The city of Minneapolis and Hennepin County are fixing up some old housing stock in the city with help from an unlikely source inmates at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Lino Lakes. The program is designed to help inmates improve their job skills and support their children, while putting more affordable housing on the market and providing a new labor market for the local construction industry.
Eligible inmates are non-custodial parents who have minor children on welfare.
The inmates must sign a personal responsibility contract, which requires them to pay child support with wages they earn. After eight weeks of classroom instruction, the inmates under the supervision of a journeyman carpenter assist with the rehab of blighted residential properties that are owned by the Minneapolis Community Development Agency. The MCDA later sells the properties to buyers who meet Home Ownership Works Program income requirements. Twenty inmates have worked on seven houses since the program was started in January 1999, according to STS program manager Bob Hunter. A six-man crew recently completed work on the first project, a home at 3104 Elliot Ave.