On any given day, MPHA helps provide stable and affordable housing to more than 26,000 people. Key to that work is the agency’s portfolio of nearly 800 deeply affordable family homes scattered throughout nearly every neighborhood in Minneapolis. These homes are the agency’s most sought-after housing type, with a waitlist reaching as many as 7,500 families in recent years waiting for their opportunity to access the life-altering force of MPHA’s deeply affordable family housing.

Recognizing the significant unmet demand for this kind of housing, the agency recently completed its Family Housing Expansion Project (FHEP), building 84 new family units across the city. The project brings 26 two- and 58 three-bedroom units in fourplexes and sixplexes to 16 sites across Minneapolis. The FHEP units join the nearly 800 family homes scattered across Minneapolis and 184 Glendale Townhomes, bringing the total family units MPHA owns and operates to more than 1,000.

On average, families in the agency’s scattered site family housing portfolio stay for six years before moving to new housing. In 2023, the agency had 150 voluntary move-outs of the agency’s family housing. When that happens, MPHA’s leasing team calls the family at the top of the waitlist to ready them for move-in. And since 2020, of those leaving MPHA scattered site family homes, 16 percent have gone on to purchase homes of their own.

A move-out also initiates the agency performing a “deep turn” before the next family moves in, as the agency’s capital budget allows. This work includes renovating kitchen and bathrooms, replacing furnace and water heaters, and repair electrical, plumbing, and mechanical systems. More cosmetic repairs like floor refinishing or replacement, replacing doors and trim, and painting walls is also done at this time.

With such a tremendous need for this type of deeply affordable family housing, MPHA works year-round to keep its waiting list accurate to enable a swift move-in process for eligible families upon unit vacancies. These waitlist administration activities are required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and are detailed in guidelines and recommendations to ensure public housing authorities across the country maintain lists of qualified, active names.

The agency conducts these check-ups annually, removing individuals and families who are unresponsive to the agency’s repeated inquiries to ensure accurate information. On occasion, individuals who otherwise remain eligible for MPHA family housing are removed from the waiting list because of an inability for agency staff to contact them. If/when this happens, these residents have one year to contact MPHA to reclaim their spot on the family housing waitlist.

Additionally, as families are called up from the waitlist, MPHA staff verify they still qualify as they may have experienced changes of income or household composition (ex. children move out) since being added to the waitlist. When this happens, individuals may be shifted to smaller waitlists for more applicable MPHA housing programs. Other times, families increase their earned income and are no longer eligible for the income-restricted program, so they are removed from the waitlist and the next family on the waitlist would be called.

Making significant progress in recent years on the agency’s highwater mark of 7,500 individuals on the family housing waiting list, the agency is readying to open the family housing waiting list for the first time in three years. In October, MPHA will be accepting applications for three-, four-, and five-bedroom units—selecting applications in a lottery style—adding an estimated 1,500 families to its waitlist.

To apply to be added to MPHA’s family housing waitlist (three-, four-, and five-bedroom units), qualified applicants must visit MPHA’s online portal at portal.mphaonline.org and apply starting at 8am on Thursday, October 10, 2024. The waiting list will close for new applications at 12pm (noon) on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.

It is important to note that applying to the agency’s family housing waiting list during the open period does not guarantee the applicant a spot. Rather, it enters their application into a lottery for a chance to be added to the waiting list. There is no advantage to applying early.

For more information on how to apply, please see the family housing waitlist information.

Applicants needing assistance completing the application or applicants who need a reasonable accommodation, free language assistance, or who require the information in an alternative format, are encouraged to submit a request in advance of the waitlist opening via email at MPHAapplication@mplspha.org or call 612-342-1438. Any requests for special accommodation must be received by no later than 12pm (noon) on Tuesday, October 15, 2024. Additionally, the application can be translated using the built-in Google Translate feature.