October 24, 2023
This City Council Election Will Decide the Future of Housing in Minneapolis
By Peter Lucas
With every city council seat up for grabs in 2023, progressives hope for a veto-proof majority to pass meaningful affordable housing policies.
(Ben Brewer / Getty)
No place in the US has put inflation in the rearview mirror quite as fast as Minneapolis,” proclaims a Bloomberg article from August, praising the Minneapolis metropolis as the “First American City to Tame Inflation.” What’s responsible for Minneapolis’s unique accomplishment? Affordable housing. “The Minneapolis area has seen an increase in rental units, thanks to a regional effort that included new zoning rules.”
But with every city council seat up for grabs in 2023, the results of the election could undermine the anchor of Minneapolis’s revival — a progressive housing policy.
The key issue is a slate of proposals that have thus far been opposed by Mayor Jacob Frey, including a 3 percent rent control policy and changes to zoning restrictions that would promote multi-use urban areas. In 2021, Minneapolis voters approved a proposal to change Minneapolis to a “strong mayor” city, enshrining the position as the city’s chief executive and establishing the city council as the city’s legislative body. Since then, the embattled Frey has used his expanded power to block changes proposed by the progressive wing of the city council to tackle Minneapolis’s affordable housing crisis.
