Because of MPHA, Jaime reached a milestone she never thought possible: owning a home.

In 2004, Jaime got notified her family was being called up from the waitlist. The timing couldn’t have been more ideal as Jaime was finding it increasingly difficult to afford her family’s apartment as a single mom of four kids. Jaime and her four kids moved into a scattered site family home in North Minneapolis. And, for 16 years, she raised her family there.

“All my kids grew up in that house,” said Jaime Brown, a former Minneapolis Public Housing Authority resident. “I can’t thank [MPHA] enough. If it wasn’t for public housing, I wouldn’t have been able to keep a roof over my family heads all those years.”

“I treated that home like it was my own,” said Jaime. “I actually loved annual inspections because they’d come and acknowledge that I took really good care of the house and yard. It felt good hearing that.”

In 2021, Jaime moved to another scattered site family home in South Minneapolis to be closer to her extended family. Shortly thereafter, Jaime landed a new job working as a loan fund manager for a Native American non-profit organization.

With this new job and a larger paycheck stabilizing her life, Jaime’s property manager began encouraging her to consider homeownership as a next step. It was through this encouragement that Jaime realized she could afford a mortgage and maintain a home of her own.

“Owning a home wasn’t even something I had thought about before,” said Jaime. “If it wasn’t for the [MPHA] staff, I wouldn’t have known I was capable of taking this step of owning a home for me and my kids.”

In 2025, Jaime purchased a single-family home in South Minneapolis with the guidance of a housing counselor through her employer. Now, Jaime lives with her kids in her “forever home,” just a few miles from where she raised her family in public housing.

“If I can do it, anybody can,” said Jaime. “Sometimes you just need some encouragement.”

Jaime’s story is a prime example of how MPHA housing can be a solid foundation for upward mobility. Many families living in MPHA housing increase their social economic status and reach milestones that wouldn’t be possible for them without reliable, affordable housing.

In fact, of the current scattered site heads of household, 24 percent were employed when entering their new home. On average, these residents earned $26,039 a year in income. Today, 55 percent of these residents are employed, earning an average of $43,594 a year, with more than 56 percent of these residents’ earned income increasing while in these homes. And these homes are often only a temporary stop in a family’s journey to economic independence, with families living in CHR homes for an average of six years before moving to new housing. Better yet, since 2020, nearly 14 percent of all families leaving scattered site homes have gone on to purchase their own homes.

Jaime’s journey illustrates the impact stable, affordable housing can have on one’s career, family, and socio-economic status.