The Blue Line Extension will bring major change to corridor communities in Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, and Robbinsdale. To ensure current residents and businesses share in the benefits, Hennepin County and the Metropolitan Council started a first-of-its-kind, community-oriented anti-displacement initiative.
As part of the initiative, project partners worked with the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs to convene a community-led work group to study and recommend anti-displacement strategies. The work group’s final report is available.
Read the group’s four-page executive summary.
The core goal of the Blue Line Anti-Displacement Work Group (ADWG), formed in February 2022, was to build the capacity of community members to communicate clearly and pointedly about their needs.
Throughout an 18-month process, ADWG members were empowered to use research, community input, and their own experiences to recommend policies that would prevent displacement in the corridor. They developed desired outcomes for each jurisdiction and pointed to 17 policies that may have potential to achieve those outcomes.
The report emphasizes that accountability structures are necessary to give the community confidence that the extension will come with strong anti-displacement interventions. The report concludes with recommended next steps:
- Secure public and private funding to support community prosperity and anti-displacement strategies.
- Reconvene the community-based anti-displacement working group as an official advisory committee to the Blue Line Extension project.
- Advance legislative strategy for state-level funding and policy during the 2024 legislative session.
- Complete and publish the implementation framework and engagement plan for agency and community partner feedback.
- Incorporate recommendations into the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.
—Pam Snopl, CTS senior editor
