Evictions & Inequality in North Minneapolis: Centering Community in the Creation of Public Policy

Abstract

Single Black mothers face the highest risk of eviction in the United States. In North Minneapolis, a community manufactured to contain undesirable populations through housing discrimination, decades of urban disinvestment, and unfair lending practices, the situation has become further exacerbated by the rise in distressed-property investment and disproportionate rates of eviction. This community-engaged action research project engages with tenants and landlords to illuminate how and why evictions occur in North Minneapolis, MN. The approach disrupts the power imbalance that exists between researchers, local power brokers, and community-based organizations to produce research findings that both value people’s lived experiences and utilize those experiences to produce community-centered public policy solutions. Community-centered policy solutions include lengthening the formal eviction process, creating a more human-centered process for financial support, and disrupting a cycle of dependency that is often reinforced by the state.