Many city council candidates have emphasized affordable housing in their campaigns, but the issue takes on an added significance in District 2, where landlord-developer Erik Minton is challenging incumbent and long-time housing activist Ald. Brenda Konkel.
Konkel and Minton are both pushing to convince voters that they want to increase affordable housing in the city and the district, which includes several heavily student-populated areas on the near east side including parts of Langdon, Gilman, Gorham and Butler streets.
\I have been working really hard on affordable housing issues for the last eight years,"" Konkel said.
She is currently the Executive Director of the Tenant Resource Center, 1202 Williamson St., and co-founder of the Affordable Housing Action Alliance. During her term, she said, she has helped to get $1.5 million of surplus city money into a trust fund that aids developers in building more affordable housing. She also worked on legislation that makes it illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants who use federal Section 8 vouchers to pay their rent.
However, Minton said that just because he is a landlord does not mean he is against building more accessible housing. He said he has pledged to build 100 new units of affordable housing in the next two years. He also wants to increase options for people of higher socioeconomic status.
""I am going to passionately address housing needs for working people as well as affordable housing,"" he said. ""I have so many friends in their late 20s and 30s that don't have housing opportunities, and I want to work for them along with the people who need a greater amount of housing assistance.""
Both candidates said housing is important to the students in their district, and so they have included students in their campaigns. Minton said he has visited with fraternity and sorority members and knocked on over 5,000 doors. Konkel said the majority of people in her campaign who go door to door and distribute her literature are students.
