The non-profit neighborhood housing group Hope Community has renovated ten houses, built 126 affordable rental units, and has two mixed income projects under way in one depressed and crime-ridden Minneapolis block.
"The Phillips neighborhood is conveniently located near downtown Minneapolis, in the path of gentrification marked by nearby luxury condominiums. Because of this threat, Hope Community took an aggressive approach to stabilizing the neighborhood. 'From the beginning, we approached neighborhood revitalization as more than creating affordable housing,' says Mary Keefe, the executive director of or organization. 'We are not social workers or service providers - we are catalysts.'"
"She emphasizes that mixed income developments will help people who already live there: 'In order to really change the community,we realized there had to be critical mass.'"
"Because of Hope Community's efforts in housing and economic development, there is a lower foreclosure rate among new homeowners in Phillips. 'As the subprime mortgage crisis has roiled other low-income neighborhoods across the country, the number of foreclosures in the Phillips neighborhood is lower than in wealthier sections of Minneapolis, according to the Minneapolis Community Planning and Economic Development Department.'"
