Hennepin County Board Candidates Tackle Affordable Housing

An Aug. 14 primary will whittle down the list of candidates running for Hennepin County Board of Commissioners in District 2. There’s currently five. The primary will narrow the list to two.

The District 2 seat includes Golden Valley and the southeast part of Plymouth.

The candidates include two former Minneapolis City Council members, Blong Yang and Natalie Johnson Lee; a former Plymouth City Council member, Tim Bildsoe; Golden Valley resident Iyob Waldsmayate, who works for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs office in Saint Paul; and Irene Fernando, the DFL-endorsed candidate.

County Board Candidates Tackle Affordable Housing

During a forum Monday night in Golden Valley, the candidates provided a range of thoughts on the affordable housing issue.

Irene Fernando:

Income has wide disparities across Hennepin County and even here in District 2, stretching from Plymouth through Golden Valley, Medicine Lake, the North Side, Northeast, St. Anthony Village. There are disparities right here in District 2 that we can be focusing on.”

Natalie Johnson Lee:

One of the things that I think the way you need to begin to address it is you have to make sure people have jobs, they have viable incomes and they are able to rent or buy in the neighborhoods in which they chooes to live in.”

Blong Yang:

I think it’s really important that the cities in Hennepin County are encouraged to build more affordable housing for their residents and for folks who want to work and who want to live in those communities. Because sometimes we want to talk about cops and nurses and other folks who are professionals who can’t afford to live in housing.”

Iyob Waldsmayate:

I think the County needs to ensure, have regulation, ensuring banks and financial institution do not deny loans for minority communities.”

Tim Bildsoe:

Cities need to work with developers as partners and find ways to fund affordable housing projects. It’s a supply problem. And there needs to be more market-rate. There just needs to be more supply in the marketplace.”

The Aug. 14 primary will whittle the five candidates vying for the seat down to two. You can see the candidate forum in its entirety, on our website.

Golden Valley | Plymouth