We celebrated Valentine's Day this year by opening a vacant home in Duluth's Endion neighborhood to serve dinner to more than 100 people and to initiate a broader dialogue about the need for affordable housing in our city.
Once dearly loved, the house has now stood empty for four years. Another 445 homes were foreclosed upon in the city of Duluth during the past three years. During the past year, 1,081 individuals and 75 families stayed at the CHUM shelter, more than any subsequent year in its 30 years of service. According to the Duluth school district, at least 482 children enrolled experienced homelessness in the past school year.
At a time when a record number of Duluthians are sleeping outside, we chose to draw attention to the resources available to address this crisis. As more houses sit empty than ever before due to backlogged bank foreclosure proceedings, we ask the city of Duluth to follow the examples of other U.S. cities in considering the use of eminent domain as a means to prevent unnecessary foreclosure and to put existing vacant houses back to use as affordable housing. We ask the city to conduct a citywide review of our housing stock. We ask that the city affirm housing to be a human right, in accordance with 1948's United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
People need houses. Houses need people.
Courtney Cochran
ADVERTISEMENT
Duluth
This letter also was signed by Adam Ritscher of Superior and Kate Bradley, Riley Hanick, Donna Howard, Elizabeth Miller, Lee Jankowski, Joel Kilgour, Chelsea Froemke; Justin Anderson, Jan Karon and Blake Romenesko, all of Duluth.
