1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             urging Congress to support the creation of a National 
  1.3             Affordable Housing Trust Fund. 
  1.4      
  1.5      WHEREAS, in October of 2000, the Amherst Wilder Foundation 
  1.6   found that 7,589 Minnesotans are homeless on a given day; and 
  1.7      WHEREAS, an additional 13,740 Minnesotans are at imminent 
  1.8   risk of losing their housing; and 
  1.9      WHEREAS, the number of people sheltered in Minnesota has 
  1.10  increased by 17 percent since 1997, yet over 1,000 people were 
  1.11  turned away from shelter programs in November 2001; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, 41 percent of homeless Minnesota adults are 
  1.13  working; and 
  1.14     WHEREAS, 43 percent of homeless Minnesotans are children; 
  1.15  and 
  1.16     WHEREAS, 45 percent of new jobs created in Minnesota pay 
  1.17  wages of $11.17 per hour or less, and a worker earning this wage 
  1.18  can afford to pay no more than $580 per month on housing, while 
  1.19  the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the Twin Cities 
  1.20  metropolitan region is $917; and 
  1.21     WHEREAS, Minnesota had a population gain of over 500,000 
  1.22  people in the 1990s with an increase in total housing of only 
  1.23  217,501 units; and 
  1.24     WHEREAS, the 2000 decennial census revealed that the state 
  2.1   of Minnesota had a rental vacancy rate of 4.1 percent, one of 
  2.2   the lowest rates in the United States; and 
  2.3      WHEREAS, average rent increased 34 percent over the last 
  2.4   decade in the Twin Cities regional area, average income 
  2.5   increased only nine percent; and 
  2.6      WHEREAS, the state of Minnesota takes pride in its history 
  2.7   of progressive support of our most vulnerable citizens; and 
  2.8      WHEREAS, Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human 
  2.9   Rights states, "Everyone has the right to a standard of living 
  2.10  adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his 
  2.11  family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care"; 
  2.12  NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.13     BE IT RESOLVED by the legislature of the state of Minnesota 
  2.14  that it supports the many efforts to create new national, state, 
  2.15  and local housing policies that will increase affordable housing 
  2.16  opportunities for all working families and households. 
  2.17     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of 
  2.18  Minnesota that it urges the Congress of the United States to 
  2.19  support HR2349 and S1248 creating a National Affordable Housing 
  2.20  Trust Fund. 
  2.21     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.22  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.23  memorial and transmit them to the President and the Secretary of 
  2.24  the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the 
  2.25  United States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators 
  2.26  and Representatives in Congress.