funding model comes from a “metro mentality” in which funding goes to areas with high concentrations of need where economy of scale makes projects cheaper. Needs are more spread out in Cook County, with its sparse population. Places like Virginia, Minnesota, where Nelson grew up, can have an easier time obtaining funding because the mining companies built houses on lots 25 feet wide – he said at his house, he had to go around the block to put his lawn mower away after mowing the front yard.
In addition, construction workers in metropolitan areas can specialize in various aspects of the building trade, but here, they don’t have that opportunity and don’t always have as much expertise in all areas.
Homeless people exist throughout the Northland, Nelson said, but they are not pushing shopping carts around. They are people who have lost jobs, been divorced, or lost their homes through fire. The Northeast Home Consortium has been successful, said Nelson, because local communities came to them with ideas about what they wanted to do. These partnerships have helped create programs that are helping people access the help they need.
“Most of the programs we’re talking about are a helping hand, not a handout,” he said.
EDA housing program
The Cook County Housing Initiative started in 2006, reported Cook County/ Grand Marais Economic Development Housing Coordinator Nancy Grabko. A housing study helped determine the needs in this community. When the program started, no advertising was needed – it started with a 32-home waiting list for funding that would cover 10 rehabs. “We took small steps and we built upon our successes,” she said. Within five years, partnerships with other entities enabled over $2 million in funding to reach Cook County.
Numerous recommendations came out of the housing study. They are “nowhere near” accomplishing all the recommendations, Grabko said, but “one by one we’re crossing things off the list.” She said the mission of the EDA’s housing program is “to provide safe, affordable housing, period.” It is now considered the “poster program” for the state.
The largest source of funding for the EDA housing program has been the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Small Cities Development Program. Grants leveraged with local partnership dollars have enabled rehabs on individually owned houses, commercial buildings, rental houses, and publicly owned properties. They have received a grant with every application they have submitted, Grabko said.
Commercial rehab is “attached at the hip” to housing, Grabko said. Without successful businesses, Cook County would not have housing. A thriving downtown is vital to the community’s economy, she said.
The grants so far have focused on Grand Marais. Grabko is working on identifying needs in the West End that could enable that portion of the county to be considered for funding.
HUD-certified housing inspector Steve Grabko (Nancy’s son) said that HUD funding is to create safe, healthy living environments rather than to enable remodeling projects. Homeowners qualifying for funding can choose who does the work. Davis-Bacon wage rates are required.
AEOA services
Arrowhead Economic Development Agency (AEOA) Housing Director Scott Zahorik said that his agency has over 70 housing programs, representing about one-third of their budget. “These are tough times for all the programs,” he said, however. Housing programs have to do 5 percent more with 2 percent less, he said, and agencies need to partner with each other to maximize success.
Regarding AEOA’s relationship with the EDA, Zahorik said, “There’s been some talk that we’re in competition with each other. It’s not that way at all.”
AEOA, a nonprofit, started in 1965. Its programs include crisis intervention, help for the homeless, energy assistance, and foreclosure prevention. AEOA has had great success with its housing programs, Zahorik said, even though they work with people considered to be “a little more risky” than the people other programs are willing to work with. “There’s been people who have come to us homeless and exited homeowners,” he said.
The people AEOA helps are our neighbors and friends, Zahorik said. Regarding needs in the community, he said, “It’s a lot closer to home than we think.”
AEOA’s weatherization program ends up helping people reduce their heating costs for years down the road. Funding for this program is available precarious right now, however, Zahorik said. Agencies need to partner in order to maximize what can be done.
AEOA has worked on 2,500 homes in the last five years.
AEOA also has funding from the Iron Range Resource and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) for commercial building upgrades. A $60,000 project can receive up to $20,000 in funding, Zahorik said.
Zahorik encourages people to come to AEOA and ask if there’s something AEOA can do for them even if they think they might not qualify. “We’re not the answer for every need out there,” he said, “but we help a heck of a lot of people.”
CCLEP
Cook County Local Energy Program (CCLEP) Coordinator Virginia Danfelt talked about CCLEP’s Residential Energy Efficiency Program (REEP), which gives homeowners a rebate on energy audits that are done prior to energy efficiency improvement projects.
Danfelt said it’s “amazing” how many crawl spaces and basements in Cook County have no insulation. “These are easy improvements,” she said.
Discussion
Trailer homes might be the only way to make starter homes available for young families, said Gunflint Lodge owner Bruce Kerfoot. He asked Scott Zahorik of AEOA if he thought this would be a good idea for Cook County.
Zahorik said he wouldn’t discount any possibility, but energy efficiency and land ownership might be an issue for funding.
Steve Nelson of the Northeast Minnesota Home Consortium said he knew of several manufactured home parks. He thought Kerfoot’s idea had potential and the IRRRB might help fund the development of infrastructure for such a park.
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