Love Makes Room

09/23/2024

Honey Crisp Apples are ready to pick (East row of apples). There are still a few left. Regent Apples will be ready in 2 weeks (West row by Baker RD).

And Yes, the Apple Orchard will be preserved. They will not be disturbed by future home construction with Habitat for Humanity. Home Construction will likely begin Spring of 2025. Cheers and happy Apple picking :)

05/07/2024

Thank you for all of your support, letters, phone calls, emails, and hours spent in public hearings and meetings on the Mills Twinhome Project. City Council’s unanimous approval means that Habitat for Humanity will be able to move forward to build and welcome 10 new households to Minnetonka Mills over the next couple years.

We feel deeply grateful for all the learning that has come through this project. All of us have gotten a front row seat to the suite of disillusioning challenges facing affordable home ownership creation. We can and should celebrate this project’s approval while holding the reality of an ever expanding housing crisis. We look forward to carry this experience forward with you in this ongoing work.

The entire Love Makes Room team of volunteers is really honored by your dedication, support, and generous spirit. We have only ever witnessed you showing up time and time again as your whole-hearted selves. Thank you. And to everyone who gave public comments last night, you did so with gracious and consistent depth of character. We feel really humbled by your support and grateful to have met such amazing neighbors and new friends along the way.

You are the neighbors who give Love Makes Room its beautiful meaning.

When we tend to our affections, we start to see that we belong to each other. And when we see that we belong to each other, we begin to open up to each other. And when we open up to each other, we begin to love each other.

Love really does make room. It has the power to open space in our inner being that may have been closed and turned in by fear. Love has the power to change us. Love has the power to heal us and inspire us. Not powered by scarcity — Love is inexhaustible and infinite in its capacity to source all of life. Yours and mine.

Thank you again for your ongoing inspiration, encouragement, and perseverance. We truly appreciate and are proud to be connected with you in this beautiful new network of normal folk seeking to make affordable housing a reality for everyone.

Believing, “We all do better, when we all do better.” (Thanks P.W.)

So on behalf of the entire Love Makes Room organizing team,

Our kindest regards to you and congratulations on helping to see this project through to approval.

The Minnetonka City Council voted unanimously to move forward with Habitat for Humanity's plan to build affordable housing in a Monday meeting.

05/06/2024

The Big City Council Meeting is tonight at 6:30pm.
So grateful for all our Love Makes Room neighbors coming out to support affordable homeownership in Minnetonka. Thank You!

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity wants to build affordable housing in Minnetonka, but residents are rejecting its plan because of density issues.

05/06/2024

Big City Council Meeting tonight at 6:30pm

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity wants to build affordable housing in Minnetonka, but residents are rejecting its plan because of density issues.

05/05/2024

We need your support tomorrow, Monday, May 6th at 6:30pm. Bring your positive and generous open-hearted selves to the city council meeting.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity wants to build affordable housing in Minnetonka, but residents are rejecting its plan because of density issues.

04/21/2024

I want to thank all of our supporters who wrote letters, showed up, and courageously spoke at Thursday’s Planning Commission Meeting. I am so proud of this coalition of Love Makes Room Neighbors. You brought an open, welcoming, and loving spirit into an overflow crowd of people. It was quite a remarkable meeting. It could have been an absolute circus and I attribute the spirit of our campaign being embodied by you. You all are an amazing crew of people! Thank you!!!

Everyone who testified, did so with generous conviction. You were thoughtful, prepared, and true. Wow, you were so impressive! It is courageous to speak and take a stand. You did! I am grateful.

Although we did not get the hoped for outcome, it was not a surprise that the commission simply affirmed the staff recommendation. We are dissappointed that city staff chose not to support our application. They easily could have and we were fully expecting their support for this scaled down 10 unit proposal. This is a challenge but one that we believe can be overcome.

Minnetonka City Council will review our proposal on Monday, May 6th.

Keep your same generosity of spirit! And keep showing up over the next two weeks. Write, email, and call your ward council member. Encourage their support for the Mills Twinhome project. Be kind, be direct, and call for their bold action and leadership.

We cannot simply say that we are for affordable housing. We have to create it. Actually creating new affordable homes requires that we change the policies that continue to prevent good projects. This is a good project.

Let our council members know that you want them to create more affordable and diverse types of housing throughout our city. Please, amend your prohibitive policies, and vote to approve this project.

Thank you again for your presence and steadfast loving support!

Great job. Don’t quit. Keep up the good work!

Love Makes Room!

02/27/2024

Last week to order your Sweatshirt!

https://lovemakesroom.org Love Makes Room exists to create space in our hearts and neighborhoods for affordable housing to become a reality in Minnetonka, Hopkins, and surrounding areas.

02/17/2024

Support affordable housing by ordering your own Love Makes Room Sweatshirt:

https://lovemakesroom.org Love Makes Room exists to create space in our hearts and neighborhoods for affordable housing to become a reality in Minnetonka, Hopkins, and surrounding areas.

02/04/2024

Start gearing up to support affordable housing in Minnetonka by ordering your own Love Makes Room Sweatshirt! Taking orders now - March 3rd.

https://lovemakesroom.org Love Makes Room exists to create space in our hearts and neighborhoods for affordable housing to become a reality in Minnetonka, Hopkins, and surrounding areas.

06/02/2023

Thank you, Sally Bressler!
Check out her letter to the editor in this weeks Sun Sailor:

Inclusive and affordable housing in Minnetonka

To the editor:

Our city’s vision statement says “Minnetonka is an inclusive community committed to excellence where all residents, workers and visitors are welcome.” Does Minnetonka support this ideal with regard to housing?

One key development priority in Minnetonka’s 2020 strategic profile is to “implement programs and policies to diversify housing and increase affordable housing options.” The strategic profile also says the city will “strive to remove barriers to living, working and thriving in our city.” Providing stable housing in safe, healthy neighborhoods is a critical priority from which the entire city benefits.

Minnetonka, like many suburban cities, was developed primarily as low-density housing, leaving little space for new housing development. According to a recent Star-Tribune analysis, nearly three-quarters of residential land in the metro area is zoned solely for single-family detached homes and almost two-thirds of that land also requires a minimum lot size. These zoning policies have prevented developers from creating lower-cost options in high-demand suburbs like ours. The only way to make housing in desirable locations affordable is to use less land per home.

Proposals for denser development in single-family neighborhoods face fierce opposition from homeowners who mistakenly fear that multi-family developments lower property values. Too often, multi-family housing is kept separate from single-family units, thereby defeating the goal of being inclusive, welcoming and barrier-free. A Star-Tribune article in September 2021 pointed out that housing experts nationwide believe that loosening zoning rules to allow denser housing is the most effective way to increase housing supply.

The proposed Mills Church development plan that turns unused land into affordable homeownership opportunities is an amazing opportunity for Minnetonka to uphold its vision. Approving zoning changes to maximize the number of housing units on the Mills Church property is the right thing to do for our city.

Striving for more equitable homeownership opportunities in Minnetonka requires that we make changes to create lower-cost housing options and allow people to live closer to their jobs. Our city council and staff need to be proactive in planning for greater housing density. This is the path to making Minnetonka inclusive, affordable and barrier-free.

Sally Bressler
Minnetonka

Bressler is a member of the Minnetonka Community Housing Team, a grassroots, volunteer group of Minnetonka residents.

To the editor:

01/06/2023

Press conference with Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith today. Twin Cities Habitat was just awarded a $400K federal grant for the Mills Church project.