Frogtown

Aurora St Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation (ASANDC) is a community development agency that has served the Frogtown and Rondo areas of Saint Paul for last 36 years. Our services include physical development (the construction and rehabilitation of affordable homes and retail space), economic development (an entrepreneurship training program and business retention work), and human/social and political development (political education, a resident leadership and youth development training progarams) . “Our mission is to foster positive relationships within and between . “Our mission is to foster positive relationships within and between the neighborhoods we serve and to support our members in effecting the quality of life in their communities”.  Our vision is “to improve the economic and social well-being of the people we serve”. ASANDC has galvanized the community to push for alternative redevelopment vision from one which could leave community members saddled with burdens to one that builds wealth, improves the quality of life, and lifts people out of poverty yet not out of the neighborhood. Due to the Green Line development, Frogtown-Rondo, housing costs and pressure are rising especially fast in Frogtown-Rondo which a main contributor to gentrification.

Frogtown-Rondo is a racially concentrated area of poverty (RCAP), where over 50% of residents are people of color and over 40% have incomes below 185% of federal poverty level. 63% of residents are renters, including 70% of African-Americans, and many face housing challenges such as substandard housing, barriers to access (e.g. criminal record, rigid screening), severe and rising housing cost burdens, and a threat of displacement (regionally, African-Americans are three times as likely as other renters to expect eviction within two months). Frogtown-Rondo residents have historically been excluded from decision-making, most notably in the construction of I-94 through Rondo, a community whose tightly woven fabric was infamously disrupted when Interstate 94 was constructed through the neighborhood in the 1960s thus laying the foundation to be cumulatively impacted by yet another mega infrastructure project (namely the Greenline LRT).

The problems that ASANDC continues to work on are barriers to stable and affordable housing in Frogtown-Rondo that new construction cannot solve. So far, through our Frogtown Rondo Action Network (FRAN) community base research, surveys show the most concerning barriers are: rising rents; increasing application fees; substandard housing; landlord negligence and retaliation; rental discrimination; and application denials based on background and credit checks. In fact, the national crisis in rising rents and housing cost burdens for the poor is worsening. 

Many residents, who come into our office, also expressed to us through word-of-mouth that they faced challenges related to the rising costs of rent and ongoing threats of gentrification and economic displacement, especially in Frogtown-Rondo. Many feared being priced out of their homes and their community. We have also engaged former Frogtown-Rondo residents who seek to return to the area but can no longer find housing within their price range. In particular, many residents were concerned with a lack of adequate, livable affordable housing and increasing economic displacement through gentrification. Many also expressed horror at some of the improper practices of landlords and their minimization of the challenges often facing their current and potential tenants, which they viewed as intertwined with the challenge of affordable housing access. One such resident is Lavenna Ransom said that her family has: Jean Pieri) been looking for months for months for a market rate home to rent or buy as their own Rondo area. Lavenna said the price of a 3BR+ is roughly $1,000 to $1,300+.  And that the required income is three times the rent. (Pioneer Press - October 21, 2016 – “the Green Line Blues: Housing prices spike in the Central Corridor (University Avenue) poorest neighborhood – Tad Vezner

In an article from The Twin Cities Daily Planet (October 10, 2016) – “Renters Collectively demand justice, equity from Minneapolis and St Paul” – “Twin Cities residents are losing their homes as more and more housing is sold to developers looking to upscale their housing complexes, according to the MHP report. The developer boom has led to a decrease in affordable housing units, increasing the costs of affordable housing, and – as Minnesota Housing Partnership (MHP) Executive Director Chip Halbach pointed out – may lead to an increase in family homelessness unless immediate action is taken.

“It is a situation that has worsened to the extent that stronger reactions and actions are needed. [Without those reactions and actions] it looks like there will be continued investment and loss of more of these properties….”

Frogtown is the home to one of the last community own cooperatives in the state. Residents of The Wilder Square Cooperatives, along with FNA have created a Taskforce to fight against a corporate management company’s attempt to dissolve the historic cooperative and start raising rents immediately. The Residents are fighting to preserve the 168 units of deeply affordable townhomes. Wilder Square was established in 1974 and is a true example of how NOAH is or can be a benefit in protecting Frogtown. THIS IS FROGTOWN. THIS IS HOME.

We also believe that there is always enough time to do the right work. If the change we need to see moves at the speed of trust, then the pace of development must match the pace of community engagement and ownership over project. The gifts held by the people in Frogtown are vital to what makes St. Paul one of the most livable cities in country. We need to protect that. This means we need to start seeing see the real value of Frogtown as sacred and worthy of protection. This means we need to start seeing housing as a human right and not a market commodity. THIS IS FROGTOWN. THIS IS HOME.

Frogtown is known for its evolving cultural knowledge and relationship to place. It holds a multitude of worldviews, cosmology, ritual, language, social organizational forms, and other practices. Our abundant creativity and resourcefulness is reflected in the businesses alongside University, our murals, our cultural centers embedded in neighborhood corners, the community and backyard herb, vegetable, fruit, and medicine gardens shifting soil across the neighborhood, people in Frogtown hold deep experiences and knowledge in turning something from nothing, doing more with less, and transforming problems into possibilities. FNA’s recently published Small Area Plan (SMAPL) is a perfect example of who we are; artist centered, deeply grassroots and centered on solutions! Anti-Displacement policy is at the heart of the community’s vision for the next decade. THIS IS FROGTOWN. THIS IS HOME.

Now, a lot of different interests are here and it is disrupting our flow. The people who make the neighborhood an irresistible resting spot are the same people who are getting displaced. It takes a long time for people to learn about each other and build relationships that lead to efforts mentioned above. Displacement disrupts this continuum of people moving from isolation to belonging. We need the people who are already here to stay here. THIS IS FROGTOWN!

THIS IS HOME!

Tia Williams, Co-Director FNA, long time Frogtown Resident, coming home soon

Tou SaiKo Lee, Community Artist, Outreach Organizer, FNA Board member, Frogtown Resident

MK Nguyen, Saint Paul Promise Neighborhoods, Frogtown Mom