Title
Authorizing the Housing and Redevelopment Authority of the City of Saint Paul to accept grant funds from Awaken Community of Saint Paul, and to create a program budget, in the amount of $5,000.00, to support the Inheritance Fund layers of assistance in the Downpayment Assistance and Homeowner Rehabilitation Programs, Citywide
Body
WHEREAS, the Rondo neighborhood is a vibrant and resilient cross-section of Saint Paul, deeply rooted in community and connection; and
WHEREAS, by the early 1930s, the neighborhood was the beating heart for our African-American community and home to thriving businesses, religious organizations and social clubs; and
WHEREAS, two decades later, the economic and social diversity of the area was upended when the construction of Interstate 94 began in 1956; and
WHEREAS, the 12-year highway corridor construction project decimated the footprint of the Rondo neighborhood, displaced over 600 families and laid to waste over $100 million in wealth; and
WHEREAS, the Inheritance Fund affords descendants of the property owners whose property was taken for the construction of Interstate 94 the opportunity to rebuild wealth through homeownership; and
WHEREAS, the Housing and Redevelopment Authority of the City of Saint Paul finds that the Inheritance Fund provides additional layers of assistance to qualifying descendants of property owners whose property was taken for the construction of Interstate 94 through its Downpayment Assistance and Homeowner Rehab Programs and that the assistance has been identified as a way to mitigate that lost generational wealth and economic mobility; and
WHEREAS, Awaken Communities of Saint Paul, concurrent with their value of justice desire to participate in the work of reparations in our community, granted $5,000.00 to the Housing and Redevelopment Authority of the City of Saint Paul to support the Inheritance Fund layers of assistance within its Downpayment Assistance and Homeowner Rehab Program...
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