Minneapolis residents may find it a bit harder to get housing advice in 2012.
City housing hotline shuts its doors
Minneapolis residents may find it a bit harder to get housing advice in 2012.
By ericroper
Friday is the last day of Housing Services, a city program that offered free advice to more than 12,000 renters and landlords in 2010, but got the ax because city funds and federal grants dried up.
The calls touch on a variety of housing questions, from leases and foreclosures to evictions and security deposits.
311 operators will be referring callers to two outside services for non-basic housing questions. The Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis offers help to low-income tenants. HOME Line charges $25 to connect Minneapolis tenants and landlords with an attorney.
HOME Line's services are free for the rest of the state, but the non-profit does not have the resources to cover Minneapolis without charging a fee. It would mean doubling its client base.
Mike Vraa, managing attorney for HOME Line, explained that they often fill in missing -- and less obvious -- pieces of the puzzle.
"A lot of people call us up and they've done some research on the Internet and they have 10 or 20 percent of the right answer," Vraa said. "But they don't know that there's an 80 or 90 percent missing."
Council member Cam Gordon said people can still 311 to get advice or referalls, but "I've got some concerns that it won't maybe be as good or as focused. It's a loss of services."
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