Like many cities across the country caught up in the previous decade’s housing boom and bust, Minneapolis is experiencing mortgage-default problems on a scale not seen since the Great Depression. Foreclosed properties and vacant homes are dotted across the city, with concentrations in some particularly hard-hit lower income areas. In dealing with the slew of direct and indirect consequences, Minneapolis has benefited from a history of openness and information-sharing among local nonprofits, neighborhood organizations, City and County agencies, and academic institutions. This broad coalition of partners has developed a strong, data-driven network to help identify vacant properties for remediation and guide neighborhood-stabilization efforts. Fortunately, other cities can replicate this model and build a coalition of data providers to meet any number of needs. This article provides a snapshot of the housing situation in Minneapolis in recent years and highlights how a group of community, nonprofit, and government partners created and used a data-sharing network to develop stabilization strategies that focus on individual properties within neighborhoods.

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Reporter-42-1-Wascalus.pdf

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http://www.federalreserve.gov/communitydev/files/data-driven-publication-2011121...