The NRP's Affordable Housing Reserve Fund is the subject of a special two-part series now being broadcast on cable television in Minneapolis.

Throughout February, the Minneapolis Neighborhood News (MNN) program will focus on the progress of the first projects funded through the NRP Affordable Housing Reserve Fund. The fund was established by the NRP Policy Board to demonstrate the program's commitment to providing long-term affordable housing for individuals and families that earn less than half of the Metro Median Income. Last year, nearly $4 million from the fund was invested in seven projects that will create or renovate 195 units of affordable housing. Combined, the projects will leverage an additional $33 million in private and public financing and will include the production of another 104 market-rate units.

Part two of the series, which is now showing, looks at the construction of the 51-unit mixed-income, mixed-use Monroe Village senior housing development in the Holland neighborhood, the rehabilitation of the 92-unit, scattered-site Olson Towne Homes in the Harrison neighborhood and construction of a three-story, 39-unit addition to the existing three-story Lamoreaux Apartment building in the Downtown West neighborhood. Tune in and get a tour of Olson Towne Homes from residents Dione Carter and Angela Storivant and listen to Lamoreaux Apartments residents Joyce McGee and Jim Palmer talk about what affordable housing means to them.

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Joyce McGee was one of the first residents to move into a new apartment in the recently expanded Lamoreaux building. "Affordable housing to me means that I can pay for a decent place to live and still eat," McGee says. "Here I can do that." The new efficiency apartments serve people earning 30 to 50 percent of the Metro Median Income. The NRP invested $400,000 from its Affordable Housing Reserve Fund in the Central Communities Housing Trust-owned building.

Part one of the NRP affordable housing series aired throughout December and January and featured a groundbreaking celebration for the 28-unit East Phillips Commons near Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue South, the 36-unit Lofts on Arts Avenue project in the Stevens Square neighborhood and the grand opening of a 21-unit expansion to the Jeremiah Program's residential facility in the Loring Park neighborhood.

MNN can be seen in Minneapolis on channel 16 on Sundays at 5 p.m., on channel 17 on Fridays at 6:30 p.m. and on channel 14 on Sundays at 4:30 p.m., Mondays at 5:30 p.m., and Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m.

Segments from both parts of the show are now available for online viewing on the NRP Web site.

Follow this link to view a segment on Lofts on Arts Avenue.

Follow this link to view a segment on Olson Town Homes

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