Ward 4 — Mitra Jalali Nelson

Candidate Questionnaire — Ward 4 — Mitra Jalali Nelson

Ward 4 contains the neighborhoods of Hamline-Midway, Merriam Park, Saint Anthony Park, and parts of Mac-Groveland and Como. It is currently represented by Councilmember Mitra Jalali Nelson. There are three candidates running: Councilmember Mitra Jalali Nelson, Tarrence Robertson-Bayless, and Chris Holbrook. We have received responses from Councilmember Mitra Jalali Nelson and Chris Holbrook.

1. How do you plan to increase housing affordability in St. Paul?

Cities have a huge role to play in increasing housing affordability through leveraging our zoning code, acquisition ability and policy-making authority to expand access to homes and protect residents from discrimination and displacement. I believe today we need an expansive zoning code that supports an all-the-above supply strategy for the future, combined with strong tenant protections (an effort I am currently leading at the Council) and deep investments in affordability and more forms of community ownership, to get the housing mix we need as a city. I voted for a $10M affordable housing trust fund and for countless affordable housing projects throughout my first year in office to support the local investments we can make in this issue. I also strongly believe that cities can’t fight a problem rooted in historic divestment all by themselves, and that we need partners at the county, state and federal government to support our efforts with tremendous public subsidy that keeps pace with our growing communities.

2. What do you see as the main cause for the shortage of affordable housing in St. Paul?

For decades, our city has either blocked construction of new housing through exclusionary processes and zoning or lacked a proactive vision for driving steady increases in new housing supply at all income levels. In the context of an historic massive federal divestment from affordable housing subsidies that has dried up supply for decades and destructive racial policies like redlining and mortgage discrimination, this local failure even further puts the squeeze on our most vulnerable residents. This combination of forces has resulted in deep racial inequities in housing access in our city. Healthy communities are said to have a 5% rental vacancy rate, and Saint Paul’s has hovered at barely 2% for years, with over 51% of our community now renting and renters being the most socioeconomically diverse group in our city. Affordable housing for families is also vanishing within city limits, with more and more working families being pushed out to the outer suburbs to be able to afford their lives. We need to build a city not just for the people who live here now, but the people who are going to — and for too long, we simply haven’t kept pace with our community’s growing needs. I ran for City Council in 2018 to bring attention to this issue, and to lead the charge for more homes in our city. I am running for my first full term to continue igniting this issue as the most central challenge and opportunity in our city’s future.

3. How can the city eliminate homelessness?

Homelessness is not an individual failure but rather an unacceptable symptom of our lack of affordable housing as a region. The city can play a unique role in taking on this chronic societal failure that requires partners at every level of government. We need to increase the supply of the most deeply affordable housing in addition to other levels of affordability. We need to pass comprehensive tenant protections at the state and local levels so that people can access housing and remain more stably housed. We need to absolutely avoid criminalizing or punishing homelessness and focus instead on getting people the resources they need. Shelter space is a massive issue with deep shortages that continue to go unaddressed, and I voted last year for the city to invest in the Winter Safe Space shelter which opens up more beds in the most extreme conditions of our Minnesota winters so that St. Paul can bring some resources to the table. We also need to partner with Ramsey County and our service provider community to increase the amount of shelter beds and advocate urgently for greater funding at the state level. Cities can also explore things like risk mitigation funds in partnership with the county that effectively pair “high-risk” tenants most likely to face discrimination with participating landlords who agree to support that tenant with transitional housing and have access to city and county supports as part of it. The recent encampments have illuminated the role of Section 8 voucher discrimination as one barrier of many families in transition face to being housed, and the city can pass an ordinance to prohibit S8 voucher discrimination as a factor in denying housing to someone. I have forcefully advocated against the recent decision to kick homeless people off the Metro Transit Green Line after spending a night on the rails with residents facing homelessness to more deeply understand what they’re going through. These are just some of the many things the city can play a role in and that I’ve supported. I am grateful to be part of multiple working groups on this issue with regional partners so that we can end the hopelessness and complacency surrounding this issue and make sure everyone has a home in St. Paul.

4. Do you support changing the city’s zoning to allow quadplexes everywhere in the city? If not, please explain why.

I wholeheartedly support banning single-family-only zoning and upzoning to quadplexes and other multi-unit forms of housing across Saint Paul. Right now, a third of St. Paul’s land alone is used exclusively for cars and their storage and movement across our city. Of the remaining two-thirds of land left for people’s homes, a significant portion of it is zoned for single-family-only zoning and restricts other forms of housing, and historic maps of St. Paul show where federal and local forms of redlining further segregated these areas and created deep racial inequities across our city. I believe today we need an expansive zoning code that supports an all-the-above supply strategy for the future, combined with strong tenant protections (an effort I am currently leading at the Council) and deep investments in affordability and more forms of community ownership, to get the housing mix we need as a community. I have fought hard against downzoning and for more expansive and inclusive zoning, especially on transit and transit-adjacent corridors like Marshall Ave and Grand Ave, so that we can use the power of the city zoning code to help grow our community. I will continue to do this in my first full term as a Councilmember.

5. Do you support eliminating minimum parking requirements? If not, please explain why.

I strongly support eliminating minimum parking requirements as one way we can take action on climate and also significantly decrease the costs of new construction and housing. Though some parking may always be constructed as part of new development, we’ve seen many examples of small and mid-size developments across St. Paul that have been forced to build larger parking facilities to meet city regulations. Over time, those overbuilt parking facilities add up to be a significant expense and the only way to utilize those sunk costs is for residents and visitors to drive. Getting rid of parking minimums and instituting common sense parking maximums is the first step toward breaking that costly cycle and making serious strides toward more progressive, equitable and affordable land use overall.

6. Do you support funding the city’s 4(d) affordable housing program? If not, how will you preserve at-risk Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH)?

I gladly voted as part of the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) to advance the 4d affordable housing program as one of many strategies I believe we need to keep pace with investments in NOAH, something the Met Council has pointed out as an area cities like St. Paul are failing at keeping up. I also voted in my first year to pass a $10M Affordable Housing Trust Fund that can leverage up to over $70M in additional investments to represent an historic increase in city resources for subsidizing more deeply affordable units. The Housing Trust Fund money this year is in part supporting downpayment assistance for low-income families to access first-time homebuyership in parts of the city identified as at-risk for displacement like the Midway, which I represent, and it will also support existing programs like Rondo Land Trust that expand community ownership and mitigate displacement through preserving NOAH. I have also championed and continue to vote for more funding for the Rental Rehab Loan program, an established city program that helps property owners rehab their units to continue providing safe and stable affordable housing. These are just some of the examples of NOAH strategies I’ve fought for, and I believe a clear citywide strategy for preserving at-risk NOAH with significant investments is critical and central to meeting our needs as a growing community.