The city of Minneapolis would draw $1.5 million from a redevelopment fund to move the sprawling homeless encampment on Franklin and Hiawatha avenues, under a resolution approved Tuesday by a City Council committee.
Minneapolis committee approves using $1.5 million in redevelopment funds to relocate homeless camp
October 17, 2018 at 3:16AM
The vote came 11 days after the City Council passed an emergency measure that's intended to speed up the relocation of the people living at the tent camp.
The money would come from property tax revenue from special districts across the city that have been repaying Target Center debt and funding neighborhood revitalization projects since 2009.
More than half the money for the relocation project would be used to rent trailers and related services, while $500,000 would go to site preparation, according to a city document.
The council's Ways & Means Committee approved a resolution that declared the planned temporary shelter, known as the "navigation center," as a neighborhood revitalization purpose. Doing so would allow the city to draw from that fund, the consolidated redevelopment tax increment financing district, said Mark Ruff, the city's chief financial officer.
Council Member Andrew Johnson abstained from voting on the resolution because of concerns about using the fund for the relocation.
"My first time seeing this language was coming out here for the start of the meeting because it wasn't sent out in advance," he said after the meeting. "To make such a large and consequential policy decision without having an opportunity to fully research the implications and engage the community is inappropriate."
Ruff told Johnson that the funds appropriated for the encampment relocation will not cut funds for neighborhoods.
The measure is expected to go before the full City Council on Friday.
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