From the Minnesota Reformer:
The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority will sell 717 of its housing units to a non-profit organization it created and runs called Community Housing Resources — one of the largest transactions of its kind in the country.
MPHA’s Board of Commissioners approved the sale — at $1 per property — at its meeting Wednesday. And then the same people, who make up the nonprofit’s board of directors, approved the purchase.
The board is selling these units to itself for essentially no money.
People who live in these units won’t be displaced and they won’t see their monthly costs go up, according to the MPHA, but the board estimates this bit of bureaucratic gimmickry will bring in an additional $3 million in federal funding annually.
“It’s going to allow us over the next five years to do a comprehensive rehabilitation of these houses all across the city,” said Jeff Horwich, a spokesman for the agency.
Read the Minnesota Reformer's article "Why Minneapolis’ housing authority is selling 717 homes to itself," featuring the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority.