Pioneer Press Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:30:53 -0600
Ramsey County / Board rethinks role in housing
Ramsey County commissioners are grappling with what role they should play in the housing market. On Tuesday, a narrow majority of commissioners agreed to scrap a nearly decade-old fund that helped build public housing. But commissioners also reaffirmed their desire to stay in the housing game. That the 4-3 vote was nonbinding and came at a fractious workshop â" featuring several questions of "What are we voting on?" â" illustrates the lack of strong consensus on what role the county should play as vacancies, foreclosures and falling home values transform the housing market. "If I voted on something 10 years ago and now the world has changed, I'm supposed to change with the times," explained Commissioner Rafael Ortega, who cast the swing vote. The events took place at a workshop of the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, which is composed of the seven county commissioners. At issue was the Housing Endowment Fund, which was established in a 4-3 vote in 2000 to help build housing projects that could cater to the poorest residents, such as homeless people or those on the verge of it. The idea was to inject new money from the sale of county land and get the fund up to $10 million. The fund never got that big, although over the years, it did lend about $6 million to 18 different projects in the county, including $500,000 for the 13-unit Emma's Place in Maplewood to an equal sum for the 314-unit Gateway Village in St. Paul.
[[keywords: Housing;PropertyTax;Ramsey;]]
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